[CQ] Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

[mntech]

It's going through magenta toner very fast, a cartridge a week. And waste bin fills with magenta.

If I stop the machine during auto adjustment/process control, the drum is covered with toner. New drum, new development unit(initialized properly), dev clutch is good, it's not losing developer.

Basically the drum it's attracting toner when it shouldn't be, and is being cleaned from drum and going into waste, weird thing is copy/prints look great...no background or steaks..

I've worked on these machines for many years and haven't seen this problem. Possible charge leak?


Any ideas?
Thanks!

[Eric1968]

Re: Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

How do you know the DV-clutch is OK?

[nmfaxman]

Re: Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

DV clutch is sticking keeping the DV unit turning.
Seen this many times.

[JustManuals]

Re: Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

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Paul@justmanuals.com

[mntech]

Development clutch is working using input/output check physically watching the white gear on front of unit turn while the motor is engaged. Clutch responds quickly at high, medium, low speeds.

I am familiar with bad development clutches...

[Tonerbomb]

Re: Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

Have you checked the toner supply clutch for that color?? It has been known to either stick on or never turn on, there are TSB's for this issue.......

[mntech]

I decided to try the dv clutch anyways, no change. Also swapped in another dv unit with no change. Drum ground is good, nothing out of the ordinary in sp settings / non defaults.

Cheated the door, watched the drum, seems anytime the drum spins it is grabbing toner, then when it lays down patches on belt or is creating an image, the drum is clean(except for image areas of course)

See picture...it is covered in toner and some developer when I open the door during process control

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4l6sgimy09cd1k/magentadrum.jpg

[Iowatech]

Re: Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

Sounds a little like you might have a bad batch of toner? That can cause all sorts of stupid and wrong things to happen. Especially on an older machine like that.
I don't think that could be a charge leak, sounds more like a developer bias leak, and a pretty bad one at that. Just a guess.
Sorry if that was a waste of time.

[mntech]

Re: Ricoh 3245c burning through toner

Sounds a little like you might have a bad batch of toner? That can cause all sorts of stupid and wrong things to happen. Especially on an older machine like that.
I don't think that could be a charge leak, sounds more like a developer bias leak, and a pretty bad one at that. Just a guess.
Sorry if that was a waste of time.

No waste of time at all! I value all input.

I agree that toner can cause weird problems, but I don't think this extreme tho.

I'm leaning towards some sort of bias leak in the dv, but in the 8 years i've worked on these machines I have never come across an issue like this, nor am I sure were to proceed from here. (Time to sell them an upgrade I guess!)