Ricoh 2045

[PCFSS&S]

How about the ricoh 2045? is this a reliable machine, I,ve heard its the early version of the improved 3045.What did they need to improve on?

[schooltech]

I've had good luck with them. I generally could go 150k between PM cycles, with hardly any problems. The charge roller and update cleaning roller parts can cause early lines, which will cause CQ problems, but overall, I didn't really have many problems with them.

You can read over the threads that talk a lot about their specific problems, then decide for yourself what you think. I can only speak for the machines I've worked on, and I liked them. As with any machine, you just need to know the little in's and out's of them, and know what to look for.

[TonerMunkeh]

How about the ricoh 2045? is this a reliable machine, I,ve heard its the early version of the improved 3045.What did they need to improve on?

I wouldn't call it an improvement.

Read this board for just how much of a dirty, arsey, troublesome bastard of a thing these machines can be.

Don't get me wrong, the 1035 / 2035 / 3035 are okay, it's just when they decide to spew a shedload of toner out from the dev unit and PCU seals. This will cause you huge problems, laser unit problems especially.

Ever since they switched to the B296 9640 developer and toner mix with the MP3500/4500 and MP4000/5000, I wouldn't piss on these things if they were on fire. A machine I look after has had 3 bags of dev in a month.

Keep on top of the PM's, empty the transfer waste, keep them clean, replace the dev and PCU seals every 150k or so and they will give you no trouble whatsoever, aside from the usual stuff. Let them get dirty and you're in a world of shit.

[schooltech]

I think that TonerMunkeh said it right about letting them run dirty; don't.

And, something I did forget to mention, clean out the waste toner under the transfer belt often. Don't let them puke out.

I guess I've just been 'lucky,' but I also know the machines pretty well, so I didn't really have problems with them.

What I failed to mention is that I am familiar with the 'issues,' if you want to call them that, that these machines have and deal with them accordingly.

The 30 series is similar, except they've had bad issues with toner/dv problems.

You'll find these problems with a few seconds of searching on the forum.

In addition to the PM's, just change the drum side seals, drum entrance seals, and dv entrance seal on a regular basis. They are cheap and they'll help with you avoiding many of the problems these machines can exhibit. TonerMunkeh said some of the things I left out, and he is absolutely correct-keep 'em runnin' clean.

[Ollie1981]

Let me just second those comments....

...covering quite a large area and servicing predominantly Ricoh B/W machines I've seen a heck of a lot of these.

If they are kept clean then they tend to be good runners, I've been to a few 1035/1045s that are still chugging along on a million and a half (but by this time they are limping along)

But they can run really dirty, as TonerMunkeh said if the PCU and Dev unit entrance seals are not replaced as soon as it's evident that toner is leaking then they start to be a huge pain in the arse. A lot of techs don't bother they just deal with the symptom (i.e vac out the toner) but don't tackle the cause and when months and years worth of leaked toner is in the laser unit, door switches and all over the paper sensors throughout the machine you are in a world of hurt!!

Also these machines aren't very tolerant of user abuse, if the tray fences have been wrenched and skipped teeth, they will chronically jam, if the machine has jammed in the pre-registration area and the user wrenches the paper out, they tend to pull the feeler out of the vertical transport sensor which is unbelievably difficult to get to (my tip, manouver the feeler back in with pliers after taking off the duplex and bypass)

The mylar on the reg section near the paper dust catcher tends to get warped, as do the mylars on the feed stations causing chronic jamming.

Drum and dev wise, I'd recommend removing the second cleaning blade as the drums seem to last longer without it. There's no real issue with the dev/toner mix.....but never let the dev go over life. I attended one of these recently where the dev was on damn near 500k and half of it had been printed on the customer's copies.......new dev, drum, transfer belt and hot roller!!

[PCFSS&S]

Let me just second those comments....

...covering quite a large area and servicing predominantly Ricoh B/W machines I've seen a heck of a lot of these.

