Ricoh Tricks of the Trade

[Lotec]

If you have the time, you should read the detailed section in each service manual for the machines that you do service on.
It will give you detailed knowledge on how each machine work - and it will save you time in the end.
Ricoh had a core technology manual too. Find it and read it. Time well spent. Ricoh have good service manuals too.

Do the PMs, and change all the parts listed for the machine. Keep it clean. It never hurts to clean the paper feed rollers in the trays and in the DF. After a while you will see that some parts can last longer then the PM interval. Use your judgement and see if it will pay of (in $/time/customer satisfaction) to change the parts at a longer interval.

You will save time if you do a good job on every service call. The customer will be happy, and you will be glad that you don't have to visit the same machine once a week.
If you work for a company that log the number of service jobs you do.. you may have to change that tactic. Kick the machine back to working order (more or less), get the job logged and get your bonus. . But this is of course not a good system.

We sometimes do PMs after closing hour in many offices. That is very well recieved by the users AND you don't have to listen to stupid comments/questions like: Can I just take a few copies? When all the internal parts of the machines in on the floor.
You can also use more time, and do a proper job. But it depends on the deals you have with the companies. We have access cards to about 1/3 of our customers/machines. Most of the users don't even know that the machine has been serviced - and they think that this brand of machines.. they just work. Never any problems.
If you have a flexible work scedule, you can take an hour or two at the gym - and then service a few machines later in the evening.

Expect feed rollers in the DF and in the paper trays not to last as long as the service manual says. I see that many techs change the sep roller in the trays more often then the pick up and feed roller.

Teach the customer the importance of putting paper in the trays correctly. And let them know that quality paper WILL give them less problems/jams.

If you service machines like the AF2060 (and newer) where the paper feed mechanism is identical in all the trays... consider swapping paper feed machanisms that has been used a million times or so with one from a tray that is hardly ever used. I do this as a rule now. Tray 1 has been feeding 1 -1,2 million pages. I change it with the A3 tray unit that has fed 50 000 pages.

If you can teach the users of the machine how to use the machine correctly - and let them know and understand how important it is for them that they treat the machine good ... you will have an OK job maintaining the machines.

Most copy techs get their orders from sales people (= little or no education, understanding of what they're selling and they don't understand how a copier work..). That will give you trouble sooner or later.
They do not understand that a network issue with a small MFC can be equally difficult as on a large MFC.. AND that it will take just as long time to figure it out.
They will usually sell a machine to a customer before you have time to figure out how they work AND when the machine get a problem they don't understand why you can not just fix it in 10 minutes. You try to explain.. I've never seen the machine before. I don't even know how to open a cover on the machine..let alone how to access the service mode and so on.. I just hate that.
Somehow the salespeople also have a saying in how many parts you have in the shop. The customers will think that is is your fault, and blame you if they have to wait a few days for a part to arrive. Now I just give them the number of the salesmen. Give him a call So the situation is improving.

[Fearless V K]

on the xx15 xx18 series B&W machines if the front registration bushing tab breaks and you dont have a replacement, take your soldering iron and melt a small screw in where the tab broke off and re-hook the spring on that.

[Lotec]

am sorry , am new and shocked.. where u from guys? are u using used machines like us in egypt? if yes i will need much help than the up new guy. most of the spare parts we buy are ruined. taflon roles makes toner stick on it and makes toner easily erased from paper. the machines we get we had to fix the drum unit if broken.. u know how? we get the stickey glue and put it with the small cotton which we take from the front of the cigerette so it can stick strongly.. i dunno if this the right page to write that.. but i still can not use the site well

It all has to do with the market that the machine is used in.

How much does it cost to service the machine? How much does the tech make? How much does your company pay in rent a month? How much does the spare parts in your country cost?

I live in a high cost country and things have to be fixed quickly, and we need a lot of money to fix it.

