Kyocera TaskALFA 300CI Cyan, Yellow, & Magenta Spots

[CaptnRed]

Hi Folks,

Got a Kyocera TaskALFA 300CI with magenta, cyan, & yellow spots on prints, happens on color prints only. (See attached pics) Pulled the drums out, cleaned & coated them along with the wiper and PCR, no changes. Popped a new developer no changes. ITB is worn but not seeing anything obviously wrong.

I'm about to replaced the drum unit, wanted to see if anyone's had this issue on this model? The service manual doesn't seem to be thorough in CQ troubleshooting.

Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!

CaptnRed

[kyove]

I have the same problem with the same printer.
A bit less magenta dots and a bit more cyan dots.

With TASKalfa 2550ci I enable "Drum Aging" in U100 but 250ci/300ci haven't this option...
Maybe setting AC or DC BIAS in U100. If possible I don't want to change YMC drums, they are expensive.

Thanks in advance,
Carlo

[blackcat4866]

Sorry to say it is arc marks on the drum that are not visible to the eye. ASi drums do not show visible faults for the most part. So note what colors the spots are, and order those drums.

If you look closely enough you will see that there is a pattern that repeats at 96.75mm. =^..^=

[CaptnRed]

Blackcat thanks!

Looks like my boss has drums coming in soon, not cheap.

I havent connected PCRs to arcing on drums before, is that comon on these model? Any way to prevent that in the future?

Also would a firmware update help as well? I think these are on version 6.


Thanks again,
CaptnRed

[blackcat4866]

The arcing is more common on low volume machines. There isn't anything that you can do preventatively (excepting making more copies and prints). The firmware update won't do anything for that, either. That's the drawback on ASi drums. They'll last 300K at high volume, and will start to arc at lower volumes.

Be sure to do the color calibrations listed on the sheet in the drum box. =^..^=

[Taggerung08]

blackcat is correct. This is arcing on the ASi drums and they do need to be replaced.

Back a few years ago, Kyocera-Mita rolled out a new lineup of "ECOSYS" copiers that designed to be environmentally friendly because the drums and toners last much longer. (They probably also did this to corner the market on the drums which is why it's impossible to find aftermarket drums for these machines)

The 300ci is part of that lineup.

Bad news is the drums need to be replaced, good news is they will last a long time when you do!

[CaptnRed]

All three Cyan, Yellow, & Magenta drums where replaced, cleared up all the dots and spots!

Thanks again Blackcat for your time and guidance! And yes Taggerung we didn't find any aftermarket drums, only toner. I'm used to seeing Amorphous Silicon drums in higher yield machines that use coronas.

BlackCat, found this blocking my K toner supply, any suggestions?!?!?!?!



Warm Regards,
CaptnRed

[qbert69]

Hi Folks,

Got a Kyocera TaskALFA 300CI with magenta, cyan, & yellow spots on prints, happens on color prints only. (See attached pics) Pulled the drums out, cleaned & coated them along with the wiper and PCR, no changes. Popped a new developer no changes. ITB is worn but not seeing anything obviously wrong.

I'm about to replaced the drum unit, wanted to see if anyone's had this issue on this model? The service manual doesn't seem to be thorough in CQ troubleshooting.

Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!

CaptnRed

Is this Cupcake Wars?!:

Cupcake Wars : Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/cupcake-wars.html)

It looks like someone dropped some "Rainbow Sprinkles" in your MFP!

:cool:

PS--not sure about it, but since the drums are "shot" I'd chance giving them a polish coating of NuFinish silicone based car polish to see how they run!...just for the heck of it!

[blackcat4866]

That's where you went! I've been looking all over for you. =^..^=

[zoraldinho]

I have this issue many times and I thought that the reason is non OEM toner! It happens with the originals too? Every time I must replaced drums before 50K.:mad:

And where exactly arcing come from in this case? What is the culprit? Power supply? transfer belt? DC?.....

[blackcat4866]

I have this issue many times and I thought that the reason is non OEM toner! It happens with the originals too? Every time I must replaced drums before 50K.:mad:

And where exactly arcing come from in this case? What is the culprit? Power supply? transfer belt? DC?.....

It comes from the primary charge roller. You may have noticed that on some of the newer models the primary charge roller can get lumpy, and start discharging through the highest spots. It can look like six magenta or cyan spiders marching in a row down your copy in the feed direction. I was quite entertained by the resemblance to arachnids. Spiders are quite entertaining for cats. It's fun to pull off their legs one at a time ... =^..^=

[zoraldinho]

incy wincy spider is sooo expensive!! Thanks cat!

[kyove]

Hi Folks,

Got a Kyocera TaskALFA 300CI with magenta, cyan, & yellow spots on prints, happens on color prints only. (See attached pics) Pulled the drums out, cleaned & coated them along with the wiper and PCR, no changes. Popped a new developer no changes. ITB is worn but not seeing anything obviously wrong.

I'm about to replaced the drum unit, wanted to see if anyone's had this issue on this model? The service manual doesn't seem to be thorough in CQ troubleshooting.

Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!

CaptnRed

Maybe it's not necessary to substitute YMC drums.
As I say in a previous post, with 2550ci I had set "Drum Aging" in U100 and the problem is gone!
Follow these steps:
- Update to the latest firmware
- Go to U464 and select "AC Calib"
- Select Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black and set it to ON
- Set "AC Calib Type" to 2
- Execute
- Power off/on the TASKalfa
- Print (or copy) at least 20/30 color pages
If dots on the last copy are fewer than the 1st copy, leave this settings and dots will go away after 150 pages.
If dots are the same replace drums. Cyan dots > replace cyan drum, magenta dots > replace magenta drum.....

If you replace drum perform U464 with "AC Calib Type" set to 4.

Let me know,
Kyove

[Kyo fan]

It IS necessary to replace those drums, trust me. You can't really compare 300ci series to 2550ci, they are rather different when you dive deep into them. These dots on drum units caused by charger rollers on a lower duty machines is a major failure that Kyocera admitted and was refunding drum units back in the day. I only had 2 of 250ci/300ci that never had a single dot on them, but those two were under really heavy load.

[Taggerung08]

I have this issue many times and I thought that the reason is non OEM toner! It happens with the originals too? Every time I must replaced drums before 50K.:mad:

And where exactly arcing come from in this case? What is the culprit? Power supply? transfer belt? DC?.....

As far as I know, the problem is with the drum cylinders themselves so replacing anything except for the drums will not help.
Pitting or arcing is when the drums develop tiny holes and cause an image defect. It is more common on low copy count machines and the only real way to prevent this is to make more copies

[JDR]

No trick to clean up dots, drum is the fix.
Had also many issues with 3050ci...nothing else to do

[MDR24]

After you have replaced the drums make sure your firmware is up to date. There was an issue with a level of firmware that caused this exact issue. I believe it was Version 10.