3245c calibration

[qwandy]

I have been calibrating in SP mode by trial and error when the colour reg will not happen and it will not auto calibrate, I have been printing off the pattern through auto and then going into SP 5993 (line position adjustment) and use 10/11/12 for M_offset and 16/17/18 for S_ offset and then by trial and error get the colours lined up and it normally works well for the calibration.

I have also printed off a colour test pattern in SP1103 (colour test pattern 1200 x 1200 1 bit photo and that is all over the place, do you know offhand how I can get these lined up, can't seem to find it in the manual...

It shows the colours as

C
M
Y
K
CMY

R
G
B

And not sure how to get them lined up as I do the others.

Regards

Andy

[qwandy]

Re: 3245c calibration

Are you adjusting the correct values? 42 - 44 are for 1200 dpi printing

HI
Thanks for the reply, I don't think I explained myself properly, I had been using the 10/11/12 and 16/17/18 for the 600 dpi auto cal test pattern and had used the 19/20/21 and 42/42/44 for the 1200 dpi on the auto cal test pattern but even though they seemed ok the 1200 x 1200 1 bit photo pattern always seemed out a little and when I get one set of colour cubes lined up one of the others still seem out a little.. could be my dodgy eyesight though !!!

Regards
Andy

[qwandy]

Re: 3245c calibration

HI
Thanks for the reply, I don't think I explained myself properly, I had been using the 10/11/12 and 16/17/18 for the 600 dpi auto cal test pattern and had used the 19/20/21 and 42/42/44 for the 1200 dpi on the auto cal test pattern but even though they seemed ok the 1200 x 1200 1 bit photo pattern always seemed out a little and when I get one set of colour cubes lined up one of the others still seem out a little.. could be my dodgy eyesight though !!!

Regards
Andy

Feel like I have tried everything and every combinations of things, just about there now though... Just getting a slight yellow shadow when printing red text

[Counsel]

Re: 3245c calibration

The first step i would take is remove the transfer belt unit and look at the top left roller does it have black smudgy grime on it. If the machine will not align or run calibration its usually because that silver roller is dirty this roller reflects to the ID sensors on the machine, if its dirty take apart the transfer unit and clean that roller with a scratch/scotch brite pad and some cleaning solution nothing harsh soap and water on the pad works or if you have some light spray cleaner.

Once thats clean you should be able to run the Line position adjustments, chances are if you shut the machine off before you clean the unit and then when you turn it on these run calibrations pretty often it may align itself right off the bat, otherwise just do your process controls. Hope that helps

[qwandy]

Re: 3245c calibration

I have now managed to calibrate (in sp mode) 600 x600, no probs, but having trouble with 1200 x1200 still, i can get all colours lined up properly but the cyan needs to come down a little and whatever number I try to put in it will just not budge up or down... the others have done as I asked...

any ideas?
Regards
Andy

[Iowatech]

Re: 3245c calibration

Man, I remember trying those manual adjustments, that's hard!
On the other hand, have you tried cleaning the ID sensors? Kind of sounds to me like one or more of your developers has gone past their service lives, and they puked a bunch of toner on the ID sensors. Cleaning the sensors is way easier than those manual adjustments, or at least it doesn't take very long to confirm whether that will help or not.
Oh, you will have to undo all the manual adjustments so that the sensor cleaning will work properly, but at least for me that was surprisingly easy.

[Counsel]

Re: 3245c calibration

Man, I remember trying those manual adjustments, that's hard!
On the other hand, have you tried cleaning the ID sensors? Kind of sounds to me like one or more of your developers has gone past their service lives, and they puked a bunch of toner on the ID sensors. Cleaning the sensors is way easier than those manual adjustments, or at least it doesn't take very long to confirm whether that will help or not.
Oh, you will have to undo all the manual adjustments so that the sensor cleaning will work properly, but at least for me that was surprisingly easy.

