Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

[itassist]

Hi all, I'm not a Ricoh technician but I have worked on this machine every now and again.

The machine has started to show some issues with the Cyan (see pattern attached), is it just a matter of replacing the PCDU or could it something else? Having just printed the PM parts list, I can see that both the developer and PCU have reached 310,000 copies (target 270,000).

Thanks all

[fshead]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

You might be better off doing all 4 drums,and a good cleaning.....all at once and then be ready when the fuser starts to go too

[GIUBOSS]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Also clean the glass under each drum unit, I wouldn't be surprised if there was toner spilled. The signs of faded color is also a sign of developer polluted by lumps of toner or fluff. Gently rub the charge rollers.

[itassist]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Yeah, it is really bad in there. I should have said it before, I am not an authorised dealer/technician or other (I hope this forum is not "reserved" to those, apologies if that's the case). I'm an IT guy working for a company, and I have to deal occasionally with printer problems (so my access to tool/spare parts is limited to what's available on the open market).

We used to rely on a Ricoh authorised repair centre here in London, UK but they charge A LOT for something that should cost a fraction.

So I guess my next question is: do I need any special tool for the cleaning procedure?

[davel]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

If all colours are the same count you are going to need all 3 dev unit and 3 colour pcu ( expensive )

[anothertech]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

They charged a lot because I think you will find, there's a lot more to maintaining these printers than one might think.

[itassist]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

They charged a lot because I think you will find, there's a lot more to maintaining these printers than one might think.

[itassist]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

If all colours are the same count you are going to need all 3 dev unit and 3 colour pcu ( expensive )

Yellow PCDU was replaced after only 160,000 copies because of some yellow stripes appearing on the sheets. The other colour (Magenta) is the same count as the Cyan.

[guitar9199]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Yeah, it is really bad in there. I should have said it before, I am not an authorised dealer/technician or other (I hope this forum is not "reserved" to those, apologies if that's the case). I'm an IT guy working for a company, and I have to deal occasionally with printer problems (so my access to tool/spare parts is limited to what's available on the open market).

We used to rely on a Ricoh authorised repair centre here in London, UK but they charge A LOT for something that should cost a fraction.

So I guess my next question is: do I need any special tool for the cleaning procedure?

You DO need a "Special Tool" for cleaning the laser glass. It's the long blue wand inside the front cover. Carefully remove it from the cover, and you'll notice 4 horizontal slots inside the front of the machine right in each PCU unit cover. That will clean the laser glass.

Sometimes you get lucky and that's all it is. Downside is with the volume on that unit, most likely you're looking at replacement. As previously suggested, if you're replacing the Cyan unit, you might want to consider the Magenta one as well (Sounds like Yellow was replaced not that long ago.) 300K is also time to replace the ITB cleaning blade. You're also within about 100K of the Black PCU needing to go, and the Fuser unit needing a rebuild.

This MIGHT be the time to think about looking into a replacement machine if this many PM parts are out of the budget. The model is 7 years old, so it could be time.

[GIUBOSS]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

You offer him two options; one for general cleaning with the time necessary to overhaul the drum units and developments and probably works without a heavy expense but the quality obviously will not be optimal and will not last as if it were replaced. In case you replace the most used or defective drum. In the second solution, instead, all the consumables that are exhausted as maintenance (to be strongly recommended) are inserted. The customer will decide.

[itassist]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

You offer him two options; one for general cleaning with the time necessary to overhaul the drum units and developments and probably works without a heavy expense but the quality obviously will not be optimal and will not last as if it were replaced. In case you replace the most used or defective drum. In the second solution, instead, all the consumables that are exhausted as maintenance (to be strongly recommended) are inserted. The customer will decide.

Thanks, that's what I've done. They asked me to replace the Cyan PCDU and keep an eye on the Magenta, since it's got the same age.

Unfortunately this printer is used to print restaurant menus on heavy paper, lots of colours and repetitive images, so the 310,000 copies are probably not a good indication of how much the printer has actually gone through.

