Kyocera C3225 random colored lines

[JtheCopyGuy]

Hi guys this one is seriously stumping me.
C3225 that works just fine 99% of the time. And by 99% I mean literally out of 100 copies in the shop I got 1 with this error. We get colored streaks down the page, usually 1 or 2, from what I've seen they are magenta but the customer claims the color is random. The streaks run along the alignment of the drum.
So far we've opened the machine and cleaned everything, ran all of the machines internal cleaning, etc. Visually inspected the parts. Yet still 1 out of every 100 copies or so we hit a copy with odd colored lines.
I'll get an example put up on this post later today.
Any help would be great!

[blackcat4866]

My guess is that you've got one or more contaminated charge rollers. As a test, run sim 089 "Gray", interrupt, then print a monocolor ledger size print in Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Black.

You'll be able to immediately identify the troublesome charge roller. Cleaning only works if the rollers are only lightly dirty. Most likely you'll need to replace the appropriate primary charge assembly. =^..^=

[JtheCopyGuy]

Ok, tried that and all 4 came out solid with no real obvious defects in the color.
I'm doing some more testing this afternoon to see if a specific kind of job causes it.
Next idea is just a PM to replace the drums/devs/charge units.

[lorenrupe]

random colored lines

I have seen random colored lines when copying thru the document feeder. They were caused by dirty optics as after I cleaned the optics and the slit glass then they went away. Test by just running copies from the glass and see if you still have the problem then try thru the Document Feeder.

[blackcat4866]

Please attach scans of the 089 test prints and your customers samples. =^..^=

[JtheCopyGuy]

Ok, the customer reports that this issue shows up with PRINTING or COPYING so I'm thinking it's not an issue with the glass/ADF. But I could be wrong.
Here are the examples of 1. the issue and 2. the 089 in cyan, yellow, magenta, and grey.

[blackcat4866]

I don't have a drum handy to measure, but dimensionally is sounds about right.

152 mm interval / 3.14159265 = 48.383 mm roller diameter

I'd start with the magenta drum unit for a drum ground issue (assuming that your scan660_000.pdf fed in the letter direction, not LTR-R).

[Cirrus]

This is the developer units. The original voyagers had a defect with the units where the bushings on the charge roller is to weak and they crack. All of our voyagers before the e-series had to have these units replaced. The new units were made with thicker bushings. I have never had one of the new ones crack.

[aabarnes1]

Have you upgraded the firmware on this, looking at your network status page it would appear to be a very old version?

[rich2764]

C3225 magenta lines etc

Looking at your samples, there are two separate faults but related to the same thing. First, I would go for a contaminated charge roller caused by a build up of waste toner backed up behind the cleaning blade. These drum units on these machines have a poor design when it comes to waste toner removal. On the charge assembly there is a small cleaning felt brush which supposedly cleans the charge roller but does not when it becomes contaminated due to the waste area behind the drum cleaning blade getting full and compacted, therefore contaminates the cleaning brush which contaminates the charge roller. I suggest you remove each charge roller on each drum and strip them down. By this I mean remove the black insulator at the front of the charge assembly and remove the rollers. Look for a spring and a white square bushing, and using a flat blade screwdriver, gently remove the spring and lift the bushing out and remove it from both shafts of the charge roller and cleaning brush roller respectively. Then, remove the charge roller and brush by pulling away gently. Make sure you don't lose the small drive gear that is fixed to the other end of the cleaning roller. Now you will see the amount of toner in the chamber which needs to be vacuumed out and then wiped with a damp cloth and leave to dry. Vac the brush and then get to work on the charge roller. New rollers are dark grey-black and I guess yours will be a light shade of grey. Also the surface of the roller may be streaky. Now there is some controversy about how these rollers can be cleaned. Water and soap solutions have been all tried but this does not last long. Clean the roller thoroughly with IPA to remove the dirt and toner, then apply a very light coating of silicone oil making sure you keep polishing it until dry. Now the roller should be back to it's original dark colour. Another web site mentions using a wax car polish called 2001 but I have not tried this. Re-assemble the charge assembly.

Secondly the drum units themselves. Remove the drum from the housing by removing the white clip and push the rod slightly. Turn the drum slowly so that the lock pin can fall out of the hole in the shaft. Remove the shaft and then remove the drum. (Wrap drum in a cloth bag or a few sheets of A3.) Remove the three screws holding the cleaning blade and you will now get to see the cause of your troubles. Heaps of compacted toner! Vac along the sponge roller and metal areas. Then with a small flat blade, remove the gear from the sponge roller shaft. Gently remove the felt (at the gear end) covering the bushing which has double sided tape holding it down. The sponge roller can now be removed along with two metal agitator spirals. Vac all the waste toner found. Lastly, remove the metal curved plate by turning over the drum assembly and locating the two lips that clip the unit into place. Once this plate is removed, a mountain of toner will come away and two more metal agitators which are slightly smaller in size. Vac out the chambers and then refit all the items back.. OK, you could order some new drums, but by doing this only takes fifteen minutes therefore saving you money.