Ricoh Aficio 3228c Questions about viability of this model

[Robinh]

I have several customers who are unhappy with their color Ricoh service and want me to take over maintaining their machines. Normally I avoid the color machines as I prefer to service what I sell, but repair work has been down and I need the business. Yesterday I looked at a Ricoh Aficio 3228c, I'd never seen one before. It was jamming at the registration roller and making a "groaning" noise. I put it in diagnostics "output" mode and ran a few motors. I noticed that it made the groaning sound when I ran the drums.

So I pulled the drum units and found the yellow had a plugged toner auger. Removed all the drums and vacuumed out the augers and the problem went away. The Ricoh guys left the machine in a mess, looks to me like it needs a good cleaning and fuser rebuild. At nine years old I don't think I want to offer a Maintenance agreement? I located a service manual for it. Is this machine worth investing a couple of drum units and fuser rebuild? Any ideas on the groaning noise? They are using OEM toner.

Thanks!


Robin in Bremerton

[logrady2331]

Re: Ricoh Aficio 3228c Questions about viability of this model

The "crooked" color models are indeed old, but not that bad if you know them. Drum units are super cheap (30.00) and the color developer units are purchased as a kit with all three colors and the black unit seperate. Fusers are expensive but the fuser belt can be changed fairly easy. Toner pumps are a real pain the a-- and they DO go bad. I would not put any of them under maintenance contracts. Time and material only. I NEVER turn down any work becuase the one you're working on currently will be a sale down the road.

[Robinh]

Re: Ricoh Aficio 3228c Questions about viability of this model

This guy's also a friend of mine and it's close to my office. We're already discussing an upgrade. ;-)

Thanks for the advice!

Robin in Bremerton

[slimslob]

Re: Ricoh Aficio 3228c Questions about viability of this model

If you ever have a HDD crash, you have to replace both as a set. They are pre-formatted by Ricoh as a set.

[NeoMatrix]

Re: Ricoh Aficio 3228c Questions about viability of this model

These old machines had a good doc-scan in their day. It was a good solid unit for digitizing loads of documents at once.

The groaning noise might be the fuser belt; it buckles out of shape and makes a noise.