M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

[mntech]

Has anybody ran across this problem on the Ecosys M5526 series machines, I haven't seen any bulletins, but have had 4 machines do this to me:

Transfer belt cleaning unit is not removing toner and causes print quality/streaking.
Gear's half moon hole is rounded out from the gear spinning, but the waste auger is locked up.
Hardened toner from friction at the waste outlet on the cleaner unit.

The waste toner inlet after the transfer cleaner is not clogged. I can clean the unit out and glue the gear directly to the auger shaft.

It looks to me like the black toner cartridge is also the waste tank. I suspect using more color fills the waste tank before black needs to be replaced, causing a waste backup.

Thanks,
-MNTECH

[ihatefinishers13]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

Has anybody ran across this problem on the Ecosys M5526 series machines, I haven't seen any bulletins, but have had 4 machines do this to me:

Transfer belt cleaning unit is not removing toner and causes print quality/streaking.
Gear's half moon hole is rounded out from the gear spinning, but the waste auger is locked up.
Hardened toner from friction at the waste outlet on the cleaner unit.

The waste toner inlet after the transfer cleaner is not clogged. I can clean the unit out and glue the gear directly to the auger shaft.

It looks to me like the black toner cartridge is also the waste tank. I suspect using more color fills the waste tank before black needs to be replaced, causing a waste backup.

Thanks,
-MNTECH

If you're using non-OEM toner cartridges, then look no further. If the machine is under maintenance, we only send out OEM for Kyocera, but we have had a few customers who bought the machine outright and use non-OEM toner, and have nothing but problems.

I like your theory on the waste tank filling too soon. I'm not sure if that's exactly what's happening, but at the same time, I'm not sure what to do to resolve it :/

[mntech]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

The machines are on MA, so they are using OEM toner.

I haven't worked on too many of these machines, so ill have to research into how the waste system works. I'm not sure if they machine detects full waste, or just waits for black to be empty.

[blackcat4866]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

The Sharp Dragon I would fill the waste portion of the toner cartridge before the toner was consumed. Part of the reason was that the manufacturer increased the amount of toner in the toner cartridge, but did not increase the waste capacity.

It was a long drawn out battle. We would lighten the print image as much as possible to minimize the waste toner output. We would dump the waste portion of the toner cartridge every visit. We would increase the voids.

Some customers became alert to the clicky-clicky sounds of an overfull waste collector, and swapped the cartridges early. And it still happened ... a little less often. =^..^=

[D Colour]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

There is a bulletin about this exact issue:

"The shape of the waste toner lump breaking spring inside the primary transfer cleaning section is changed to prevent the waste toner clogging."

Vertical Streaks J102_2R7_0034_rev.1.pdf

[mntech]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

There is a bulletin about this exact issue:

"The shape of the waste toner lump breaking spring inside the primary transfer cleaning section is changed to prevent the waste toner clogging."

[ATTACH]60488[/ATTACH]

Awesome!
Thank you for this. I couldn't find any bulletins on the Kyocera US portal.

I just wish they would sell just the modified cleaner unit instead of the entire transfer unit.

Thanks,
-MNTECH

[tmaged]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

We still have issues with the cleaning units on these, even the updated ones. They have to run at a decent monthly volume. The lower the volume the more likely you are to experience cleaning issues.

[ihatefinishers13]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

Weirdly enough, we had 20 of this model at a customer where 90% of them ran less than 5k TOTAL in each machine, and never heard of this issue. I've heard of being close to salt water can cause issues - corroding things and all.

[mtcchuck]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

We have less than a dozen of these we service and they all use OEM toner. Not a good design. We carry cleaned and glued cleaning unit with us. Saves a ton of time at the customer. Cant tell you how many times we switch these out. Seems like we have to clean alot of transfer units. Doesnt matter what model it is. If its kyocera color... better clean the transfer.

[mntech]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

I wonder if just removing the "lump breaker spring" would work.

It doesn't rotate, just vibrates.

It seems the thing that was designed to break lumps is causing lumps.
Maybe if the spring wasn't there, the toner would just fall down nicely without gravity.

I think the next time I service one of these machines, I'll remove it, or stretch the spring to twice it's length and cut it

-MNTech

[KYO_OEM]

Re: M5526 transfer cleaner clog and stripped gear

in most cases it`s related to bk drum unit and not to belt only.
After assembling from modified DK, waste cleaning area from belt would vaccumed if gear not broken and problem disappeared...
Otherwise new DK + belt needed