Ricoc Aficio 1232c color copy/print problem

[Guest]

I have a Ricoh Aficio 1232C that prints colors very poorly in the top 1/4 of the page. Please see the attached sample. I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I have a second unit that is almost complete for spares, but I don't know what to change.

This scan is rotated 90% so it is showing up on the right of this document.

Shawn

[Cipher]

Remove the PCU.

You will be able to see the condition of the OPC belt, transfer belt and all the dev unit rollers then, chances are it's one of them.

And if you do that you may as well check / clean the laser scan glass, and the charge grid and corona wire while your at it.
That would just leave the fuser and optics left to check.

[Shadow1]

PCU is shot. Don't replace it - Do yourself a favor and push the entire machine off a very high building, then see if you can make your spare land on top of it. These machines have an absolutely pitiful reputation, and they have earned every bit of it.

[Jomama46]

Might also be a dirty grid.

[nmfaxman]

Looks like a bad cyan DV unit.
Run some greyscale tests on each color.
These DV units tend to leak developer.
I agree with Shadow1.

[Lagonda]

My guess is the cyan dev unit is sticking in its track and not pulling in evenly. Try cleaning the grooves the dev units sit in.
If you take Shadow1's option please post the video clip!!!

[Rorschach]

My guess is the cyan dev unit is sticking in its track and not pulling in evenly. Try cleaning the grooves the dev units sit in.
If you take Shadow1's option please post the video clip!!!

I think this might be on the right track, so to speak. But I'd go one further, and pull the dev unit out and turn the shaft that the two gears ride on by hand a bit. If the gears aren't meshing properly with the development unit, you'll see similar effects.

Per TSB 015R.

I also agree with Shadow1. I absolutely hate to work on these things.

[KopyKat]

I'd have to whole heartedly agree with Shadow on pushing it of the building!! LOL And I'd love to see the video of that as well.

If you insist on punishing yourself by trying to make one good one out of two, start by making single color copies in each of the four colors. That will isolate it to the dev unit (cyan is what it looks like to me.)

But in my experience you can't make one good one out of 250 spares. They were crap from the minute they rolled off the assembly line.

[Shadow1]

Cyan is definitely the worst, but Magenta is also missing at some points down the side - might be both developers, but PCU is more likely. Actually PCU and all 4 developers is more likely, but that's beside the point.

If you don't have a tall enough building in your territory C4 also works well. Small arms fire isn't very impressive unless you use 12ga. deer slugs. Personally, I'd like to roll one down the side of a mountain. Put it on YouTube and it will be the next viral video - guaranteed hits from every tech in the world

[mrgoodcopy]

Chech the mirror motor, I had a problem where the edge of the mirror had a build-up of dust in it. It gave me the same type of copy quality problem.

[Cosmos-Controller]

For all of the above mentioned could be the reason, or even combinations...
Don't waste your time on this one. Better take both to the junkyard and have a little fun

[royd]

Just shake the cyan developer sideways till there come somtoner out
That will fix your problem