Ricoh lube bar general question

[tsbservice]

Hi experts.
I constantly read about lube bars in this subforum. I never seen one as Brother and KonMin also older Toshy don't have these. My understanding is that Ricoh supreme drum life is due this lube bar is giving drums less friction with cleaning blades and charge rollers thus drum coating wears slowly.
I must admit that my theory isn't well based cuz I have zero Ricoh service manuals to read.
Please enlighten me.

[mikadonovan]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

My understanding is that Ricoh supreme drum life is due this lube bar is giving drums less friction with cleaning blades and charge rollers thus drum coating wears slowly.

Yep. It rides directly on top of the brush, and if you let it wear to nothing drum failure follows shortly after.

[zed255]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Before lube bars we would actually use auto polish like Nu-Finish to make the OPC last longer. It was important it was one of the synthetic ones, not actual wax. Worked surprisingly well.

[UNICORNico]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

If I'm honest with you, I've been replacing the "lubricant bars" for a long time.
Katun has some spare parts for this one, for some models.
What I do is order a few, I remove them (this with a lot of difficulty and extreme delicacy) from the original support and with two-sided adhesive, I place it on the support of the worn "lubricant bar". Then it's just the typical thing, clean up and keep working.

[mrwho]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

I remove them (this with a lot of difficulty and extreme delicacy)

Tried it once, didn't go well. Fell apart like a crumbling sandcastle.

[slimslob]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Hi experts.
I constantly read about lube bars in this subforum. I never seen one as Brother and KonMin also older Toshy don't have these. My understanding is that Ricoh supreme drum life is due this lube bar is giving drums less friction with cleaning blades and charge rollers thus drum coating wears slowly.
I must admit that my theory isn't well based cuz I have zero Ricoh service manuals to read.
Please enlighten me.

The MP C2550/C2551 model lines did not have a lube bar. Recommended drum replacement was only 60K. At about 90K the OPC surface would actually be completely worn off by the cleaning blade.

[UNICORNico]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Tried it once, didn't go well. Fell apart like a crumbling sandcastle.

In honor of the truth, e to say that:
- I have a bracket where I hold the metal part
- A hair dryer that allows you to place yourself in the position that best suits me
- When the set is "al dente" (like the Italian paste xD) I try to balance the bar, so that the adhesive takes off.
- A thin and resistant wire, to shave if the adhesive resists.

[qbert69]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Before lube bars we would actually use auto polish like Nu-Finish to make the OPC last longer. It was important it was one of the synthetic ones, not actual wax. Worked surprisingly well.

Even with the Lube Bar, you still have to use the NuFinish Silicone Seal/Polish as the high voltage creates Ozone which in turn oxidizes the surface of the charge roller (not the rubber ones, but the hard ones!) thus making edge-to-edge lines on the printouts!!!

[FrohnB]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

The MP C2550/C2551 model lines did not have a lube bar. Recommended drum replacement was only 60K. At about 90K the OPC surface would actually be completely worn off by the cleaning blade.

Slim, maybe you're thinking of another model?
MP C2550/2551 DO have lube bars (little dinky ones). Those drums start that constant (super high-pitched) squeak when the lube bar is used up.

EDIT: They even made modified springs (stronger) for those lube bars as a "countermeasure" to the squeaking, but they only made them quiet for a short time longer.

[RustySprocket]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

A Ricoh production tech I learned to work on copiers from would take the lube bar springs and stretch them out just a little. Get 50% more life out of the bar. He never noticed any shortening of life from the drum with this either.

[copier tech]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Hi experts.
I constantly read about lube bars in this subforum. I never seen one as Brother and KonMin also older Toshy don't have these. My understanding is that Ricoh supreme drum life is due this lube bar is giving drums less friction with cleaning blades and charge rollers thus drum coating wears slowly.
I must admit that my theory isn't well based cuz I have zero Ricoh service manuals to read.
Please enlighten me.

Ricoh really do have something with these lube bars.

For example the Ricoh MP C3003 is an office MFD the PM life is for black drum is 400k Colour 270K however they often go past this without any print quality issues.

Or the Pro C5110 series these drum PM is a million & still most often go over not effecting the print quality.

[ABS tect]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

In honor of the truth, e to say that:
- I have a bracket where I hold the metal part
- A hair dryer that allows you to place yourself in the position that best suits me
- When the set is "al dente" (like the Italian paste xD) I try to balance the bar, so that the adhesive takes off.
- A thin and resistant wire, to shave if the adhesive resists.

Wow...if only i had that patience. I think i would get yelled at for taking that much time on one of these

[tsbservice]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Ricoh really do have something with these lube bars.

For example the Ricoh MP C3003 is an office MFD the PM life is for black drum is 400k Colour 270K however they often go past this without any print quality issues.

Or the Pro C5110 series these drum PM is a million & still most often go over not effecting the print quality.

With such a hardware what you guys do in therms of service. Normal office would end of life these machines before time to change any drums etc.
I have old plan to experiment with NuFinish products upon recommendations from Phil and other members. Must give it a go.

[copier tech]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

With such a hardware what you guys do in therms of service. Normal office would end of life these machines before time to change any drums etc.
I have old plan to experiment with NuFinish products upon recommendations from Phil and other members. Must give it a go.

Well it all goes down to numbers & copy count costs.

In theory the first significant part you'll need to replace on say a 3003 is a colour PCU, or worst case all 3.

So after 270k colour prints how much has this machine made you in clicks?

Personally I replace the charge rollers at around 200K this seems to prolong the PCU life.

[mrwho]

Re: Ricoh lube bar general question

Wow...if only i had that patience. I think i would get yelled at for taking that much time on one of these

I generally agree, but once I was with a Pro machine stopped because I didn't have a lube bar with me. In that situation, I usually cheat the system so the machine can work for a day or two until I go back and replace the offending lube bar - but it was Friday, I wouldn't get back with the new bar next monday or tuesday, and the customer was going to print tens of thousands of pages over the weekend - that's when I tried to adapt a lube bar from another machine as a stopgap solution (without success).