[Misc] Ricoh type 1515 drum gear stripped out

[Robinh]

I have several Ricoh 1515/161/171 copiers in the field under maintenance agreement. In the past I set the drum counters to 50 or 60k depending on the environment. Recently I have had several units go to an "Add Toner" message even though the bottle still has toner.

Upon inspection I have found that the gears that drive the agitating rollers in the lower developer unit are stripping out before the drum even reaches the 45k anticipated yield. I do not rebuild these unit, but I do use a quality generic toner. Have not had a problem for five years until just recently. Has anyone else experienced this problem.

Does anyone rebuild these drums? I bought a rebuild kit from Katun, but hardly seems worth the effort.

[banginbishop]

non genuine toner does it im afraid - the components in the toner (usually stuff off the floor to make the toner) cause premature wear of the units. I have m/c's doing this on pcu's with 10k that should last 60k but cause its so cheap it doesnt matter - most if not all non generic toner has not got the same quailty control as the manufacturer. I doubt katun makes the stuff but buys it off a third party who rebrand it and sell it on.

[Robinh]

Six months of using OEM toner and all of my problems are gone. Thanks for the tip.

Robi