Any old old school copier techs here?

[KenB]

I remember the Canon PC copier we sold so many of these what a great little box, take out the small optic ass'y to clean fit a new UFR & cartridge machine was like new again.

Was the PC25 the one with the enlarge/reduce dial?

Oh & that little sep belt!

Yes, it was.

I went to the first Canon class (at least in Chicago) for the original PC10 and PC20. The PC10 had no cassette, and was manual feed only. The 25 was released some time later.

The PC25 had an NP counterpart, the NP115, which got replaced by the NP112 (I think).

Over time, there were multiple PCs released, some of which you could buy at office supply stores for under $200.

We eventually stopped servicing them in the field, and they became carry-in only.

It’s scary how some of us remember “PC” to mean “Personal Copier”, instead of the much more current “Personal Computer”, or even “Politically Correct”.

[KenB]

I used the Katun test chart back in the day. Also, I will say that I don't miss rebuilding DV's and Fusers. Don't miss it one bit.

I remember the Katun test chart to be made of metal, and nearly indestructible. Too bad it wasn’t “lose or leave it behind” proof.

[tsbservice]

Back in the days when I used Toshiba test chart it was a matter of pride to save your test chart clear and in good condition. Also every additional tinny dot or mark on test chart was burned like map in my mind so when take a copy of test chart I immediately recognized mine test chart 'defects' versus copier added.

[gneebore]

I remember the Canon PC copier we sold so many of these what a great little box, take out the small optic ass'y to clean fit a new UFR & cartridge machine was like new again.

Was the PC25 the one with the enlarge/reduce dial?

Oh & that little sep belt!

Had to look them up but yes the box had a dial. Great little machines for light duty. But we had a few customers that ran through three toners in a month. Got so bad with one we had to pick it up off of rental since they did not have a copy count. The rentals for those machines included one toner cartridge every two months. Any more than that they got a charge for extra supplies. Even had one weird customer that insisted we provide the paper she needed to use to make copies on. Because that is a copier supply item.

[KenB]

The scanner drive assembly was a rats’ nest of solenoids, springs, gears and clutches. They failed frequently. Fortunately, it was all one assembly.

It was fairly complicated to replace, but not terrible. After doing a few, it got pretty easy.

I had a chemical plant customer who had about 15-20 of these little gems scattered in every nook and cranny; they were all the NP115 version. I replaced at least one or two every month. They all got replaced (at least once) over their lifetime.

[gneebore]

Yes, it was.

I went to the first Canon class (at least in Chicago) for the original PC10 and PC20. The PC10 had no cassette, and was manual feed only. The 25 was released some time later.

The PC25 had an NP counterpart, the NP115, which got replaced by the NP112 (I think).

Over time, there were multiple PCs released, some of which you could buy at office supply stores for under $200.

We eventually stopped servicing them in the field, and they became carry-in only.

It’s scary how some of us remember “PC” to mean “Personal Copier”, instead of the much more current “Personal Computer”, or even “Politically Correct”.

I think the PC and NP lines were used by Canon to determine where the copiers were sold. The PC lines were sold through wholesale business and the NP lines were sold through licensed dealers. For example we, as an independent dealer , could buy the pc lines via Caroline Wholesale. For example the PC6RE. The same machine as an dealer supplied copier was the NP 1010. The PC copier was sold with a toner cartridge supply and the NP was sold with a drum /developer/toner components unit, The customer was responsible for changing the toner "cartridge" in the PC line. And was only responsible for replacing the empty toner ion the NP, Yes we did get service calls when the NP machines ran out of toner and the user could not figure out how to replace it. Oh yeah I also think the NP machines had a waste toner bottle too. And those when full also caused service calls because customers were too lazy to read the front cover to replace them when full.

[gneebore]

The scanner drive assembly was a rats’ nest of solenoids, springs, gears and clutches. They failed frequently. Fortunately, it was all one assembly.

It was fairly complicated to replace, but not terrible. After doing a few, it got pretty easy.

I had a chemical plant customer who had about 15-20 of these little gems scattered in every nook and cranny; they were all the NP115 version. I replaced at least one or two every month. They all got replaced (at least once) over their lifetime.

Don't think I ever replaced the scanner drive in one of them. But we could get remanufactured or wholesale machines for really good prices so instead of putting a lot of time into one rebuilding it And the with cost of the parts we just replaced the few we did have scanner drive problems with. Or we just took one of the rental units we had on the shelf and replaced it. Then stripped the good parts and junked whatever was not worth keeping.

[KenB]

Had to look them up but yes the box had a dial. Great little machines for light duty. But we had a few customers that ran through three toners in a month. Got so bad with one we had to pick it up off of rental since they did not have a copy count. The rentals for those machines included one toner cartridge every two months. Any more than that they got a charge for extra supplies. Even had one weird customer that insisted we provide the paper she needed to use to make copies on. Because that is a copier supply item.

By “dial”, were you referring to the dial on the cartridge that progressively turned from green to red? There was an “odometer-like” mechanism that progressed the dial by counting drum revolutions.

The idea was that as it turned red there was less and less toner available, and that the drum, cleaner and developer were wearing, but that was not necessarily true.

Customers would run copies with the cover open (although not as common with a moving copy board), and blank streaks would start occurring even though the indicator was still green.That was always a fun conversation to have. Not.

[Grey]

Fun times, when you could lift a 250 pound copier off the cement floor with another tech, all day long, no problem.

The Canon PPC-1, plain paper copier, could have been advertised as "THE LA BREA TAR PITS".

Google LA BREA TAR PITS if you don't know what that is.

Wet toner, like kerosene with India ink concentrate, about 3 quarts.

Would usually last about 2 weeks, before turning into mucky tar mess in the "TANK" developer unit.

Oh my God. 1976.


Grey

[JR2ALTA]

I'm not old school but my first job was a mom and pop going back to 70s. They made me watch these vintage VHS tapes about proper service calls and customer skills. So awesome. Business is closed and they're passed on but I wished I would've copied them.