Konica 6501 Color Issue

[ExplorePrinting]

Hello CT,

Looking for a little help on a tired c6501. We received this machine and seems to be printing OK on text. When we print solids on coated stock it really shows the issues. Currently I have recently replaced the following:

Developer Powder - C/M/Y/K
Drums - C/M/Y/K
Corona wire / grid - All 4

Machine starts up fine but when I try to run a toner density sensor auto adjust I get code C-2454.
When I run the toner density on just Y/M/C it runs fine and completes the adjustment.

I tried to go To I/O check and 54-09 but when I run that the number begins at 130 which I believe is correct. So I start/stop that right away.

You can see the attached there is quite a bit of banding and not a solid print.
New machine for me so not to sure If I missed any steps after changing the Dev powder and drums.

Thank you for any help!
Anthony

[orestesp]

Hi Anthony,

What's the life reading on the K developing unit?

[blackcat4866]

You can learn more from 11% fill rather than 100% fill. The developing units yield is exactly the same as the powder, so it's best to change the developing unit(s) at the same time as the developer. The only exception that I have made is when I have a premature developer powder failure. =^..^=

[orestesp]

You can learn more from 11% fill rather than 100% fill. The developing units yield is exactly the same as the powder, so it's best to change the developing unit(s) at the same time as the developer. The only exception that I have made is when I have a premature developer powder failure. =^..^=

The older engines like the C6501 use the same developing units for up to 3 developer changes. According to the manual, the yield for all 4 developers is 200k and for all 4 dv units is 600k.

[ExplorePrinting]

Black Dev unit is coming in around 400k. I agree and figured this was good for at least 600k

We did notice however that one side of the print is printing might lighter/worse then the other.

[orestesp]

Black Dev unit is coming in around 400k. I agree and figured this was good for at least 600k

We did notice however that one side of the print is printing might lighter/worse then the other.

I would suggest you post a photo of test pattern #53 printed on A3 paper set at 130 for K and 0 for Y,C and M. It will print a black halftone, that should tell us something about what's going on.

Also, maybe post it on an external site, like imgur, where you can upload the full resolution photo? The first photo is rather small in size and hard to see any detail really.

[ExplorePrinting]

Thanks Orestes!

Ohh you might need to guide me on that one… I would be happy to pay for your time via video chat to help me walk through this process? Im in a pinch and would love to get to the bottom of this! Let me know if that’s something you would be able to help with:)

thanks!

[orestesp]

Thanks Orestes!

Ohh you might need to guide me on that one… I would be happy to pay for your time via video chat to help me walk through this process? Im in a pinch and would love to get to the bottom of this! Let me know if that’s something you would be able to help with:)

thanks!

I'd be happy to do that, sans the payment part. I've sent you a PM, let's hope I can get you going.

Maybe consider a small donation to keep CTN running?

[ExplorePrinting]

Updates!

I had a Great Chat with Orestep who walked me through a Bunch of tests. You are an amazing person and I truly appreciate your help and time! “The Greek” is extremely knowledgeable on these older Konicas but I think we met his match….

here is a list of what we have done.

New drums / charge wires / developer powder
C2454 error code as soon as we run Toner density adjust for K.
We cleaned machine fully and rule out CMY developers and drums as running the test pages at 50% halftones these print nice and solid.

we tried to swap dev units with cyan (taping off the inlet to ensure no toner gets mixed) and the code jumped to the cyan developer. Removed the swap and assembled correctly.

we swapped the sensor on the dev units from the cyan to the black develop and no luck still showing code when we run toner density. This leads us to believe the the black developer unit needs to be replaced. It has over 600k on it so certainly could be the issue.


Today I was able to track down a used working black developer from an old machine. Installed it - ran the IO check and stopped the unit at 140. STILL getting C2454 when we run toner density.

anyone have any other ideas as to what could be causing the issues?!

thank you,
anthony