M3550 Toner worms

[DougMoney]

I have an M3550 that leaves lines like the old toner worms on the first few pages. Then they go away and it runs fine until the next print job or so. Copies look fine after the lines disappear. There is only 30K on the drum unit and developer unit. They were both replaced about a year ago. I cleaned the laser lens and everything else I could think of. Any other ideas on this? Thanks,
Doug

[GIUBOSS]

After one year the drum unit can be replaced again, the blade will have deteriorated.

[DougMoney]

After one year the drum unit can be replaced again, the blade will have deteriorated.

Thanks, that was the only thing I could come up with. I haven't had these go bad that quick before. Thanks for the heads up.

[copyman]

Thanks, that was the only thing I could come up with. I haven't had these go bad that quick before. Thanks for the heads up.

Very odd you would automatically have to replace drum after a year. Is there a known issue with that models drums / cleaning blades going bad after a year? Usually a drum is rated on amount of pages run not time. No experience with that model but serviced all brands of copiers over 40 yrs and don't recall having to replace drums / cleaning blades after a year unless the customer ran the full life of drum/blade, damaged the drum, etc. Also had machines sit in warehouse for years and drum / blades had no issues.

Hopefully you can replace just the cleaning blade if drum not near end of life.

[mga]

I have an M3550 that leaves lines like the old toner worms on the first few pages. Then they go away and it runs fine until the next print job or so. Copies look fine after the lines disappear. There is only 30K on the drum unit and developer unit. They were both replaced about a year ago. I cleaned the laser lens and everything else I could think of. Any other ideas on this? Thanks,
Doug

Try cleaning the charge unit

[rapidocument]

If you mean "worms" like the image below then try the altitude adjustment, it works.

**sorry, image doesn't load, tried several times***

[blackcat4866]

"Toner Worms" typically are caused by charge wires, not a charge roller. Do the lines actually wander left/right like "Toner Worms" do? I can't imagine a charge roller causing this.

But I have seen lately on a couple of different models:
One of our customers is using particularly crappy paper, leaving tons of paper dust and paper fibers ... some of which cling to the neoprene drum blade ... and yes, they do wiggle left/right. And they are particularly difficult to find. They also get captured by the doctor blade, and are particularly difficult to get out of a sealed developing unit.
=^

[JR2ALTA]

"Toner Worms" typically are caused by charge wires, not a charge roller. Do the lines actually wander left/right like "Toner Worms" do? I can't imagine a charge roller causing this.

But I have seen lately on a couple of different models:
One of our customers is using particularly crappy paper, leaving tons of paper dust and paper fibers ... some of which cling to the neoprene drum blade ... and yes, they do wiggle left/right. And they are particularly difficult to find. They also get captured by the doctor blade, and are particularly difficult to get out of a sealed developing unit.
=^

Never heard of "toner worms" the first I thought of was fibers like you said. An amalgamation of paper dust, ambient dust and toner.

If you're using OEM toner I'd just fix the problem with a parts and try for warranty return.

PS fusers are junk on this model, expect them to go every 50-75k.

[DougMoney]

There are random lines from the leading edge down the page getting lighter as they go but after a couple of pages disappear. They don't appear curvy. The image looks great other than this. I'll try altitude adjustment first. Thank you everyone for all of the advice.

Doug

[ntbann]

A scan of the problem might be helpful!