If they are kept clean then they tend to be good runners, I've been to a few 1035/1045s that are still chugging along on a million and a half (but by this time they are limping along)

But they can run really dirty, as TonerMunkeh said if the PCU and Dev unit entrance seals are not replaced as soon as it's evident that toner is leaking then they start to be a huge pain in the arse. A lot of techs don't bother they just deal with the symptom (i.e vac out the toner) but don't tackle the cause and when months and years worth of leaked toner is in the laser unit, door switches and all over the paper sensors throughout the machine you are in a world of hurt!!

Also these machines aren't very tolerant of user abuse, if the tray fences have been wrenched and skipped teeth, they will chronically jam, if the machine has jammed in the pre-registration area and the user wrenches the paper out, they tend to pull the feeler out of the vertical transport sensor which is unbelievably difficult to get to (my tip, manouver the feeler back in with pliers after taking off the duplex and bypass)

The mylar on the reg section near the paper dust catcher tends to get warped, as do the mylars on the feed stations causing chronic jamming.

Drum and dev wise, I'd recommend removing the second cleaning blade as the drums seem to last longer without it. There's no real issue with the dev/toner mix.....but never let the dev go over life. I attended one of these recently where the dev was on damn near 500k and half of it had been printed on the customer's copies.......new dev, drum, transfer belt and hot roller!!

WOW! Thanks for all the replys and info, just goes to show you all you really have to do is follow the money trail. This machine had a curiously low re-sell value compared to other brands say the canon in the same cpm class with like features.

[jomu]

Ricoh 2045

In my opinion,this is one of the worst machines Ricoh ever put a label on.

The only situation where they run fairly well is if they are run well under their recommended monthly volume.

My experience with replacing the seals has been that it is a temporary fix at best. I have been replacing the PCU assembly about every 600k.

I agree that the MP3500/4500 is a far worse machine. I think it is a 1035 in a different wrapper.

This machine family has been good for Ricoh in that the parts consumption is very high. I have found that if the machine is running near its recommended volume,the PM almost always has to be done early.

All in all,even if someone gave me one of these things for free,I would scrap it.

[b003ace]

350/1035/2045/3035

How about the ricoh 2045? is this a reliable machine, I,ve heard its the early version of the improved 3045.What did they need to improve on?

Personally I prefer the 1035 (b003) models over the 2035. The 350/450 dumped toner at all the seals, but if you did the tech pubs and swapped the drum seals every other drum, they'd run just fine. The 1035/1045 included all the improvements the pubs added to the 350, and a better toner. The 2035/2045 was supposed to be another improvement, but there have been toner problems since the start on these, and that toner was carried forward into the 3035/3045 models. They "improved" the fusing unit had a cooling fan on the front of the machine, and doesn't seem to fuse the toner to the paper properly. The pawls collect toner, the cleaning roller accumulates an incredible amount of toner compared to earlier models, and there have been several CQ pubs on these. I would personally never recommend the 2035/2045 for anyone.

[Lotec]

How about the ricoh 2045? is this a reliable machine, I,ve heard its the early version of the improved 3045.What did they need to improve on?

The 2045 is an early version of the 3045. Before the 2045 you had the 1045 and the 450. I have never worked on a machine with so many modifications as the 450.
I think they should have performed a total redesign of the PCU unit after the 450. It is not service friendly. It takes time, it's dirty and I just don't like it.
The fuser should also be designed to be more service friendly. How difficult can it be to design a machine that is easy, quick and fairly clean to service?
Make a smaller version of the MP6500 drum unit, and a simple fuser with 4 screws etc.
If you have time to service the Ricoh 2045 properly, you'll have a fairly reliable machine. But it could have been designed SO much better.
They should have replaced the drum unit and the developer unit with a single customer replaceble unit.
We scrap these machines between 300 000 - 600 000 copies. It takes to long time to service, and all the techs hate the model.
We don't sell these machines unless we have to. We try to find alternatives that perform better. MP6500 if the customer can afford it.