As an example: Our company rent the office/shop for about 13-14000 us dollars a month. If you want us to fix a machine and you don't have a click price agreement.. you will have to pay about 185 us dollars an hour - not incluring parts and driving. If you are located less then 10km from our shop, we will charge you 18 us dollars just to get there. After that it is 1.50 dollars for every km.
With those prices I can not spend time on superglue/epoxy/tape and so on. Things need to work quickly, and permanently. The customers are also very focused on print quality.
It the black text is more in the grey area.. they complain.

But sometimes the machine just have to work and we don't have any parts for it. Then we get creative and use glue or epoxy. Sometimes I have scanned a part using a 3D scanner and imported the image in Solid Works and then made a copy of the part using a CNC milling machine. A also have an epoxy carbon kit in the car - so I can make a carbon copy of a part it I need to.
But in general.. we have to fix it quick using new parts.
Also the customers require us to fix things quickly. Some of them use very expensive equipment and they can not afford to wait - or let their workers wait. Deadlines to meet and so on.

On the other hand.. I have worked in several countries. Including Egypt (part time on a diving boat and the other part fixing copiers at hotels and resorts). I think I made just under 3 us dollars an hour. I don't know what the company charged for an hour, but I'm sure it was not 185$.
I made about three times as much in the diving boat (because I can speak or understand/make me understood in 7 languages .. more or less). And the tips on the diving boat was more then the pay I got.
But anyway.. with less then 3 dollars an hour, the salary is a small part - compared to the price of new parts.
We got used machines that we fixed and sold. We also used some of the old machines as a source for parts for other machines.
I remember we used a lot of time cleaning machines and parts, replacing parts with non original parts and when fixing Lexmark document feeders, we used Ricoh parts so we didn't have to buy all the parts with shafts and what not. We also changed only the rubber part on feed rollers too.
I used epoxy glue with long fiber fiberglass as a filler (Do you call it cat/kitty hair in english?) I still do use it a few times a year. That gets really strong. I'm sure it is better then the sigarette filter and glue... a 20 pack of sigarettes cost 13-14 dollars on Norway btw. Epoxy glue is cheaper here

I had about the same standard of living when I lived in Hurghada asI do now in Norway. But it can not be compared directly.
I pay about 1000 us dollars a month renting my small apartment now. Then I have insuranse for the apartment, and for my car, and I have to pay for internet, electricity, diesel at 2.16$ a liter / 8.20$ a us gallon.. a tank of diesel will now cost me 173$.. and so on. When I lived in Egypt I was more in a holliday mood. I lived in a hotel for a good price.. think it was called la perla.. close to old vic beach resort..anyway. I only had my travel insurance to think about. I ate all but one meal in restaurants/cafes/diners/con.stores, I didn't have a car. I took taxi at VERY low prices. In Norway there is a minimum price to pay (between 14 and 19$ before they start to drive) and then you pay 2-3$ for every km they drive.. I paid 1 Egyptian pound for several kilometers and no minimum price.
I could eat at a cheap diner for 2$. The same meal in Norway would cost me about 18$ and up. So as you can see there is a huge price difference on almost everything.


As a result we can not spend time fixing old machines in Norway. It cost to much. Machines last in general 3-6 years and they are then recycled. Sometimes we save some parts that is OK in case a machine breakes down. We have a few 10 year old + machines too.
Smaller machines are "dirt cheap" in Norway but toner, drums, fusers and so on is priced in accordance with the price of living in the country they are sold. We then get some strange prices. Lets say the Ricoh SP232SF cost 600$ in Norway. 1 set of toner (CMYK) cost at least 875-900$. Many small companies buy this machine and change the black toner once. Next time when it is time to change cyan, magenta and yellow.. they look at the cost. No .. just scrap the machine. We will buy a new one.
If you have to change a fuser or a laser on a Brother machine costing 100-200$.. it will cost more then they gave for the machine. People just send the "old" machine for recycling.
Lets say you buy a new cheap fax machine for 120-150$ and something goes wrong.. and you have to pay 185$ to let people service the machine... it just don't add up.

