[Misc] C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

[orestesp]

Hello,

I am faced with the following problem: My machine thinks that it ran out of Y toner while in fact the toner bottle isn't empty. I have verified that the toner bottle motor is spinning (jigged the toner bottle door and saw it spin with I/O test mode) and I have also replaced the Y DV. The pic below is before the DV change but now the Y DV is starting to look like that again... DV Unit is within life, drum unit is over life but I printed test pattern #53 with 130 Y and it looked OK. Usually it asks for Y toner and the message either goes away for a while after you open/close the toner bottle door or reappears after a few minutes.

Something is wrong with the Y tonner hopper and it starves the DV of toner. TDS value for Y is 130. I tried removing it from the machine to clean it (the part with the transparent membrane on top) but I couldn't figure out a way to do it. There is no procedure on the manual either and I was afraid of making a huge mess... Any ideas?

Untitled.jpg

Thank you.

[tulintron]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

It would be better to help or even diagnose the defect with new supplies. With supplies at the end of my life, I believe the exchange would be the first step.


In the visual, we have a difference in quantity between the sides and also a contaminated developer.


You can invert the developer units and "trick" the toner supply container to check if the error will change color.


You should quote which code the equipment has.


This would help a lot.

[orestesp]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

It would be better to help or even diagnose the defect with new supplies. With supplies at the end of my life, I believe the exchange would be the first step.


In the visual, we have a difference in quantity between the sides and also a contaminated developer.


You can invert the developer units and "trick" the toner supply container to check if the error will change color.


You should quote which code the equipment has.


This would help a lot.

Hi, thank you for replying.

Machine doesn't code. It just asks for a new yellow toner bottle while in fact the bottle has toner in it (and not a little but a lot of it). I suspect this has to do with the DV problem. The halftone yellow pattern comes out looking OK so even though the drum unit is due it still works decently enough.

What do you mean by developer contamination? When I replaced the DV I cleaned the unit as best as I could, DV is currently at 20% life.

Also I should mention that I use genuine toner/dev.

[tulintron]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

Hi, thank you for replying.

Machine doesn't code. It just asks for a new yellow toner bottle while in fact the bottle has toner in it (and not a little but a lot of it). I suspect this has to do with the DV problem. The halftone yellow pattern comes out looking OK so even though the drum unit is due it still works decently enough.

What do you mean by developer contamination? When I replaced the DV I cleaned the unit as best as I could, DV is currently at 20% life.

Also I should mention that I use genuine toner/dev.

How would DV problem be if it has only 20% usage?

Contamination is evident due to the developer failure shown on the magnetic roller.


I've seen supply failures because of a small "e-ring" lock that sits on the shafts that the toner hopper cap fits on.

[orestesp]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

How would DV problem be if it has only 20% usage?

Contamination is evident due to the developer failure shown on the magnetic roller.

I've seen supply failures because of a small "e-ring" lock that sits on the shafts that the toner hopper cap fits on.

What is contaminating the developer? I replaced it in late December last year because of this. Why would it re appear?

What do you suggest I should do?

As for the e-ring that you mention, do you mean the clip that's visible when you open the toner supply door and is above the transparent membrane?

[Synthohol]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

Have the filters been changed? If it cannot properly carry the misted toner to the filter it all builds up and makes a mess.
Also you said the drum life is over, swap with a drum within life to see if any change.
Also when you changed the developer did you run all the peculiarity adjustments?
Just trying to get more info

[orestesp]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

Have the filters been changed? If it cannot properly carry the misted toner to the filter it all builds up and makes a mess.
Also you said the drum life is over, swap with a drum within life to see if any change.
Also when you changed the developer did you run all the peculiarity adjustments?
Just trying to get more info

The machine inside is relatively clean, I don't have a toner misting problem.

What I can't figure out is what causes the the "Add Y Toner" message to appear often while the toner bottle has toner in it. Is it because there is a clog in the Y hopper? Is it because there is something wrong with the Y DV/DV unit/TCR sensor?

When I changed the developer (I have changed the Y and K developer in this machine on my own) I ran all the adjustments that the manual says to do. The previous Y DV was replaced on time because of uneven density in the scan direction and when I pulled the Y DV unit (see my photo above) this is what it looked like, and after only using 20% of its life, it looks like that again. The K developer works fine and is also at almost 20%.

Say the drum is to blame. Will swapping it with a different colour cause the same, possibly irreversible damage to the enclosed developing and then I'll have to replace two DVs instead of one?

Thanks.

