AR-M700, weird copy quality....

**OMD-227** · 02-26-2010, 08:14 AM

Doing a 'half maintenance' on a Dragon machine is just asking for trouble. You really need to go back and fit the maintenance kits with all the new seals, toner reception mylars, cleaning blade & grid etc etc. There are new seals which stop the 'toner bombs', plus not changing the grid or blade won't help your situation at all.
Did you reset the rotation counters in sim 24-11 as well as the actual consumable counts? Have you checked the fuser unit. A worn fuser unit will give you heaps of issues (I can hear Blackcat laughing right now....). If the fuser is the old style, order a new one for better cleaning and reliability.

What is your email address? If you are new to the Dragon's, I have alot of info/bulletins/handy guides etc etc that you WILL need and use.

Firmware must be up-to-date as well.

**bilyahn** · 02-26-2010, 12:03 PM

When you say grey back ground on the back side do you mean in duplex mode or just with regular 1 sided? If it's in duplex mode check you cis unit cover plate and make sure that it is clean. It can and will collect paper dust under the cover and I would also do a white reference calibration. If it's on the back of your 1 sided copies I would look at your transfer belt assembly cleaning roller.

Good luck.

Bil

**Oystercopy** · 02-26-2010, 03:04 PM

Clarification...

I only did the Drum and Dev, as I stated, because the customer would not approve more. Unless there is one specific part in the kit (which the only ones I could imagine related to this problem would be the Charge Corona parts) then there are no other "parts" in it that relate. I checked the list of Maintenance Kit parts ahead of time. These are not toner bombs as in, Cleaning Unit recovery seal and I'm pretty sure they're related to the backgrounding which is already heavy. I know what it looks like when a Recovery Seal goes bad and I don't think this is it. More like "splotching".

By the way, what is the purpose of giving the machines "pet names" like "Dragon"?... The manufacturers must think we like being in the first grade still.... he he

Thanks,
OC

**Dark Helmet** · 02-26-2010, 03:46 PM

M-kits that should be put into this machine are the AR620KA and AR620KB (assuming you live in N.A.) How throughly did you clean the process frame? When ever i PM one of these machines and flip the frame upside down lots of toner falls out from some where, i always pull every cover off and vacume it out really well. What is the first and last number in the serial #. This "dragon" has gone through a lot of changes since it first came out.

As Wazza said, make sure you reset sim 24-11 for drum and DV. Process control uses these counters to tell how old the drum and DV are. The Drum and DV total count are just for you.

Also try doing a 44-2 which does your drum mark sensors.

Are these Sharp OEM supplies?

Also check for paper stuck behind the transfer belt. Seen that cause lots of image quality problems.

Do you get this back ground when you do a list print from custom settings which gives you a engine print.

As for the names, Sharp must have a thing for animals. Some of the names represent the machine very well to! For those of us who had to work on a "Bear" or the "Whale" series are probably cringing when they see the name.

I dunno, i always thought it was cool to be able to say, "Im working on a Dragon" when you call in for help.

**Oystercopy** · 02-26-2010, 04:41 PM

YES, all new OEM Sharp Drum and Developer. YES, I reset the Drum and Developer counts in 24 mode. I didn't think about paper BEHIND the Transfer Belt, but I imagine that's possible. It would have to be pretty small and hidden pretty well, I would think. I get a little bit of toner buildup on the face of the belt, but not tons. Not sure if that's normal or not. I guess I could pull the belt off and check, looks kinda tricky to get off though, not sure.

YES, the copy quality symptom is both from COPY and from PRINT, so nothing in the scan process at fault. YES, I did get a lot of excess toner in and around the Drum frame, but I cleaned/vacuumed it pretty thoroughly I thought, however there was more below the Drum unit after I put the units back in calibrated, which I thought was a little strange. However, with a copy quality problem such as this (as if the machine has lost its BIAS or something) I would expect a significant amount of dusting anyway. Not sure...

Thanks for all the replies people,
OC

For those that asked, my email is oystercopy@aol.com

**Dark Helmet** · 02-26-2010, 05:08 PM

Ive had a entire piece of paper behind the belt. Belt unit comes out with 1 green screw on a white arm front frame side in the door. Use your long screw driver. When the screw is released (it's keyed so it does not come out) bend the white arm towards the front frame and the entire unit pulls out.

