C353 waste toner supply nightmare

[Sam Tofu]

We just had issue with a C353 black toner. They had message to replace toner. Then just got "warming up" wouldn't come to ready.
Had OEM in it and replaced it with OEM.

After resetting the trouble then there was a slight gear grinding sound by rear of fuser area and sound like a solenoid not engaging so gear slipping. Then trouble code said replace waste toner.

Waste toner was almost empty. reseated checked IU, Toner etc. Still gear noise with a sound like a gear slipping due to too much back pressure.
We eliminated fuser and transfer belt as possible problem.

Appeared to be toner back up in the cleaning auger .
Nothing in manual about accessing toner cleaning system (I later found out why)

To isolate what was causing - hours later having disassembled 3 layers of boards, motors frames and housing got to the toner cleaning system to test- took off interface gear and when hand turn waste supply could tell the toner clean system was binding. HOWEVER, to get the actual toner clean system out, we we have started dismantling from the front and can't really see what all has to come out. Appears may have to pull more from the right side or probably take out all supports for the IU's and the under supports for the toners. However, then there appears to be another section blocking the waste toners.

Looking in the parts manual, the waste toner supply isn't just one section it is a series of smaller components. (Almost seems that the waste supply feed system might have been the very first item added to the frame

Hopefully someone on this forum has already solved the dismantle nightmare and shed a little light

Thanks in advance

[Sam Tofu]

Can't figure out how to edit my thread.
So main question is:
HAS ANYONE RUN INTO THIS SITUATION and have any tips? on getting to waste toner supply system?

[Stirton.M]

Sorry for the long delay.

Unfortunately, there is no simple method to dealing with the cleaning system on this machine. It is an involved process. Pretty much, what you see is what you get regarding doing this repair. Pack a lunch and a short stool. Refer to the service manual on disassembly of the items around it. It has been a very long time since I've had to deal with this, so I cannot advise what to remove. The service manual does not mention the cleaning system auger in any way, so the repair of this item is a lot of guessing what needs to be removed. If I recall, most of it is contained inside the back metal frame, sandwiched between the rear frame and transfer belt/image units.

Wish I could tell you more.

If you search the archives here, you may find other posts related to the problem you have.

[Sam Tofu]

Thanks - I did search and found a few threads on similar Kon Min with similar problems. Seems one fashioned a long vacuum tube and shutter release to get some of the toner out.

We did knock and bang on tubes while other tech was turning gear in back. Maybe vacuuming will help

Still not certain if we have to come from front or from right side or both to get to the next "phase" guess it is just one of those.

Thanks again

[abilashvk]

Dear Friend,
Faced a similar problem of breaking sound in a C-352. In my case, customer removed waste toner box, for emptying it & some how lost the spring on the opening of transfer belt waste collecting portion(that's what I assume).He put it back resulting in a closed/blocked waste toner removal mech of transfer belt Cleaning, eventually transfer belt cleaning Auger broke (mean while sound was also there, but he neglected as , he was in a hurry& getting prints also.
To remove this cleaning system pipe from back side, you have to remove the PWB-mech., on left hand rear( facing from front display portion).There's you will see a slit through which you can remove a screw of the cleaning pipe.Before that as you know, whole back side PCB'S, fans & front side Laser heads & all..should be removed.It's a bit tedious. Hope you might have a clogged/cake of waste in there causing drive issue.

[Sam Tofu]

Thank you -we are going back out to (distant remote location) Monday and will check out the tips . Thanks again

[CKiiza]

Now if this is wat i think it is, C352 should have the same toner/waste toner drive mechanism or well the architecture as is C353.
If this is the case, then it probably wouldn't be necessary to open the back end of the machine. all you had to do was remove the output tray and look at the toner inlets to the toner conveyance section, under normal circumstances they should be empty not full with toner to the brim. any is full to the brim, then, that's the cause of your nightmare. the remedy is a 25-30 minute's procedure.
Remove the front cover to gain access to the PH area, remove the transfer belt and led erasers. depending on the color u find full open the toner conveyance shutter of the respective color and either poke out the toner duct and if u have a vacuum cleaner that can access the duct it will be helpful unless the toner has solidified inside the duct. remove the toner from the lower side(outlet to IU) and inlet. then turn the transfer belt drive gear in the machine's (working state) direction of flow and see if the noise still is there. if it is the drive will get hard at some point so try to run it harder so that it clears the residue toner in the conveyance unit.

[Sam Tofu]

Thanks!!! Customer had just put in BLK toner when this happened and I did notice that duct was full to brim. I tapped with 24" screw driver and hand turned gear drive. It did get better but since still problem I looked for more further down the line problems in the toner conveyance.

I will take out vacuum and approach with and UPBEAT Optimism :-)

[Jaymak]

Re: C353 waste toner supply nightmare

Hi Techs,

This Problem has happened to me twice on the C353. It looks like it happens when you need to replace a full waste toner box. In all the cases i have to strip the machine.
Just trying to find out if the is a simpler way to clear the noise. and stop it from completely happening.

[EarthKmTech]

Re: C353 waste toner supply nightmare

i have had on 2 occasions new, genuine toner bottles from KM contain black plastic drilled out slugs from the manufacturing process inside. The first time it happened the machine went back to the workshop where someone spent a week stripping it down to remove the blockage in the toner hopper. It would not budge under any circumstances.

I had it happen on a second machine a couple years later and that machine I had sent for scrapping.