MP301 PCU's failing constantly

[Oze]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

Good luck and it won't be too soon for these suckers to finally die out although I have to admit I am not sure what my day would be like without a pile of 301 calls to deal with.

Why you'll be dealing with the joy that is the MP401...dirty led's....blanking strips out on the drum....voids on the dev....replaced one crock of shit for another lol

[anothertech]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

Why you'll be dealing with the joy that is the MP401...dirty led's....blanking strips out on the drum....voids on the dev....replaced one crock of shit for another lol

I kinda like both models, the MP401's run good with the new style drum units and the new firmware loaded. The MP301's run good and are easy to work on. It's just the latest batch of drum units are not lasting as long as usual.

[Klydon]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

Why you'll be dealing with the joy that is the MP401...dirty led's....blanking strips out on the drum....voids on the dev....replaced one crock of shit for another lol

Oh I get to deal with those too. Just not as many of them thankfully.

For those that have not had to replace a broken linkage to the LED array, you have no idea of the fun you are missing and I have been involved with 3 of them.

I have high hopes for the new IM series printers coming out (IM 350), but we shall see. They really have not been out long enough for me to form an opinion on at this point. T

he IM550 looks like a follow on to the MP501-601 and those are a PITA to work on from a tech standpoint of view. Not tech friendly at all and you can tell 501/601 are not a Ricoh manufactured box.

[JayPaul]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

That is true, the MP 501 type is just a Kyocera with a Ricoh badge on it.
As for the MP 401/402's I made a 'how to' cleaning guide for customers when shit gets on the led strip. So far each person I sent it to has successfully done it without any damage and the call was closed. You have to look out for the bit on the part number that shows the month and year of production, I think there was a rtb about it something like any pcu up to february 2019 (0219) was garbage and ones produced after that didn't spray out toner on the left hand side. Don't forget firmware too.
I have put out three IM 350 machines. No faults yet but they are all under 5k mileage so time will tell.
I interviewed a guy from Ricoh a couple of weeks ago and while asking about machine familiarity I mentioned the MP 301 and his reply was 'yep I know them, the ones you always have to take your hoover for' haha my man... hired him.

[Dan G]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

Hi all

Just wanted to find out if anyone has had PCU's failing without reaching yield? for the past couple years now I've noticed this and we have easily replaced over 200 failed units with different issues like stripped gears but mainly background, has anyone found a fix for this? We've tried using 201 PCU's but it still does the same thing, toners are original but I have noticed that they are manufactured in France AND USA. These machines are low mileage, thanks for your assistance.

the fix is replace them and return bad ones for warranty. Works every time

[Oze]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

the fix is replace them and return bad ones for warranty. Works every time

I asked the boss why we don't just return the failed pcdu and he said it was because Ricoh cuts us a deal on the buy price to allow for failures....so it's not worth returning them...apparently

[JayPaul]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

I wonder if he actually does get a discount or is it like when you go to buy a sofa or bed and they always give you 'an extra 15% discount' on top of the '50% off' they already had advertised... when in reality that sofa was never 2 grand anyway and everyone gets the same discount aka the normal selling price behind all the smoke and mirrors.
It's pretty disgraceful that a part could be so shit for so long and nobody has done anything about it.

[FrohnB]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

I asked the boss why we don't just return the failed pcdu and he said it was because Ricoh cuts us a deal on the buy price to allow for failures....so it's not worth returning them...apparently

I have heard the same from my manager. A year or two ago they dropped the price below a certain "threshold" (like $200), so even if it failed early, it didn't "cost enough" to replace with new.

[lukboruta]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

What do you think about idea to rise up the Vts voltage? It will reduce the toner amount in the development, giving more space in it.... and allowing the gears in development to work more smoothly and with less load, less force....

[KeviM]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

OK I read everyone's input and I'm going to give my input. It's a bit different so please don't give me grief about it.

OK so this is what I do,
1) I use a 1515 imaging unit. I've never used brand new in a MP301, always rebuilt. And I change the plastic plate on the front end (closest to the door) this allows the unit to lock into a MP301.
2) When rebuilding I use 165-170 grams of developer type 28. This is less then the normal amount of developer in the unit which I suspect is about 200 grams. This will also help reduce breaking of the developer drive gears and reduce leaking.
3) Always inspect the developer drive gears. They need to be in very good condition otherwise don't use.
4) Before the rebuild take the used unit and hold it above some paper, shake it a little and tap the ends a bit. If you see it dropping developer and toner do not use. (only shake it a little)
5) I do a full rebuild of the important parts in the imaging unit. Drum, developer and cleaning blade. Vacuum the waste out. Clean well. Wipe the charge roller clean.

P. S. My units have lasted over 40k by doing this. Just make sure you use quality parts and change the fuser roller at the same time if possible.

Once the unit is done put it in and initialize. It will produce a good print if done properly.