**OMD-227** · 02-27-2010, 12:46 AM

I've sent you some info to your email. Hope that helps you in some way.

If you have a client that has a machine like this and refuses to spend money on repairs, or not go on a service contract...... walk away mate. You are wasting your time and your companies money trying to solve a problem that requires maintenance kits to complete. They need to know this!
Some clients seriously dont deserve to have good equipment if they will not look after it. If they have done 300K, the parts are due..... simple as that.
You will get great advice from Lawrence, Bil, Blackcat etc etc, but it is all pointless if the client will not get their machine serviced correctly.

Sorry about the whinge session....... just cannot stand customers like this.

With the pet names for the machines...... I guess its easier to refer to a series of machines by a general name, eg the Dragon is the ARM550, 620 & 700 series. With the color machines, Sharp has gone off the animal names, such as Pastel & Frontier. Dont foget about the Hercules or Jupiter's. And yes, I completely agree with you Lawrence on the Bear & Whales. !

**ZOOTECH** · 02-27-2010, 01:02 AM

Originally posted by wazza

[U]
With the pet names for the machines...... I guess its easier to refer to a series of machines by a general name, eg the Dragon is the ARM550, 620 & 700 series. With the color machines, Sharp has gone off the animal names, such as Pastel & Frontier. Dont foget about the Hercules or Jupiter's. And yes, I completely agree with you Lawrence on the Bear & Whales. !

I might have to change my user name.

I agree completely with walking away from a customer if they don't want to take care of the machine.

**Oystercopy** · 02-27-2010, 01:29 AM

Yep, I understand...

I got it guys. I gave the customer two ESTIMATE scenarios and they chose the cheaper one. I advised them that I thought the Maint Kit was not as important (which it shouldn't normally have been) as the Drum/DV, but I may have been wrong in my recommendation. I don't normally see a Charge Corona go TOTALLY BALLISTIC like this, just from being a little old. I don't think it was even at 300K yet, which I think is the maintenance cycle. I think there's something else going on here, but I could be in for a surprise.

The customer has agreed that he will likely go for the Maintenance Kit now that the other parts didn't solve the problem. Not knowing this particular box that well didn't help me in the "recommendations department".

Of course, I could just have a WHOLE SHEET of paper behind that Transfer Belt, and that could be the whole problem. I just didn't think something could hide behind it that well....

Thanks again for all the replies people....
OC

**blackcat4866** · 03-01-2010, 12:50 AM

I can't add anything original to this thread. I have walked away from customers like this one on several occasions. When customers ask for a cheap option, I will either qualify it with a "no labor warranty", or just say that there is no cheap option, take it or leave it. Don't let yourself get backed into this corner. You are the expert. Trust your own judgement.

Just between us though, replace an organic drum without the blade? I have question the wisdom of this course.
And don't get me started on those damn fusers. =^..^=

**Oystercopy** · 03-01-2010, 02:26 AM

The Blade WAS replaced with the Drum, and I DO have a waiver against any future problems right in my Service Estimates that offer NO GUARANTEES, especially if the recommended work is not done. Been doing this for nearly 33 years. If you wait for the customer to spend $1500 on repairs THE FIRST TIME AROUND, you're not going to do very many. However, if you gain their trust by offering less expensive repairs up front, that will take care of the symptom even temporarily it gains their trust and confidence.

Once they see that you know what you're doing and what you're talking about, they'll tend to trust you easier in the future, and tend to spend more $$ with you down the road.

Just my 2 cents....
OC

**blackcat4866** · 03-01-2010, 03:53 AM

This is all new information to me. Did you mention any of this before?

This strategy might work well for you, but it has not for me. If you want more customers that are unwilling to pay for parts, or expect you to manufacture parts out of thin air, you'll get them. What this calls for is a little sales presentation. "so you've spent $1500 for the last 300k copies & prints. That's 1/2 cent per page. Not so bad if you consider those customers under contract are paying 9/10 of a cent per page. You're really saving a lot of money...".

With your approach, in the end you'll get one of two outcomes. Either the machine doesn't work and your credibility suffers. Or when you finally must put in some parts, this loyal customer starts the whole thing over again with someone else. Then they tell everybody they know about outcome #1 or outcome #2. I don't like either choice.

