Ricoh 3235c color copy quality

[JOEYSULLIVAN]

I am an old Dog, taking on my first color copier. I have 30 years fixing ANY/ALL black & white copiers.
I have a Ricoh 3235C copier with 60k total meter and customer complaint is the color copies are too light vs. the original.
The copies look slightly faded and appear less dense then the original, is what i see.
Is the p/m schedule of 60k drum life and 52k developer yield that acurate and critical in order to maintain descent copy color density? I did recalibrate color in the SP user tools, and also stepped up the density settings, which slightly improved the copy color density fill.

[RicohTech_TurksCaicos]

B178/B180

PM 60k

Development

PCU R x4

B202 is at 52k

Also do the cleaning unit and then perform

Do a forced line position adjustment (SP5-993-002 or

 > Maintenance > Color

Registration) after you replace the transfer belt-cleaning unit. And do't forget to the do sp mode when you place new pcu's and dev units

[Polo-022]

1. Optics cleaning
2. Laser slit glasses cleaning.(there are 4 of them).
3. Charge roller cleaning on every P.C.U
4. ID sensors.
Then perform Color Calibration procedure.

[E Winter]

If you prefer NOT to install new units first you can try to perform a toner refresh via sp mode (I think its somewhere in SP2xx or SP3xx) plus cleaning the parts mentioned by the previous poster of course. These machines tends to become lighter if they are used in low volume enviroments.

You can also test the engine via printer sp -> test pattern -> color chart

[Fearless V K]

Had one where I tried everything, then ended up cleaning the poly mirrors, but that one was faded on one side only.

[Copierdocisleofman]

As everthing polo posted.

Also you can print off individual colour prints using the test pattern print in mode in the SP's - the chequered flag is a good one to checked densitys, it will also give you an idea as to whether it is optics or not.
I have found the drums/devs will do over there life by a good bit without any significant problems.

[Shadow1]

Yes, but one of the hallmarks of worn developer is weak solids. Unfortunately, one of the hallmarks of Ricoh's crappy new process control firmware is also weak solids (especially Black)

Bottom line: If it's at PM and you're having problems, PM it.

Especially true if you're new to the machine.

Double Especially True if you're new to color. The human eye is sensitive to somewhat more than 250 shades of grey, so you can hide a lot of shortcuts in a B/W machine. Your eye is sensitive to almost 17 MILLION colors - If it ain't perfect, you WILL see it, and so will your customer.