3035 Blotches/Ghosting

[Caveman]

Having a difficult time troubleshooting a copy quality problem on a 3035. When the customer first begins making copies at the start of the day there are blotches on the copies that clear up as the day goes on. The blotches resemble a charge roller problem - gray and grainy in appearance - they are randomly spread over the copy - no set pattern where the blotches appear - if the blotch is large enough you can see a 'ghost' image of print on the page. I was able to determine that the problem is being generated by the drum -almost as if there is residual being left on the drum - I was able to determine this by rolling the copy to match the ghost image with print on the page - diameter is that of the drum. Spoke to RICOH they suggested that I ground the drum drive shaft where the flywheel attaches. I fabricated a ground plate - however, I am uncertain if this will correct the problem. On each of my visits I have not been able to recreate the problem - the customer has been saving many copies that show the copy quality problem. All SP settings are at default - there have been no voltage changes - drum - cleaning blade and charge roller have less than 25k copies on them.

All suggestions are welcomed - thanks in advance for any input that may help.

Caveman

[Shadow1]

Saw something similar a long time ago and it drove me nuts - appearantly I replaced a bad drum blade with a bad drum blade. New OEM out of the box and it did the same thing. I went back and replaced the drum (old drum only had about 15k, so I didn't touch it to begin with) with no help until I replaced the blade again. I guess it could have been some kind of contamination left over on the old drum, but it killed a new blade.

[schooltech]

How is the quenching lamp working? It sounds as though either the drum is a bit "lazy" or that it is not being quenched enough to clean it.

[Caveman]

Blade/Quenching Lamp

Shadow/Schooltech:

Thanks for the follow-up. As it turns out I wrapped up the call with fabricating a ground plate that I situated on the drum drive shaft where the fly-wheel attaches. However, I also suspected there could be a blade problem so I decided to replace the cleaning blade as well (I have had several bad cleaning blades right out of the box for this series). As far as the quenching lamp, using SP5804 (Output check) I confirmed operation of the quenching lamps - lamp operation tested fine. What I find confusing is that the customer explains that this problem only seems to show up when they first run copies - as the day goes on the problem clears up. I plan on contacting the customer mid-morning to check if the problem has returned.

Have either of you ever found a bad drum ground to cause copy quality problems ? - in all the years that I have worked in the field I have not. RICOH does make a ground plate assy. for this series that I plan on ordering to keep in my car stock.

Thank you very much for taking the time to try and help me with this problem - I will post further entries if I am sent back to continue the troubleshoot.

Caveman

[nmfaxman]

I always got into the habit of cleaning and pulling out every leaf connector every time I pulled the unit out.
Just enough to make sure it made contact.
A clean machine is a happy machine.
These machines run dirty, but good CQ if you know the tricks.

[Caveman]

Leaf Connector?

nffaxman:

What is a leaf connector? As far as maintaning clean units I consider my work extremely thorough - the smudge marks that I detailed in this thread go well beyond simply cleaning the unit. Please explain the leaf connector adjustment you are referring to.

Thank you for your help.

Caveman

[schooltech]

I wonder if there is some sort of weird condensation or some other environmental issue affecting the drum only in the morning?

I think that nmfaxman is referring to all of the connectors surrounding the drum, in case a spot of toner or something got onto it and causes intermittent connectivity. But, I do not know of the specific leaf connector although I may be familiar of this connector by a different name or description.

I have occasionally replaced the drum ground bearing, but more for maintenance rather than an actual problem. On the big segment 6 boxes (85-105cpm) they had the drum shaft assemblies get flaky and cause intermittent black copies. Replacing this assembly fixed the problem, so that was the only real drum ground problem I've ran across. I guess I've been lucky as I've been working on these for about nine years, so I'm familiar with the Ricoh family.

[Zoren]

my question to u is when did it start.... coz from the way i read it here you may have a moist toner problem...

you said it already it only starts during the start of the day work.....

your toner could be moist somehow... during the 1st hour of work u said it start to make ghostly images and as the day goes by it starts to clear meaning your ghostly images disappear gradually... w/c also means your copier is morethan hot enough to make the inside of the machine clear of humidity. same thing in paper if its moist you get also ghostly images on its copy print.... but if you try to make copy again on that same paper you have good copy...


check dehumidifier maybe its not working...

[Shadow1]

I'm betting it's thermal - as the machine gets used the slight amount of extra internal heat softens up the drum blade...

[Shadow1]

Have either of you ever found a bad drum ground to cause copy quality problems ? - in all the years that I have worked in the field I have not. RICOH does make a ground plate assy. for this series that I plan on ordering to keep in my car stock.

Usually by the time I see a bad drum ground the plate won't do much good as the bearing is rough and will soon cause other problems. I usually get calls for grey / faded bands, but a bad ground can affect the process controls long before this stage. A lot of over/under toned issues are related to bad drum ground / developer bias connection problems. (except the MP3500/4500 and MP4000/5000 which are just stupid engineering problems)

[Caveman]

I want to thank everyone for offering their help with this problem.

As it turns out, I continue to have a problem with copy quality (ONLY WHEN UNIT IS FIRST USED AT BEGINNING OF DAY). Yesterday, I fabricated a ground plate to the drum shaft and replaced the cleaning blade (Drum-cleaning blade and charge roller have all recently been replaced less than 25k copies back). The unit is running extremely clean - excellent copy quality / sharp contrast - solids are dense - fill is consistent throughtout copy - exposure is at factory spec.

I agree with those of you who believe this is thermally related - as the machine warms up there is a condition change that helps to clear the problem - locating the problem area however is proving to be the real challenge. I decided to contact RICOH tech support again today in anticipation of my return to this machine in the morning - the rep I spoke to is leaning in the area of the charge roller contacts and bushings. I am considering to pick up a high voltage board and PSU as well as all contact leads to the charge roller etc. from another unit to see if the condition changes. My first line of thinking was that this was mechanical in nature - however, I am now leaving open the possibility that this electrically related in some way.

To again detail the type of problem I am troubleshooting - smudge/blotch marks on copy that are lite gray and very grainy - they resemble a charge roller problem - sporadic - no set pattern - if smudge is large enough you can see a ghost image of print on the page being copied - happens only when the copier is first used after sitting overnight.


This is the first time I have encountered a copy quality problem of this type.


Any suggestions are welcomed - I appreciate everyones time in offering their assistance with resolving this problem.

Thank you-

Caveman

[Shadow1]

Try plugging up the damp heaters - check the book, there's usually 2 ways to connect them. The default is to only operate with main switch off, the better way is to turn them on anytime the machine is not completely powered up. Long shot, but it might help.

[rictech]

Leaf connector

Probably talking about the ground connectors inside the drum. Look into back of the drum, there's 2 spring metal contacts inside that contact the drum shaft. You can reach in there with a heavy duty spring hook tool (not a small captive type), or a heavy duty paper clip with a hook bent on the end of it, and pull on them to bend them a little so they'll make more solid contact with the drum shaft. I have seen that help ocassionally, usually with intermittent banding.