C6500 quality issue - hazy blue/purple line

[ScovelNet]

Hi guys,

I purchased a used C6500 last year and just got around to installing it in our shop with all this COVID-19 downtime.

Besides print quality, everything seems to work great, I even made a booklet!

Issue: Every colored page I print has a hazy line about half an inch wide going through the print almost like a neon blue/purple glow.. in another area there is a thin solid (pixel thick) line going across the page (sometimes magenta, sometimes cyan) which also has about a half inch haze around it (more of a white haze).

Could someone point me into the right direction of what needs fixed/replaced to fix the print?

I appreciate your time and knowledge!
94786525_2792113300897965_3129952456272773120_n.jpg94925360_2616946491882463_8516774759030063104_n.jpg95097271_238346500737335_4014466688455016448_n.jpg

Side Note: I printed a bunch of pages of text in CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLUE, RED, and GREEN.. I only noticed print quality issues with RED, GREEN and Yellow (which makes me think these issues might be from yellow?)

[GIUBOSS]

Hi guys,

I purchased a used C6500 last year and just got around to installing it in our shop with all this COVID-19 downtime.

Besides print quality, everything seems to work great, I even made a booklet!

Issue: Every colored page I print has a hazy line about half an inch wide going through the print almost like a neon blue/purple glow.. in another area there is a thin solid (pixel thick) line going across the page (sometimes magenta, sometimes cyan) which also has about a half inch haze around it (more of a white haze).

Could someone point me into the right direction of what needs fixed/replaced to fix the print?

I appreciate your time and knowledge!
94786525_2792113300897965_3129952456272773120_n.jpg94925360_2616946491882463_8516774759030063104_n.jpg95097271_238346500737335_4014466688455016448_n.jpg

Side Note: I printed a bunch of pages of text in CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLUE, RED, and GREEN.. I only noticed print quality issues with RED, GREEN and Yellow (which makes me think these issues might be from yellow?)

I think it's yellow too, but try swapping the yellow drum group for another to make sure it's him, then also clean the laser part. As a last resort the developer group could be dirty from dust residues inside.

[ScovelNet]

I think it's yellow too, but try swapping the yellow drum group for another to make sure it's him, then also clean the laser part. As a last resort the developer group could be dirty from dust residues inside.

Thanks GIUBOSS!

This will be my first time opening this up (will youtube) and im a brand new noob but learning quickly .

Questions
drum group: would that just be the big green drum, swap from another color like cyan?
laser part: Any chance you have a photo of this or a video link on how to clean it?
developer group: if this is dirty can it be cleaned or would it need replaced?

Much thanks!
Aaron

[allan]

Hi guys,

I purchased a used C6500 last year and just got around to installing it in our shop with all this COVID-19 downtime.

Besides print quality, everything seems to work great, I even made a booklet!

Issue: Every colored page I print has a hazy line about half an inch wide going through the print almost like a neon blue/purple glow.. in another area there is a thin solid (pixel thick) line going across the page (sometimes magenta, sometimes cyan) which also has about a half inch haze around it (more of a white haze).

Could someone point me into the right direction of what needs fixed/replaced to fix the print?

I appreciate your time and knowledge!
94786525_2792113300897965_3129952456272773120_n.jpg94925360_2616946491882463_8516774759030063104_n.jpg95097271_238346500737335_4014466688455016448_n.jpg

Side Note: I printed a bunch of pages of text in CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLUE, RED, and GREEN.. I only noticed print quality issues with RED, GREEN and Yellow (which makes me think these issues might be from yellow?)

Hey good job on getting it set up.
Are you experienced on any color copiers or printers?
Get a manual and take your time getting to know basic service procedure.
You must first determine if any of the parts are over life, get to know the part yields and where to check and set counters.

Printing half-tones is what you need to do to check the individual quality on CMYK.
only Cyan Magenta Yellow and black exists here. Red, blue and green are additive colors and does not help for trouble shooting the basic components of the engine.
Post scans or photos of that and then the guys here can give real solid advice. Print them at a value of 128 and 255.

Could be as simple as a charge unit or developer.

[ScovelNet]

Hey good job on getting it set up.
Are you experienced on any color copiers or printers?
Get a manual and take your time getting to know basic service procedure.
You must first determine if any of the parts are over life, get to know the part yields and where to check and set counters.

Printing half-tones is what you need to do to check the individual quality on CMYK.
only Cyan Magenta Yellow and black exists here. Red, blue and green are additive colors and does not help for trouble shooting the basic components of the engine.
Post scans or photos of that and then the guys here can give real solid advice. Print them at a value of 128 and 255.

Could be as simple as a charge unit or developer.

5 Years Printing (large format), first commercial laser .. this is new, but I learn fast.

Looks like the last owner pushed the part life to the limits.
95140654_821682761687074_3382931677889167360_n.jpg

From the Service Mode I ran test pattern #53 (as suggested in the Service Manual) and used 128 & 255 as you requested.
95319476_160256328740290_1442029157893537792_n.jpg95646422_2935355193212245_2768606154601791488_n.jpg95191505_660456638111915_6988640199865532416_n.jpg

What is the lifespan of these printers? Is 2.3 million prints a worth dumping $$ into?
95227212_847276659115392_4037525508873781248_n.jpgAdditional Note: When we purchased this, we had to stuff in 2 mini vans (the main unit had to lay on its back to fit and then it sat in storage for a year).

Seriously thankful for your expertise and advice!