I think that is bad for the environment, for the customers and for me. I had 3 years of electronics at school where I learnt to fix "everything" - and now I can't because it will cost to much. I can look at a power supply card and I know the components are cheap - but I can not fix it because of the high labor cost. At least I can fix TVs/DVD players/washing machines/VCRs/RC toys and stuff like that for my friends and family. But I do it for free. They only pay for the parts that I sometime order on the internet. Example again.. a brush for a washing machine motor cost 90-95$ in Norway. I bought it in an English web store for 14 $ including shipping.
So most of my electronics are old.. I have an old TV with a CRT picture tube. No LED backlit flatscreen TV here, even if I only have to work 3-4 days to make enough money to buy one . My computer monitor is also a CRT. My microwave oven is 20 years old.. The washer and dryer is at least 15 years old now.. same with my fridge.. and my VCR and DVD player.. I can keep it working for years to come. But only because I buy cheap parts and do the job myself. I only keep my phone and PC new.
And not to forget my old car... since cars are so expensive I'm keeping my old car alive. Both mechanically and electronically the car is simple.. and I can weld if I need to
The state will not get any new car tax from me the next few years. I'm going to keep the car until it gets 20-25 years old. Oh.. and I order most of the parts I need for it online. But lets say I was supposted to change the timing belt and the water pump and I had a company doing the job.. Then I would have to pay more then the value of the old car, just to fix it.

What I've learned when I've travelled around the world doing odd jobs.. and in most places I've ended up fixing copiers somehow. I see all the differences in machines people buy, how they are fixed, how long they are in use, what they pay for parts and so on. Lower pay = older and smaller machines where more parts are fixed and more non original parts used. Parts are cheaper and the copiers make more copies before they are scrapped. Image quality in not always that important.
Higher pay = larger machines, original parts, monstly newer machines, parts are replaced and not fixed.

[Ricoh Dicoh]

Thank you to all. The help is very much appreciated. I have put most of your advise to work already. Goose's guide took me a little while to get but i found this free download for it (VERY USEFUL). Here it is for those of you who don't have it.
rfg026935.zip (1.88 MB, 475 views)

Thanks to all the senior techs on this site. I probably wouldn't have a job still if it wasn't for this site.

[Ricoh Dicoh]

"Most copy techs get their orders from sales people (= little or no education, understanding of what they're selling and they don't understand how a copier work..). That will give you trouble sooner or later."

I just happen to be going through this right now. I got hired into a small family owned copy shop. The last tech had over 15 yrs experience but got injured. The boss (also the sales man) in desperation hired me straight of a electronic tech class. I have never seen the insides of a copier before and now I'm the maintenance guy for over 10 different models of ricohs and about 30 machines all together (I did not warm up to this at all, no experience what so ever, i look at a machine and say ok good luck to me). The mechanics are no problem once i correctly diagnose the problem, but if I have a question there is no one i can ask except this wonderful site. Plus i have every service manual, parts manual etc. for all the machines. But research takes time and my boss starts hovering over my shoulder breathing down my neck after 15 mins of looking at books, and says "why havn't you done anything yet?". Ugh this would be a nightmare but have to admit it's one of the best feelings in the world once you get a machine down and can fix it in no time. I love working on copiers, it's just so damn interesting.

[paulg]

Hey dont worry Ricoh Dicoh we have all been there.

The best advice I think I can give you is to spend as much time and yes possibly it will be your spare time to work on old units.
The quicker you can strip down and rebulid a unit the more time to think about the problem and of course in some cases get out of the customers!

If you don't already get a 5.5 mm magentic socket driver it will save you lots of time and hassle if working on Ricoh Kit.

As your totally new to the business learn as best you can to read the SMC sheets, customers dont always tell you the facts either for their benefit or because they simply are mistaken. But also give them the benefit of the doubt as very very very occasionally the SMC sheets dont register a code for some reason.

It will get much easier trust me