[JayPaul]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Also just to mention, ordering a whole PCDU is so much more expensive than ordering a PCU and the Dev unit separately. Problem for you is it takes a screw driver a bit of experience on these units to put the PCU and Dev unit together.
Does your toner guy sell them as original parts or are they compatible PCU's? If you guys are hammering colour on thick paper, you are correct parts will wear far more than printing emails on 80gsm paper. You could honestly save money leasing a machine with service agreement, you may think ahh that's what they all say but i'm not in sales and I wouldn't be making any money out of it because it's not my company selling you anything. Have a look around at least, you probably have 2 dealers within 30 miles of you.
EDIT - Just noticed you are in London, so probably way more dealers within 10 miles of you and Ricoh have strong presence there.

[itassist]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Also just to mention, ordering a whole PCDU is so much more expensive than ordering a PCU and the Dev unit separately. Problem for you is it takes a screw driver a bit of experience on these units to put the PCU and Dev unit together.
Does your toner guy sell them as original parts or are they compatible PCU's? If you guys are hammering colour on thick paper, you are correct parts will wear far more than printing emails on 80gsm paper. You could honestly save money leasing a machine with service agreement, you may think ahh that's what they all say but i'm not in sales and I wouldn't be making any money out of it because it's not my company selling you anything. Have a look around at least, you probably have 2 dealers within 30 miles of you.
EDIT - Just noticed you are in London, so probably way more dealers within 10 miles of you and Ricoh have strong presence there.

Thanks, discussions about leasing the machine do come up every now and again, but the option is generally dismissed because you can easily compare price per page versus cost of toners if purchased separately, but it's much more difficult to include in the equation cost of parts like fusing unit or drums that may or may not (but in the end do) fail after 300,000 copies (I think I'm talking psychologically here).

Back to your question, I have just looked at this website (I'm not sure if I am allowed to post links) Wide range of products for home and office,

They claim to be Ricoh originals and they did mention that the PCDU may arrive as two separate units (PCU and Dev unit). I did replace the black developer last week and it went well (need to remember not to wear white shirts next time). This probably deserves another thread, but the reason why I had to replace it was because one of the gears was basically flat and was not turning. Couldn't replace just the gear and had to purchase the whole developer unit.

[JayPaul]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Well it's like buying a second hand machine outright and only paying for call outs when needed vs the cost of a 3-5 year lease. If you are lucky you get a machine that just goes the distance without many call outs, if you aren't lucky you have to dish out far money money on call outs and parts. It's almost like insurance but an insurance you know you will be using.
Ok the gear shaving off the back of the dev unit... I will assume you also must empty the waste toner bottle yourself? Just make sure when you pull it out/slide it back in again that the little plastic arm towards the back end of it does not catch on anything and break. If it does, the waste toner bottle will fill up, but the machine won't realise and keep trying to fill it more, clogging up the tubes running along the machine. Gears then can't turn properly and shave off the teeth of the gears turning with them. Highly unlikely but it just rung a bell in my head when you mentioned flat gear.

[fshead]

Re: Print quality problems - Ricoh MP C4503

Well it's like buying a second hand machine outright and only paying for call outs when needed vs the cost of a 3-5 year lease. If you are lucky you get a machine that just goes the distance without many call outs, if you aren't lucky you have to dish out far money money on call outs and parts. It's almost like insurance but an insurance you know you will be using.
Ok the gear shaving off the back of the dev unit... I will assume you also must empty the waste toner bottle yourself? Just make sure when you pull it out/slide it back in again that the little plastic arm towards the back end of it does not catch on anything and break. If it does, the waste toner bottle will fill up, but the machine won't realise and keep trying to fill it more, clogging up the tubes running along the machine. Gears then can't turn properly and shave off the teeth of the gears turning with them. Highly unlikely but it just rung a bell in my head when you mentioned flat gear.

to me this series 03s from mpc3003 are solid boxes and if you keep them clean run well.
If you dont clean them,clean filters and fuser guide you will have issues.
You seem like a nice guy for an IT guy as usually by now we are telling him to take a walk...
If you pull all drums,ITB unit you can see how each drum looks..
And then you can wipe the inside with a damp soft cloth..
There are a bunch of things whenever i pick up a machine.
Not sure how tech savvy you are,as you can muck something if not careful