Band of Magenta going across the page even when printing black, Drum shows it also

[patterson]

My customer has this 1 1/4" band of semi-solid magenta going across the page hoizonally. Happens no matter what, even the fish demo page as well as when printing black only. I had replaced the developers recently and this did not happen for awhile afterward, so I do not suspect them yet. When I look inside at teh drum it has the band of solid toner on it also, does not go away even after printing is finished. It just stays there I guess. Drums had been replaced recently also. Can't figure out if it is the drum, the magenta developer went bad, a bad toner or is there a charge corona that went bad involved? I am a tech but not very experienced yet. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[totoro]

It would help to know what model you're referring to, but I would suspect a bad drum cleaning blade, especially if you can see a line on the drum itself. Very common on the 2238C and 3245C copiers.

[patterson]

Oops, it's a Ricoh AP 3800c color model

left that out...

[patterson]

Ok, thanks for the advice, appreciate that. I guess I will unbox a drum from the set of three, hate to break them up at the cost of these but what can I do? Can't swap them around and check I don't think, or can that be done? I know the developers are color specific but are the color drums? Probably too late to do that though?

[Koosie]

Yes, you can swap the drum units around. Also, remove the drum from the drum unit and clean the charge roller and cleaning blade. Maybe something is stuck on the cleaning blade.

[rednecktech]

It would help to know what model you're referring to, but I would suspect a bad drum cleaning blade, especially if you can see a line on the drum itself. Very common on the 2238C and 3245C copiers.

I tend to agree with totoro. Sounds to me like the magenta cleaning blade is failing if you can see the band on the drum. The cleaning blade isn't wiping the drum clean as it sould, leaving a band. Let us know what you find.

[patterson]

Going out there today, thanks for the help from all. Will let you know.

[zyqwiz]

You should fit a whole set, otherwise you will forever be on site changing drums cos they are out of sync. They are customer fit anyway so show them how to do it then send them - saves a trip out!

[patterson]

You guys were absolutely correct, I installed a new drum and all is well. I suspect a bad toner as I had to swap it a while ago because it would not register the correct amount of toner, said it was empty and it wasn't. The drum only had 7K on it so I did not replace all of them, will keep two and use them for another time if needed. Question: I know the chip in the toner tells the machine the level and also when it is empty. If you try to refil it does it still regiter as empty? That would mean that maybe I had a refill with the wrong toner in it. Would explain the drum blade clogging up.

Also I might try to clean the drum unit - can it be disassembled? Doesn't look like it but not sure.

Thanks again!

[Koosie]

The drum can be disassembled easily, but usually cleaning the drum units is only a temporary solution and the problem will reappear.

Always use genuine toners in color machines!!!