Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

[Herostrat]

Happens on MP161,MP2000,MP3500 series or any Ricoh copier that culd have scanner bent from leaning on keyboard on the left side when copying.
Usualy in the lower half of copy there are thin lines repeating frekwently in no particular pattern.Needles to say untill I figured it out there was so much mirror cleaning and wondering?!?!?!.
Now my solution is just to bent the damn thing back,put hand below the keyboard and pull upwards,in most cases that's the solution,but I ran in to one MP 2000 that no matter what I do still has the streaks.
I'm wondering if there is any solution better than this one,not realy shure how does it gets lines if it's a bit bent,I tryed lubricating the rails inside the scanner,cleaned the lens,it all seems fine,nothing is bent so much for me to notice yet problem persists.

[rthonpm]

Make sure that the document feeder is also flush, and that the paper path through the ADF has no debris in it. Also be sure to clean the feeder slit glass with alcohol to make sure there's nothing on it that won't just wipe away with ease.

The 2000 and that whole family have also been notorious for drum issues, make sure your drum blade doesn't have a nick in it.

--sent from my BlackBerry using the Android app

[Herostrat]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

Not made from ADF,drum is new,prints are clean,I posted what's the problem meaning the entire optics got a bit bent and the solution but wondering if anyone else encoundered it and what is there solution.

[Exok]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

I know this problem. I've seen it many times. I think its just a matter of finding the sweet spot to bend it back to.

[Herostrat]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

Seems I culdn't find the sweet spot on this unfortunate MP 2000,tho nice analogy the "sweet spot"...I like that one.

[slimslob]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

We sometimes have problems with skewed copies from the same thing, the corner of the scanner getting pushed down. If you don't have a finisher and are not copying/printing 11x17, leave the shipping support piece in place and then the corner cannot get bent down.

[Iowatech]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

A hopefully respectful query - for the one machine that didn't respond well to your reforming the scanner unit, how did you clean the components in the optics cavity?
I have a couple of suggestions based on the the information that you have provided so far which could help with that, but if I'm wrong they could be unnecessarily costly, and they most assuredly would be a waste of time.
As far as the machines that did respond well to reforming the scanner unit, this is a customer induced problem, which for what it is worth I'm pretty sure isn't covered in any rational service agreement or machine warrantee. So your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to educate those customers that this is a really stupid thing to do to their machine, maybe by charging them full price or better for every service call for a problem they cause by leaning on the scanner. Or maybe if the customer is reasonable you might explain to them why this problem is their fault.

[Zeldaman]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

Hi there!
Had this "bent"-problem mostly at the "KIR"-series. Best way to handle is, loose all screws (ca. 10) holding the scanner in place,push it alittle bit upwards & tighten the screws. In most cases it worked fine.
Greetings...

[lukeh]

I know this is not a true fix but if u change default copy mode to photo mode it sorts it out

[Herostrat]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

I do explain to customers not to do that,and on my next wisit there is allways a note posted on wall for users "Do not lean on machine".
I clean optics with cloth and plain water,just making shure I clean them good with dry cloth after,press hard and keep scrubbing untill the cloth starts running smooth,in my opinion that is so good that it sometimes solved "good print/pale copy caused by old developer" hehe.
Lukeh you gave me idea to look up in service mode/scanner section for some background or gamma correction if there is any,I'll post what I find out.

[lukeh]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

I do explain to customers not to do that,and on my next wisit there is allways a note posted on wall for users "Do not lean on machine".
I clean optics with cloth and plain water,just making shure I clean them good with dry cloth after,press hard and keep scrubbing untill the cloth starts running smooth,in my opinion that is so good that it sometimes solved "good print/pale copy caused by old developer" hehe.
Lukeh you gave me idea to look up in service mode/scanner section for some background or gamma correction if there is any,I'll post what I find out.

Shot please do if you find anything thanks

[Gift]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

Old issue - we've modified some machine by re-installing the transport bracket (not really suitable if you have a finisher installed) and inform the customer not to lean on the machine. We also charged them our efforts (service contracts) if they ignore the first warning. That does the trick most of the time.

Unfortunately if it happen a lot an a machine the entire constructiongs becomes weak from bending the thing up and down.

[Iowatech]

Re: Lines caused by customers leaning on scanner

I do explain to customers not to do that,and on my next wisit there is allways a note posted on wall for users "Do not lean on machine".
I clean optics with cloth and plain water,just making shure I clean them good with dry cloth after,press hard and keep scrubbing untill the cloth starts running smooth,in my opinion that is so good that it sometimes solved "good print/pale copy caused by old developer" hehe.
Lukeh you gave me idea to look up in service mode/scanner section for some background or gamma correction if there is any,I'll post what I find out.

That's a good way to clean the mirrors. But you might try wiping any dust off the mirrors first with light pressure from a dry cloth - dust can scratch the shiny coating otherwise. I've seen paper dust do that back in the analog days, anyway.
And for the machines that still have lines on the copies, there could be dust on the CCD. The easiest, and in my opinion best way to clean that dust off the CCD is to take a can of compressed air or a blower brush and give the entire area a good gust of air. (There's too much humidity in human breath, avoid that if possible.)
I have taken the SBU out and lightly wiped the lens and CCD with a dry cloth, but if you do that make sure not remove the wrong screws. That will destroy the unit.