Aficio AP3200 Dumping Toner

[CJD]

I’m having a problem with an Aficio AP3200 Printer, (same engine as the Aficio 220/270) running really dirty. Pulling toner from the developer and piling it up to the point it finally spills out into the front cover and paper tray and blows it out of the vent fans. If you clean it all up and replace the drum cartridge (type 320) it will run for 15k to 20k copies and then do it again. This printer has around 500 copies on it. Full PM does not help.
I’ve seen this problem on a few Aficio 270’s with high volumes on them but customer ended up upgrading before it got to be an issue. Replaced discharge lamps along with
PM kits but did not help.

Any Suggestions?

[Cipher]

It's fairly normal to have to clean up abit of toner spill between PMs.
If the copy quality if uneffected I wouldn't worry about it to much.

[CJD]

This isn't the normal toner spill between PM's. This is a LOT of toner.
So much that you better have a vacuum on hand if you slide the PCU out.
I have CQ issues when this happens. if you clean it up the machine runs
fine for a while.
Also, I thought I was posting in the Ricoh forums. How do I make sure my thread gets there next time?

[Tonerbomb]

Are you useing Ricoh toner? or something else. These pcu's rarely go the full distance and this engine has had dumping problems from early on. Check the seals on the toner hopper also.

[wagon]

Ricohs are still dumping toner?? I remember those rotten 350/450 boxes from about 7 years ago did that a lot - dump the stupid things in a skip and have the Ricoh engineers tried for crimes against technicians. Grumble.

[Cipher]

This model CJD is going on about isn't all that bad imho.
We have a building full of them and I never seen or had such a problem.
(At least not as bad as he saying anyway).

And yup the older NADs and even the newer 35/45ppm machines can be alot worst for leaking toner.
I went to a Aficio 2045 the other day and there was toner everywhere and took me ages to clean it up (shitty drum entrance seals), but then again they don't call us toner monkeys for nothing ah.

[CJD]

This machine is using all Ricoh supplies and parts. It's possible this is normal for this much wear. I know a lot of the old 220's and 270's with this engine and high volume did this. This one is just a little more excessive and customer will not upgrade.

[paulg]

Have you checked all the sp modes which are not at default?

Might be worth checking also the toner hopper as the pcu and its seal keep being changed.

[unisys12]

And yup the older NADs and even the newer 35/45ppm machines can be alot worst for leaking toner.
I went to a Aficio 2045 the other day and there was toner everywhere and took me ages to clean it up (shitty drum entrance seals), but then again they don't call us toner monkeys for nothing ah.


I know this is considered thread hijacking, but - After performing a PM on a A292, B003, etc... (installing new developer) we cover the toner input to the developer assy (like the manual says) and run about 40 - 50 copies of the standard test pattern. Then run your SP's to initialize everything. By detoning the developer this way, the machines tend to run cleaner much longer. Also, check your firmware levels, because there was updates released that addressed this and for the most part, do actually seem to help when combined with the detoning of the developer. I went to one today that had almost 100K on the PM counter and running pretty darn clean.

As for the older machines (A292)... Well, the only other thing we can do about those is covert all the drum units to B003 style and perform the dev detoning procedure as outlined above. We rebuild all our drum units in the shop, so it's not that big of time issue. Luckily, we only have a few left in the field, so it's only a matter of time.

:rolleyes: Sorry about that - Back to the thread at hand!

[Mess]

tell your customer to stop shaking the toner bottles . Instead,roll them gently to loosen the toner before install. Also possibly replace the toner hopper complete assy. They tend to clog and not open the toner bottle properly thus spilling the toner around the bottle holder.

[blackcat4866]

The most I've ever gotten from these PCU's is 35k. 20k is typical before quality problems kick in. And 500k is a lot of copies on one of these. Sell them something new.

[Mess]

The most I've ever gotten from these PCU's is 35k. 20k is typical before quality problems kick in. And 500k is a lot of copies on one of these. Sell them something new.


wow I consisently see 60 to 80 k on these units

[blackcat4866]

High volume machines? Honestly I've never had the drum light come on. The drum/developer never lasted that long.

[Mess]

changed 1 today on a 2027 basically same unit had 89 k Not high vol machines. lasted about 1 1/2 yrs