6010 Light Copies

[User Name]

Having light copy issues with a 6010 and a 3520. I know it's happening because not enough toner is being added to the developer, but not sure why that is. So far I've changed the Developer, Developer Unit, Toner Hoper, and the Drum out of desperation on both.

I can force feed the machines toner with F4-52 and that darkens them up for about 1000 pages but then the toner runs out and the copies get light again.

Also tried Adjusting F6-19, F6-21, and F6-26. F6-21 and F6-26 darkened them up for a little longer (2000 pages) but eventually the light copies returned.

I'm somewhat new to the copier world but I've been fixing these things for about a year now and this is the first thing that I couldn't solve. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[lloider1]

I have this same problem with about seven out of my thirty-five 6010s I service.

I have played with all the same settings you did and more. I have also tried different SPCs, drum sensor, DRV, LVPS. Turning off the Quantum didn't help. I called Pana support once and was given a few F6 settings to change that didn't help.

Sometimes a machine might actually run a few months before it acts up. But most of the time it only makes it 2 to 3k before it fades out.

I have tried rezeroing the F5/6 and then doing F8-9/14 with fresh developer without avail. Redid firmware. I have also added wall EMI/Voltage protectors.

I have googled this problem and seen other techs having this same problem. I have tried some of their cures that supposedly worked for them, but not for me. My problem machines mostly use the new style Pana-brand toner with two using no-brand. Somehow I want to blame Panasonic for messing with their original toner in the first place.

Sorry I can't give more positive help.

[User Name]

I was hoping other techs were having this problem as well, just so I could know that this was not our own isolated incedent. We're starting to have other machines starting to show signs of this problem, and this is a big deal for us because a majority of the machines we service are 35-10 to 60-20s.

We've tried more than I've listed but I can't remember them all because my coworker has also been trying different things without success. But there has to be some common link here. We have four of these things at one location which all use the same toner yet only one has light copies.

So if you're using genuine Panasonic toner in some and still having the issue, that rules out the possibility of it being the toner we use from Katun. Well, we're still trying to figure it out so if we find anything that works I'll post it.

Good Luck!

[jsz57]

light copies

I am having the same issue with light copies. I have concluded the the problem might be in the spc board not reading a low toner level. If it was the toner hopper you would receive an low or out of toner message. I have 2 units doing the same thing. I am also going to update and or reinstall the firmware, as it can get corrupted. I will let you know how it work out.

[lloider1]

I have changed the SPC on at least two of the machines with no change.

I think as long as there is toner in the hopper, (or thinks that there is toner in the hopper) it normally will never tell you to "add toner." Now if it was the reverse and overtoning, you would probably get an E3-40 error.

In my last visit I plugged in a hopper toner sensor and let it hang out of the hopper completely. I would have thought the machine would have told me to add toner, but it didn't. My next step is to do this to a machine that is working properly and see if it behaves different.

Changing the SPC still seems like it should be a logical solution Jsz, and I really hope it works for you!

[jsz57]

Light copies

Thanks for that, I may have to be ready to look elsewhere then. I am sure that it is a logic issue though. When I run F8-09. F6-21 does change so the toner sensor is working, it just is not getting or reading a low toner signal.

[onetek]

I also had issues with the new pana toner.(we only use pana toner,drum and dev).What work for me was:
Empty all hopper and dev unit, make sure my doctor blade gap were at 0.6mm,refill with new dev, zero my f6-17,f6-19, f6-62,turn off f5-24(not necessary on latest machines with latest firmware).Then I did f8-09, then f8-14. After that I printed about 30 black copies, to check if the solids were constant. If going light, increase f6-62, if too dark,decrease f6-62.
On 6010 series,my dev rarely goes beyond 160k, but on the 8060, I can keep it much longer.Of course, I replace my coronas every 120k....onepanatek.

[lloider1]

Thank you Onetek. I will have to wait to later to measure the doctor blade gap. I have fixed some of the other machines that were running slightly "lightish" by doing what you said on the other settings. Also F6-26 sometimes helped.

I did just get back from plugging in a hopper toner sensor outside of the hopper on a good running machine. Right away the hopper rotated the tube and it took about a 150 copies to say "add toner."

Since my one bad machine that I just did this to did not call for toner, I am now suspecting there is no toner in the hopper, and the machine does not know it. I will have to wait for the next machine to deplete itself and look inside.

Of course the hopper sensor goes right to the SPC board that has been replaced on two machines doing this.

[onetek]

You can also easily check if you toner supply is reacting to tdc inputs:
print f5/f6 for reference, then turn quantum off in f5-25, then get f6-21 to a high value (like +30 points) and make black copies in f3 mode. You should see you copies getting darker and darker if your tdc sensor and hopper sensor are ok...

[lloider1]

I will try that F6-21 test too.

But that won't be until the beginning of next week, since I am off work for a long weekend and the machines need some time to run out of toner.

Thanks for everyones help and have a great Thanksgiving!

[Greg2003]

We have had 35/45/60 series machines running light. We modified the toner hopper home position disc to allow the hopper to turn a slight bit more. So far that has taken care of our problems.

Greg