C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

[Oystercopy]

OK, so let me start by saying, the customer got a label stuck in the Transfer Belt cleaning unit. They took the belt out, cleared the label, but the problem still persisted. I got out there and saw the belt damage and thought something had gone wrong inside the belt (pressure wielding rollers may have broken?) so I replaced the Belt. Same exact thing. Strange thing is, it seems to print the black pages (like the counter page I attached) OK, but the colors are all off. I guess there could have been damage to the drums as well (although I didn't see any, but you can see one of the drums has a damaged spot on the samples). The machine will also not perform a Stabilization and it errors out.

I guess its possible for the drums to ALL? be bad, but I thought the possibility of that would be slim.

I have attached all the Gradation pages, showing the weird copy quality effect.

Thanks in advance guys!
OC

[copyman]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

First thing that comes to mind is why the customer is removing the transfer belt? I have my customers do some things but would never have them remove trans belt. It's too expensive for them to handle. And if they do it on their own it usually cost them more then if they would of just called a tech in first place!

Anyway...

What is the page count & consumable life meters?

Have you physically removed the drums and looked at them? Sure looks like all the drums could be bad. The black drum looks like it has damage which would be very noticable. Makes sense because black is first drum and would be the one that could get most damage by end user installing transfer belt wrong. I've never seen all drums go bad at same time unless end user continued to use with defects on prints.

What is the IDC voltage for both sensors under transfer belt? Should be around 3V

[Radiscar]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

I agree, I think 1 of your color drums might be damaged.

You run any sort of color print and they all should be moving; if one is messed it could be affecting the others
If just printing black then only that drum moves.

[Oystercopy]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

I agree Copyman... this is a first time customer of mine; never seen the machine before. Had this been a customer of mine on a monthly agreement, there would have been NO removal of parts, whatsoever in the machine, and I would have charged them heftily if they tried!

Be that as it is, all I could do is try to move forward from the middle, so to speak. As stated, there did seem to be damage on one of the drums, although I couldn't (physically) see it. But it just seemed strange that all 3 of them might have had damage? I am going to try to take 3 new color drums out there and give it a try, but I'm not 100% confident in that either.

Page count is 188K. Consumable life shows drums at mid range, usage wise. I did not check IDC voltage, but will check that when I go back.

thanks
OC

[kingarthur]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

When you've examined the DRs, have you turned the actual drum by hand. it looks like there could be remnants of the label on the K . When you replaced the transfer belt, did you also replace the transfer roller. Are you getting "P" codes when you go into tech rep, if so - what are they

[mascan42]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

I'd take out the registration unit to get a good look at the IDC sensors. Sounds like there might be some glue residue from the labels on there.

[Oystercopy]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

Yes, when I removed the drums, I rotated them. Hard to tell (physically) if there is any damage.

And, yes, when I put the new belt in, I cleaned and inspected the sensors under the xfer belt.

OC

[Oystercopy]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

Put 3 new color drums in today; pretty much the same, although the machine did give me some solid colors on Magenta and yellow. Also realized that the customer was using generic toner and was not being fused properly by the fuser.
Wow, this thing is a basket case...
OC

[mascan42]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

Put 3 new color drums in today; pretty much the same, although the machine did give me some solid colors on Magenta and yellow. Also realized that the customer was using generic toner and was not being fused properly by the fuser.
Wow, this thing is a basket case...
OC

Of course, the most important question: do they have a service contract?

[Oystercopy]

Re: C-454e, weird copy quality issue....

Thankfully, no. Only a new billable customer.
OC