c352 staple not aligned

[mrfuser]

Legal staples fine, letter does not. First page comes out and back in finisher correctly, after that the next pages do not get pulled back in finisher far enough to staple properly so it misses them and staples first page only. Does not show a jam at all.

Any ideas?

Kelly

[Stirton.M]

Check the paddles that flip the paper into the guide, they may be extremely worn or warped or the holder has been broken. To access them, slide out the finisher. The cover on the right side of the vertical section, two screws. Remove the panel, in the middle you should see a plastic bushing type of holder with two rubber paddles attached to it sitting on a steel shaft.

If the holder itself has been broken, that is, a locating pin that sits in a hole on the shaft has been sheered off, there is little you can do but replace the holder. Newer ones have little hex screws to hold the item in place now, but the older type had little else than that locating pin. You could theoretically modify the holder with a set of screws yourself I suppose...when in a pinch kind of thing.

As for the paddles, the ends get worn after a while and these are also replaced, usually with the holder. Alternative measure is to get some mylar with double sided tape, cut a suitable sized piece and attach it over the existing mylar already on the paddle. Don't go too stiff, you want these to give a little so they don't squash the paper into the staple registration guides.

Also, these finishers are often not set up correctly and properly balanced, or the stand itself has been damaged. Inspect the stand, ensure that none of the spot welds has been broken for the lower caster section...should be obvious. Also, if the casters or the plates they sit in are broken (welds here) or bent, you need to repair them, or replace the broken parts.

That said, if opening the finisher and closing it (slide to the left or to the right), you find that it is difficult in either direction, especially when closing the finisher, adjust the outside (left side as you look at the front of the finisher) casters to put upwards pressure. This will tilt the entire unit (theoretically) clockwise towards the main body. Generally when I do this, I kind of get my back under the upper portion of the stand and push up with my body to raise the finisher enough to turn the caster screws out. No need to lift entire machine, just enough pressure to make it easy to adjust the casters a little and then test the results. Basically, the finisher should slid closed with almost zero effort aside from inertia and lock into place. If you find you have to push on the finisher to get it to lock into place, this adjustment is needed.

The whole point of this last part is to ensure a decent angle on the staple registration is present, to allow the paper to better fall into place, in spite of the paddle operation.

Also, on the tray that the majority of the staples may be done, if there are two plastic "speed bumps" (these are obvious, only ONE tray out of the mix will have these stupid things), remove them and trash these. Absolutely useless crap. These will cause other issues related to jams due to paper stacking...basically, paper (letter, long edge feed for example) sits in between these and the ends curve upwards. As more paper stacks, the more pronounced the curve and eventually it will cause excessive drag on any paper exiting the finisher and cause a misfeed.

[SmellsHot]

If Stirton's post is to lengthy, just replace the exit paddle!

[emujo]

Come on, that's not very funny (excuse me while I clean up the milk that just poured out of my nose). Emujo

[mrfuser]

Does anyone have part number for the paddle?

Seems strange that legal works fine, but letter is a no go!

Thanks

Kelly

[SmellsHot]

Paddles 9j08160501
Holder 9j08160201
be careful with the holder its plastic and the nub can break off...might wanna get 2 of em there cheap

[Stirton.M]

9J08 9109 00 is the one we use, from the 519 manual. Breaking the nub is no longer an issue as these come with two hex screws which can lock the thing into place. Positioning might be a bit of an issue, but not hard to deal with. I think, but cannot verify, the holder Smellshot references also has this modification, don't have that type in my kit.

mrfuser, what I was talking about in my post above regarding the balance of the machine, resolves that problem. It increases the angle of the exit trays to assist the paper as it settles back to the alignment plates. Legal paper, the way it feeds out, and of course, the little extra weight, helps with it settling into place. My guess is if you run letter through short edge feed, you will see that it should also align better than long edge feed. Without this adjustment, the paddles have to work all that much harder to assist in registration.

[SmellsHot]

Stirton,
Thats great to know about the newer holder with the screws....i seem to always bust those stupid nubs off.....

[Stirton.M]

Ya, me too....nothing more frustrating than dealing with a part so fragile to begin with and having to replace it only to break it when installing. The plastic is a different material too if I recall.

[mrfuser]

Re: c352 staple not aligned

Adjusted balance fixed it