[Misc] Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

[Guest]

Hi there

can anyone please give me some advice here....

I have a Ricoh SP C410DN printer.

I am NOT getting black as it should be. The black comes out as grey.....

I have checked the toner bottle and that is 75% full. All the other toners are equally full too.

Can anyone give me some advice as what to do please...?



Thank you for your help.

[Sweden_GBG]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Do you print out the paper or copy?
How old are the Dev/PCU (how many copiers/print have the machin done?)

[MrCrowly]

Sweden_gbg, u cant copy on a printer

[sandmanmac]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

I am NOT getting black as it should be. The black comes out as grey.....

Just the black? The other colour output is clear?
Sounds like it needs a black PCU at a minimum

[CableGuy]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

What is the life of the consumables? more info please

[amebb]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Hi there

All toners are around 50 - 75% capacity

The black PCU was changed a few months back.

This printer hasnt printed anything more than 20 copies per week. Its not used on a large scale.

The ITU is around 50% too and so is the maintance kit.

However, i will need to replace the colour PCU soon.

But the colour is great no problems on that at all.


Is it possible to get cheap Black PCU that dosnt last and then dies ----?? i feel i may have got a cheap one from ebay and its causing me issues - even though it was a genuine Ricoh one and brand new...

Thanks

[TonerMunkeh]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Is it doing the same thing on engine generated prints, i.e. the colour demo page / counter page? If not, application settings could be at fault. If it is, a defective PCU could be the answer, or, even worse, the black toner pump could be on it's way out. Has it had any SC codes?

[collme]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

I might be wrong and i am sure you guys will correct me if needed but is the toner not driven by a motor down a tube with a coil that becomes deformed and jammed. I am sure i had this and it over loaded the motor taking the board out as well. had to replace board and motor as well as toner supply coil. That was fading images as toner was not being fed to the pcu. 20 prints a week would mean this fault would only show over a longer period of time as the dev became more starved of toner. I might be totally wrong and thinking about a wrong model but i am pretty sure it was an scp410

[amebb]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Hi, the printer will print in grey even when i am doing service prints etc.

i know previously i have changed the PCU unit and the darkness went back to normal again. So, i am thinking that i may have another faulty PCU unit .... even though the unit was from a sealed box and was a genuine Ricoh unit.

Thanks

[collme]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

sounds more like you have a toner feed issue rather than a faulty pcu if it went gray then ok on replacement of the black pcu. will be dark with new pcu as it has correct ratio of dev - toner mix but as you run the toner out of the dev it will become gray then faint. If it is a toner feed issue and it is continously run without fresh toner being added to the dev mix, you will damage the developer and need another new pcu as well. best to get it checked now before you have to replace another pcu as well as the parts causing the fault .

[JustManuals]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

This Parts & Service manual can now be purchased for $12.77 and downloaded immediately after payment from

Just Manuals, The Internet's largest selection of manuals ~ Instant Downloads


Paul@justmanuals.com

[amebb]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Hi How can i check to see if it is the toner feed that is at fault here ?? Are there any guides availiable on how to check ?

Thanks

sounds more like you have a toner feed issue rather than a faulty pcu if it went gray then ok on replacement of the black pcu. will be dark with new pcu as it has correct ratio of dev - toner mix but as you run the toner out of the dev it will become gray then faint. If it is a toner feed issue and it is continously run without fresh toner being added to the dev mix, you will damage the developer and need another new pcu as well. best to get it checked now before you have to replace another pcu as well as the parts causing the fault .

[Sweden_GBG]

Sweden_gbg, u cant copy on a printer

you so right, need to use my computer and read the threads insted of my cellphone ...

Q

[collme]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Hi How can i check to see if it is the toner feed that is at fault here ?? Are there any guides availiable on how to check ?

Thanks

As an engineer i would remove the right hand side panel and rotate the motor by hand to see if it is siezed, if it is, then there is no way you will be able to repair yourself anyway. once panel is removed then you should see 4 small motors in a line near the top, one for each colour. you will work out which one is for black from its location in relation to the black toner bottle. if it is the toner feed then the motor will turn so many times by hand then tighten up. then you must stop and get an experienced engineer in or you will end up just scrapping your printer. It can be ran in service mode but that could burn out the motor if it has a siezed so checking by hand is the best option. if you can't figure out how to get panels off, then goto manuals4u and buy one or leave it to the pro's.

[patterson70]

Re: Printer printing black as Grey ... HELP

Could you give the print counts for black and color? I would like to know how much wear the printer has had on it when this happened. Thanks.