Bizhub C250i "Cleaning in Progress"

[Slammers]

Hi folks,

I have a pretty much brand new C250i (15k total clicks, ~2 months old) that is behaving strangely when printing envelopes from the multipurpose tray.

After EACH envelope it stops/pauses and shows "Cleaning in Progress. Please wait" which is causing huge frustration to the customer due to the length of time its taking to print a batch.

I have looked and searched through the manual for what this process actually is to no avail - Fun Fact: there are 550 instances of the word "cleaning" in the manual, none of which actually cover this message.

Under normal operation there is no issues, this only occurs when printing envelopes from the bypass tray. I tested with plain A4 and no issues, just envelopes.

I even took some beefy card stock thinking it may be a thickness setting bug but no joy, even at thick3 it doesn't trigger, just for Envelopes.

Steps and info:

Media: Envelope - DL
Tray: Multipurpose
Firmware: G00-73
Self Checks: All Pass
Internal error log: None
IDC Sensors: Sparkly clean (Brand new) no P-Codes
ITB Blade: Clean (Brand new) no smudging
Drums: All checked, no defects on drum or charge rollers or charge roller cleaning brush
Additional Cleaning unit: Not Installed and verified correct in System2 -> Cleaning Unit Setting

So, my question is, what exactly is the "Cleaning In Progress" referring to. What is the copier doing/trying to do and what should I be looking for that is triggering this.

If you require any further info let me know

Cheers

[Bix]

Hi, the G00-79 is out. Among the notes:
1. Improve FCOT (First Copy Output Time)


I don't think this solves your problem. From what I understand, does it only happen with envelopes? Have you tried to put it in the first tray and see if it does it anyway?

[Slammers]

Hi Bix, thanks for the reply.

Hi, the G00-79 is out. Among the notes:
1. Improve FCOT (First Copy Output Time)

I should have stated that this is an Olivetti MF259 (Rebadged C250i) and the G00-73 is the latest firmware I currently have available, must be slightly behind KM's release.

From what I understand, does it only happen with envelopes?

Yes, that is correct, only Envelope setting is triggering the "Cleaning In Progress"

Have you tried to put it in the first tray and see if it does it anyway?

To answer your question about Tray 1 - No, I did not try this and to tell you the truth it skipped my mind that you can do envelopes from Tray 1 on these new Bizhubs. That will be my first check when I head back to site.

Do you know what the machine does when this cleaning is happening? Is it ITB cleaning, Shutter cleaning, Laser cleaning, Drum Cleaning? I have seen this message before, but only briefly when someone was doing large jobs on an older c224 and not every print, so wasn't flagged or investigated as a problem.

Thanks

[Bix]

Usually the cleaning process is on the transfer belt. On 4/8 series I clean the two windows over the sensors under the belt. But it could be a firmware bug

[tsbservice]

Well it might be FW, see this thread:
Bizhub C754 Keep Showing Cleaning In Progress
But I doubt it, because machine does this only in specific conditions. I was going to propose using trays but Bix already do that.
There is no mention about this behavior in SM or UM, I even tried to search older models like C258, nothing came up.
Can you try to trick the machine that it is printing not Envelopes to see what will happen?

[Slammers]

Hi tsb, I have already had a look through that thread before posting my own, just didn't seem to be quite the same.

I am going to wait for Olivetti to release the G00-79 firmware and re-visit the machine.

As for fooling the machine, I did try that by taking some cardstock and printing on thick 1/2/3 from MP Tray, no problems. Just seems to be the specific "Envelope" setting that is causing the issue.

Bix,

Usually the cleaning process is on the transfer belt. On 4/8 series I clean the two windows over the sensors under the belt. But it could be a firmware bug

Ok, at least I now have the correct areas to look further, who knows, there could be an issue with one of the IDC sensors or just some weird firmware quirk. Lack of P-codes and no other issues kind of leans towards firmware.

Will let you know when the firmware arrives from Olivetti and will get it up to speed.

Thanks folks.

[tsbservice]

Slammers, I was told that KM FW can be used on our Develop machines. I figure that you can put it also in Olivetti version.
Just drop me PM if you want to try G00-79.

[Phil B.]

Hi folks,

I have a pretty much brand new C250i (15k total clicks, ~2 months old) that is behaving strangely when printing envelopes from the multipurpose tray.

After EACH envelope it stops/pauses and shows "Cleaning in Progress. Please wait" which is causing huge frustration to the customer due to the length of time its taking to print a batch.

I have looked and searched through the manual for what this process actually is to no avail - Fun Fact: there are 550 instances of the word "cleaning" in the manual, none of which actually cover this message.

Under normal operation there is no issues, this only occurs when printing envelopes from the bypass tray. I tested with plain A4 and no issues, just envelopes.

I even took some beefy card stock thinking it may be a thickness setting bug but no joy, even at thick3 it doesn't trigger, just for Envelopes.

Steps and info:

Media: Envelope - DL
Tray: Multipurpose
Firmware: G00-73
Self Checks: All Pass
Internal error log: None
IDC Sensors: Sparkly clean (Brand new) no P-Codes
ITB Blade: Clean (Brand new) no smudging
Drums: All checked, no defects on drum or charge rollers or charge roller cleaning brush
Additional Cleaning unit: Not Installed and verified correct in System2 -> Cleaning Unit Setting

So, my question is, what exactly is the "Cleaning In Progress" referring to. What is the copier doing/trying to do and what should I be looking for that is triggering this.

If you require any further info let me know

Cheers

after reading the total thread.. I have a few questions: Are they using a mail merge program to print the envelopes? or is it just from say... MS word?

also if it does work from the cassette that would hold more media (env) witch would work better with a mail merge program.

does the MPT/Envelope have an optical sensor? could that be dirty?

most machine when it says "cleaning in process" or such it is running either a belt or drum cleaning. is there a setting (like in old ricoh) to extend the time between cleanings?

[tsbservice]

Phil this cleaning process isn't documented. You're correct I believe about cleaning drums or ITB(or both) but we cannot control this process as the machine is responsible maybe hard coded in FW how and when to perform cleaning.

[Phil B.]

Phil this cleaning process isn't documented. You're correct I believe about cleaning drums or ITB(or both) but we cannot control this process as the machine is responsible maybe hard coded in FW how and when to perform cleaning.

thanks for the correction brother..

sometimes my 2 cents is worthless but i tried !