[orestesp]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

The only relevant documentation I can find is this. But I don't think I have ran that low coverage on Y for so many pages and it doesn't really look exactly the same (I think).

[tulintron]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

The machine inside is relatively clean, I don't have a toner misting problem.

What I can't figure out is what causes the the "Add Y Toner" message to appear often while the toner bottle has toner in it. Is it because there is a clog in the Y hopper? Is it because there is something wrong with the Y DV/DV unit/TCR sensor?

When I changed the developer (I have changed the Y and K developer in this machine on my own) I ran all the adjustments that the manual says to do. The previous Y DV was replaced on time because of uneven density in the scan direction and when I pulled the Y DV unit (see my photo above) this is what it looked like, and after only using 20% of its life, it looks like that again. The K developer works fine and is also at almost 20%.

Say the drum is to blame. Will swapping it with a different colour cause the same, possibly irreversible damage to the enclosed developing and then I'll have to replace two DVs instead of one?

Thanks.

Can you make the toner bottle rotate through the I / O Check?

If the answer is yes, open the toner supply compartment all the way to the right and lower the yellow toner system cover. If toner falls, there is no clogging and everything works fine.


The "e-ring" clip I mentioned is on two axes where the toner supply cap fits.
This lid that I mentioned is the lid that you open to insert the toner bottles. It attaches to two pins that play the role of hinges. an "e-ring" fits on the lower pin, below the cover. Without it, the cover does not activate the sensors for the operation of the toner supply system.


If these steps have not worked, I recommend hiring a specialized service.

[orestesp]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

Can you make the toner bottle rotate through the I / O Check?

If the answer is yes, open the toner supply compartment all the way to the right and lower the yellow toner system cover. If toner falls, there is no clogging and everything works fine.


The "e-ring" clip I mentioned is on two axes where the toner supply cap fits.
This lid that I mentioned is the lid that you open to insert the toner bottles. It attaches to two pins that play the role of hinges. an "e-ring" fits on the lower pin, below the cover. Without it, the cover does not activate the sensors for the operation of the toner supply system.


If these steps have not worked, I recommend hiring a specialized service.

Yes the bottle rotates, I checked. Also I can hear the bottles spinning/the machine asking for toner when I open/close the door after the "Add Y toner" message appears. Toner does fall from the port on the toner supply system that supplies toner to the Y DV unit when I push it down with my hand and the machine has used up Y toner bottles at a relatively normal rate while this problem has been going on, so I guess that rules out the clog hypothesis?

I will check what you mentioned about the e-ring clip on the toner supply cap hopefully tomorrow.

[Synthohol]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

you can try swapping the sensor with another color to see if its just not detecting toner. if it asks for the other color its a bad sensor. if stays the same maybe call a priest for an exorcism?

[tulintron]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

you can try swapping the sensor with another color to see if its just not detecting toner. if it asks for the other color its a bad sensor. if stays the same maybe call a priest for an exorcism?

This is a piezoelectric sensor like any other used by Konica Minolta.

It is possible to test it using the I / O check method.


01-04 PZS/Y
01-05 PZS/M
01-06 PZS/C
01-07 PZS/K

001 (HIGH) toner
000 (LOW) no toner

Removing this sensor will take all of your time.

[tulintron]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

Yes the bottle rotates, I checked. Also I can hear the bottles spinning/the machine asking for toner when I open/close the door after the "Add Y toner" message appears. Toner does fall from the port on the toner supply system that supplies toner to the Y DV unit when I push it down with my hand and the machine has used up Y toner bottles at a relatively normal rate while this problem has been going on, so I guess that rules out the clog hypothesis?

I will check what you mentioned about the e-ring clip on the toner supply cap hopefully tomorrow.

toner.jpg the "e-ring" clip is below the cover. I ended up scoring up

[orestesp]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

Hello again,

I checked the TCR value today, Y was at 80 (!), I ran a few copies of test pattern #53 to de tone it at 255. I left it at ~120. While I had the toner supply unit door open, I could see the auger in the Y toner hopper agitating the toner and toner would come out when I pushed down the lever that opens the little door that goes to the DV unit.

I checked the waste toner box and from what I can tell, a pretty significant amount of Y toner/DV must have been thrown out by the machine... Did the drum pull the DV and threw it out? There is also a large magenta spot on the box, I hope this isn't the messenger of bad news...

IMG_20210406_141555-min.jpg

I think I should replace the Y drum unit and the Y dev again, do you think this will fix this problem?

Thanks again.

[tulintron]

Re: C6500 Y Tonner Hopper Issue

replace only the drum and test it.
replace the developer only when you are sure of the solution.