At this point I put the machine into fixed mode for adding toner. This way there's no background because for some strange reason the machine always seems to add a bit too much toner. Just make sure you know the type of prints your client does. Obviously you don't want your prints coming out too light or dark.

I know it's a strange unorthodox method but it seems to work. Clients don't complain and they do approximately 3000 to 6000 a month.

Hope this helps

[sandmanmac]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

OK I read everyone's input and I'm going to give my input. It's a bit different so please don't give me grief about it.

OK so this is what I do,
1) I use a 1515 imaging unit. I've never used brand new in a MP301, always rebuilt. And I change the plastic plate on the front end (closest to the door) this allows the unit to lock into a MP301.
2) When rebuilding I use 165-170 grams of developer type 28. This is less then the normal amount of developer in the unit which I suspect is about 200 grams. This will also help reduce breaking of the developer drive gears and reduce leaking.
3) Always inspect the developer drive gears. They need to be in very good condition otherwise don't use.
4) Before the rebuild take the used unit and hold it above some paper, shake it a little and tap the ends a bit. If you see it dropping developer and toner do not use. (only shake it a little)
5) I do a full rebuild of the important parts in the imaging unit. Drum, developer and cleaning blade. Vacuum the waste out. Clean well. Wipe the charge roller clean.

P. S. My units have lasted over 40k by doing this. Just make sure you use quality parts and change the fuser roller at the same time if possible.

Once the unit is done put it in and initialize. It will produce a good print if done properly.

At this point I put the machine into fixed mode for adding toner. This way there's no background because for some strange reason the machine always seems to add a bit too much toner. Just make sure you know the type of prints your client does. Obviously you don't want your prints coming out too light or dark.

I know it's a strange unorthodox method but it seems to work. Clients don't complain and they do approximately 3000 to 6000 a month.

Hope this helps

I know it's an old thread, but since it's been re-born, I'll go with it!
This is great info! I've about had it with the PCU's - even the type 1515 that I've always used and previously had excellent success with are a disaster now too .
I was so fed up, that I've actually gone down the road of installing a Generic version of the PCU, and so far I've had better luck than with the Oem's. While I've installed over a dozen in the last few months, I've not had to replace any as yet, so I can't say how long they last exactly, but I've not had any call backs.
As for rebuilding...I appreciate the tips, and I might give that a try too.
It's interesting that you say you're using only 165-170g of toner and have had good success, because according to the label on the bag that my supplier sells for the machine, it's 275g. That's quite a difference, but if it's working well for you, then it only makes sense that it would be much easier on the gears with so much less Dev in the unit.

1515 Dev.jpg

[luca72]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

I know it's an old thread, but since it's been re-born, I'll go with it!
This is great info! I've about had it with the PCU's - even the type 1515 that I've always used and previously had excellent success with are a disaster now too .
I was so fed up, that I've actually gone down the road of installing a Generic version of the PCU, and so far I've had better luck than with the Oem's. While I've installed over a dozen in the last few months, I've not had to replace any as yet, so I can't say how long they last exactly, but I've not had any call backs.
As for rebuilding...I appreciate the tips, and I might give that a try too.
It's interesting that you say you're using only 165-170g of toner and have had good success, because according to the label on the bag that my supplier sells for the machine, it's 275g. That's quite a difference, but if it's working well for you, then it only makes sense that it would be much easier on the gears with so much less Dev in the unit.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49682[/ATTACH]

I on a couple of occasions, I used type28, it worked great👍

[copyaction]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

I know it's an old thread, but since it's been re-born, I'll go with it!
This is great info! I've about had it with the PCU's - even the type 1515 that I've always used and previously had excellent success with are a disaster now too .
I was so fed up, that I've actually gone down the road of installing a Generic version of the PCU, and so far I've had better luck than with the Oem's. While I've installed over a dozen in the last few months, I've not had to replace any as yet, so I can't say how long they last exactly, but I've not had any call backs.
As for rebuilding...I appreciate the tips, and I might give that a try too.
It's interesting that you say you're using only 165-170g of toner and have had good success, because according to the label on the bag that my supplier sells for the machine, it's 275g. That's quite a difference, but if it's working well for you, then it only makes sense that it would be much easier on the gears with so much less Dev in the unit.

[anothertech]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

Ricoh came out with a modified MP301 drum unit a while back, D1272212. Haven't had any fail yet, we'll see.

[sandmanmac]

Re: MP301 PCU's failing constantly

Sure, it's a Genuine Supply Source (GSS) product
Genuine Supply Source Inc. :: Home
But, unfortunately they only distribute across Canada

Ricoh came out with a modified MP301 drum unit a while back, D1272212. Haven't had any fail yet, we'll see.

I did hear about that, but unfortunately, in my case they cost about 50% more than the type 1515 units, and 2.5 times the cost of the generic