Ya this is exactly where i would be looking to, between either dirty ID sensors or the Shiny silver roller on the xfer unit is dirty those are the most common reasons that it won't calibrate on its own I fought this for 2 days before i relized that the shiny roller was just dirty enough to cause alignment failure once that was clean i ran the process controls and it was fine. I am pretty sure there is a TSB on manual alignment if not on this one then the previous model just like it i ran though that painstakingly without much success.

Also if you do all this manually and process control fails will the problem not return unless you disable the process control.

[qwandy]

Re: 3245c calibration

Ya this is exactly where i would be looking to, between either dirty ID sensors or the Shiny silver roller on the xfer unit is dirty those are the most common reasons that it won't calibrate on its own I fought this for 2 days before i relized that the shiny roller was just dirty enough to cause alignment failure once that was clean i ran the process controls and it was fine. I am pretty sure there is a TSB on manual alignment if not on this one then the previous model just like it i ran though that painstakingly without much success.

Also if you do all this manually and process control fails will the problem not return unless you disable the process control.

Thank guys, I have cleaned the ID sensors but it did not seem to make any difference, I have cleaned up the roller which is now very clean and shiny. I checked the results in sp3107 2/4/6 as someone suggested that also and they were all high above 225 before cleaning and are now about 140 after a nice shiny roller so that must be a result...

[Eric1968]

Re: 3245c calibration

Maybe this helps...

[qwandy]

Re: 3245c calibration

Maybe this helps...

I have been doing it manually and using the PDF bulletin and all of a sudden I cannot move any of the colours higher than 127 dots where as before I could go higher... any ideas? If I put in 150 it just defaults back to 127...

Andy

[TonerMunkeh]

Re: 3245c calibration

To be honest I think faffing with SP modes is only trying to mask the more severe problem the machine is experiencing. When's the last time this thing had a new set of PCU's and developer units? When they are working correctly, the machine should be able to sort itself out with forced line position adjustment, manual process control and finally ACC.

[fshead]

Re: 3245c calibration

To be honest I think faffing with SP modes is only trying to mask the more severe problem the machine is experiencing. When's the last time this thing had a new set of PCU's and developer units? When they are working correctly, the machine should be able to sort itself out with forced line position adjustment, manual process control and finally ACC.

i spent hours with that 10 page bulletin and really wished i went into a different field..
i have/had a few of these that once they hit a certain age they started acting up..
when the price of 4 new drums,4 new developers a new transfer belt,blade,bar and time spent i
decided to find some low count mp c2800-3300,even if i sold them at a smaller than normal markup.....
that even after all these parts swapped out the dev clutches can rain on your work...............
i am glad to say i only have 2 left to upgrade

[Counsel]

Re: 3245c calibration

I feel your pain I honostly figured if you cleaned that roller it would self align thats usualy the problem i run into with these. I think this model goes what 80k on the PCUs or 60k i forget but if they are over that by much they tend to crap out, most of the time with dev units, pcus, and xfer belt issues i get lines on the pages. Alignment issues usually result from ID sensors or the roller that reflects them, unless you have an issue with the xfer belt drive or entire unit. If they keep reverting though I have 1 time had bad nvram cause the machine to throw off alignment but typical it will align for a little bit until process control kicks in then throws it out of whack again.

If you have a spare ITB unit you could throw in a different one, the line position adjustment should correct without manually doing the sp's, that pdf is a pain in the keester when i tried it nothing ended up right, i had to replace the itb unit in one to finally correct it. Other then a PCU dragging or something that would cause skew or alignment to be off.

[nmfaxman]

Re: 3245c calibration

Adjust the values then re-calibrate then print test pattern each time you adjust..
The smaller adj the better.
You are going to go through a lot of paper, but you can get it gnat's ass.
I keep a base and write on each printout the adjustment I put in.
Uses paper, but easier than guessing.
I would also recommend a cheap set of loupes or two magnifying glasses to see the fine lines with a MM ruler.

Patience is the key.
Enter the other extreme and see how it moves.

I have it down to 45 mins on a good day.