[allan]

5 Years Printing (large format), first commercial laser .. this is new, but I learn fast.

Looks like the last owner pushed the part life to the limits.
95140654_821682761687074_3382931677889167360_n.jpg

From the Service Mode I ran test pattern #53 (as suggested in the Service Manual) and used 128 & 255 as you requested.
95319476_160256328740290_1442029157893537792_n.jpg95646422_2935355193212245_2768606154601791488_n.jpg95191505_660456638111915_6988640199865532416_n.jpg

What is the lifespan of these printers? Is 2.3 million prints a worth dumping $$ into?
95227212_847276659115392_4037525508873781248_n.jpgAdditional Note: When we purchased this, we had to stuff in 2 mini vans (the main unit had to lay on its back to fit and then it sat in storage for a year).

Seriously thankful for your expertise and advice!

At 2.3M its still a youngster. Lots of money to be made, have a look at what it would cost to get a new machine that should quickly justify spending money on it.
Ouch on its back you say... Never ever do that to a machine. Its loaded with toner and developer and the structure is not mad to be supported in that orientation.
That could mean that the developer has leaked all over the show, not a good thing.
You would need to inspect it for dumped developer.

For sure time for new drums and developer.


A vacuum service at this point would be a good idea.
That would involve removing the transfer belt, developer tanks, drums, charge units.
Also the right tools and know how to clean the various parts.
It would be advisable to find an experienced independent tech to get you started.
Aslo to help you make up a complete list of parts needed like feed rollers and the like.

[ScovelNet]

For sure time for new drums and developer.

Are these lifespan numbers on the actual drums and developer or the whole drum unit and developer unit?

Drums and developer about $800 vs Drum units and developer units w/ developer about $3400

Where do you buy parts & supplies?

Thank you

[raplma]

Hello, a few musings that may be of help...

To answer the first part of the question in your latest post regards life... There are three distinct parts mentioned here, the drum unit, developer unit and developer (dev powder)
The drum assembly for your machine was from stock DU102 these are rated at replacement cycles of 180k, some fit the later DU104 drums rated at replacement cycles of 260k.
The developer (powder) DV610, C,M,Y,K is rated at replacement cycles of 150k
The dev units that contain the dev powder of which there are various part numbers, are rated at 600k cycles - these are the most expensive of the three parts, as you now know...
Regards sourcing, I'm UK so that's no use to you, but I know of Discount Copier Centre and Precision Roller, others will know others companies. I personally only use OEM parts, others freely use copies, that's your choice to make.

Back to some thoughts on your original post.

As already mentioned, it would be well worth your while getting hold of the following documentation - if not already - The "Theory of Operation" will give an insight into how these toner based digital presses go about making an image, the "Field Service Manual" will detail how to go about maintaining and adjusting your machine should be wish to yourself. The third is the "Parts Manual"/List which is the exploded diagrams of your machine will pretty much every part number you can imagine down to the screws. These are the holy books of your press learn them well. There is also the standard "Service Manual" and "Solutions Manual" which are also very helpful. Become a contributor to this forum, and should you request them someone may well oblige.

There are some useful video's on YouTube - also search for c5501 and c6501 as well as your c6500 as they are very similar mechanically and in process - but I would commend that any work that you undertake yourself is done with the aid of the service manuals, this is the way you can ensure the precise order of removal and refitting and subsequent adjustments have to be made. Get it wrong and you may as well have flushed your first $3800 bill down the proverbial swanny. And you wish you'd called in a professional technician in the first place.

Regards number of impressions, as a rule of thumb this grade of press is considered life end at 6M. Although having said that, we have a c7000 nearing 11M and killed a c6501 at 4.5M. But age will also play a part, your machine it probably around 14 years old, and even though it is low mileage, stuff just deteriorates over time. So is it worth investing in, yes, but know when to quit as we did with our c6501, and then when it does quit have fun stripping it down to it's screws, a great way to get to know any machine. Two of our presses and 6 of our MFP's have all ended their life this way.

What allan said is very sound advice...
Simply to add specific details of what we had that caused a similar effect... looking at your test prints - I'm assuming the leading edge is the top edge in your image - I would suggest checking the condition of the dev units. The blue has a haze section as does the yellow, the haze can be caused when the dev units are not presenting the toner to the drums in an even fashion. If it attaches, the image below shows you the magnetic roller of the magenta dev unit will uneven density. In this case due to life we simply changed the M-dev unit and all the dev's at the same time, and seeing we had done that the drums and coronas too and after the usual adjustments it was running solids as good as it has ever done.
Worn dev unit where cleaning film is faulty.jpg

The single line in the magenta, could be a simple as a spec of dust on the "glass case assy" pull it out have a look and clean it.

Well a few thoughts, take 'em or leave 'em

Good luck and always post up how you fixed it as someone else will be in your shoes at some point!

All the best
Mark

[Synthohol]

it looks like just a speck of something on the corona wire or grid.
simply swap corona assys and see if the line moves a color.
i always found it best to first clean all the laser slit glasses then swap colors around starting with the coronas.
if that does not change, swap drums.
if still no change put tape over the toner inlet holes on the DV units and swap them around while leaving the toner bottle door open while testing so it wont try to add toner.
if swapping all the above around still has the same line its prolly laser but i am confident you will isolate the line following the above.
good luck.

[ScovelNet]

Well spent about $2000 replacing drum units, corona units, developer, toner vacuum and even a PM kit with belt and fuser parts.. I learned a TON.. however fixing and replacing all of this only fixed very minor things, like the solid line I was seeing... All the major issues from test pattern 53 are still visible in same locations, kinda bummed. Any ideas for the next step? developer rollers looked nice when I was replacing toner, however.. should I remove drums and check from that view now that I have printed?