In the end you're the expert. Give good advice and stick to it. =^..^=

**OMD-227** · 03-01-2010, 04:30 AM

I'm still yet to see a Dragon that is NOT on a service contract. WOW!
I go back to my initial statement of doing a 'half-maintenance'. That shit will come back and bite you hard, so just do everything that is due. Simple as that. Blackcat is totally right.
By doing a full maintenance when due, the customer knows they will be getting everything that is due (plus more usually) and you can leave with confidence that there is a really good chance that you won't have to go back all the time fitting parts as needed.
Talking about customer trust and confidence, if you are always there..... where's the confidence they have in you? Wouldnt that give the impression that you dont know enough about their machine?

I understand you have been doing this 33 years, and I am quite in awe of that, as I have only been 15 years, but a maintenance is a maintenance. No short-cuts, especially on anything that size.
Yeah, shortcuts can be made for sure on the smaller/desktop machines, not a Dragon.

As Blackcat said, you are the expert onsite. If you have checked the parts and are confident in them, go for it. I'm still a big fan of maintenance kits though. Yet to let me down.

**Oystercopy** · 03-01-2010, 03:43 PM

You guys are BOTH on target with your commentary, and I fully understand what you are both saying. If you guys are "not seeing" this series machine out there, not on Service Contract, it is because you're not working for an independent dealership, who owes no particular loyalty to any brand (and I surely LIKE that flexibility). Customers who buy machines online (which they are doing more and more these days) and/or through other customers are not going to call the "Sharp Dealer" for service, because they know that the price for JUST A SERVICE CALL is usually outrageous and often not warranted. In my city, there's another problem for the customer as well, when the Dealers are CHANGING BRANDS every other day and not staying loyal to the brand that they sold LAST MONTH... They're bought out constantly and therefore, how is the customer getting any BETTER SERVICE in that scenario, anyway?? I'm not saying they're going to get the same (necessarily) expertise on the machine they'd get with the Authorized Dealer, but in the case of myself and my company, they're coming pretty close. Especially when you consider how many ROOKIES the dealers send out the first time, who don't know their ASS from their elbow, and end up not knowing SHIITE about the machine anyway. Being the service manager in that situation, who sent out the rookie tech, I'd have to be EMBARASSED as hell to be associated with that company. But of course, I wouldn't have much choice in the matter.....

I'm all about doing the proper repairs (I follow the maintenance schedules to the letter on my own Toshiba and KM boxes under contract), and I have stated that in previous posts. I gave the customer the complete and total option of replacing ALL the parts necessary to do the PM work completely and totally. If they choose the $450 estimate over the $1500 estimate, that is totally their choice... I've given them all my experience and recommendations; now it's up to them to decide what to do. Immediately after I got done with the work and the machine still had the issue, he not only admitted that he should have done the COMPLETE repair, but offered me to work on another "Dragon" they had bought, which was a 62 per minute. Same Sharp box, in a different office of theirs. Up front, before starting any of the work, I advised the customer - in no uncertain terms - that I was not a Sharp specialist (worked on them years ago with a Sharp dealer, lousy machines) and that I did not have the expertise when push came to shove. Before I could get that out my mouth, the customer told me that he had been referred to me by three different people in town and that I was the "man for the job". Can you believe it? How are you going to say "no" to someone like that?

The bottom line guys, is your credibility. When I walk into a customer's office, maybe its my age or my attitude, or whatever it is, that speaks integrity. I've noticed this many times. Customers still trust me even though I may not be the "answer man" for that particular problem they're having. What they do know, is that my company's longevity in business (since 1977) has a lot to do with how they're going to be treated. Many of the dealers in town refer to me when they don't specialize in a brand that the customer called about. WHY? Because they're still on solid ground with a reputable company and they can comfortably "take their chances" with a guy like me.

What ends up happening in these scenarios, more often than not, is that I wind up selling the customer a new machine (usually USED, not new) that I put a Service Agreement on, and end up making MORE MONEY than if I had tried to force the expensive repairs down the customer's throat. AND I make more money in the process..... What I've found is that "thinking outside the box" is something that Dealer technicians are not allowed to do, so they can't really offer something that's not taught. PLUS.. I'm the Salesperson AND the Technician. Therefore, no lying by the salesman that I'll have to "cover for". Imagine that.

This is the reason a guy like me can't work for the "Authorized Dealers" any longer. Been there, done that for 16 years prior to going on my own. All wasted....

OC

AR-M700, weird copy quality....

AR-M700, weird copy quality....

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