Ricoh MP 4500 dirty copies

[aikens]

We had 4 Ricoh MP 4500 come in off a maintenance lease. All have the same problem, dirty copies. A light toner, greyness over the entire copy. When you first run a copy it looks okay but when you look closer or compare to the original you see it. I also ran the copy count print and the result is the same so it is not in the optics (glass or mirrors).

What I found was unusual is that all machines have very low counts ranging from 36,000 to 91,000 copies. Normally with higher count I would say replace drum and developer but with 36,000 copies?

I have cleaned the machine including the mag roller and changed the dev bias to 660, dev bias for ID to 500 and increased charge roller bias, no change.

I know these machines can be problematic, but looking for ideas.

I'll keep playing with the machines when time permits and post the results if I find anything interesting.

Thank you

[TonerMunkeh]

You're bang on with the developer. If the machine is only on 36k, it's probably on the original bag and will need to be replaced. Nature of the beast unfortunately. When you got them back, did they have OEM or compatible toner in them? Compatible probably hasn't done them any favours if it was being used.

[rthonpm]

Make sure all of the machines are using the newer style toner. If there's any of the old stuff in them it will be worth it to just dump the developer, clean the mag roller, and go on with life instead of having to clean up the residual mess left by the older toner.

[aikens]

Thank you TonerMunkeh;

OEM toner in all machines, they were maintenance leases so they should have always used OEM.

[aikens]

Thank you rthonpm;

Di you mean the newer style developer??? Is there a new toner??

Can I get away with just cleaning the mag roller or replace? I read about techs cleaning with RainX, I assume it helps prevent developer from sticking?

[rthonpm]

The toner for the MP 4500 and MP 4000/5000 series was changed a few years ago (Type 4500A). The original stuff helped to kill copy quality, though it showed up more on the 4000/5000 family, any time I did a toner change to the new stuff I always did a dev change no matter what the count was. Take a look at TSB 7R for the 4000/5000 series.

[aikens]

I'll check out that TSB. Thanks

They all have 4500A toner, I'll change the developer and go from there.

Thanks again.

[Ollie1981]

Clean the mag roller, replace the dev. You probably won't even have to touch anything in the drum unit but if you want a belt and braces approach, clean the charge roller and vac off the cleaning brush.

I've seen this symptom on machines that have gone barely 20k after a full PCU rebuild. Granted that was much more common on the original toner but hey.

My recommendation though is if you are putting these machines back out to clients (or are running them yourselves) is to change the toner bottle motor for one out of a 3045, dump the dev and vac out the hopper and PCU recycle coils, refill the dev units with 3045 developer (B079 9640) and run them on 3045 toner and you will NEVER see this problem again.

[aikens]

How do I know if we have the updated developer? Do I just assume what we have in stock is correct part number B296-9640.

I just cleaned the mag roller on the unit with 36,000 and it was fairly clean no residue stuck to the roller it just wiped off. the Unit with 91,000 was harder to clean.

I'll vac out the developer and install new and see what happens.

One note, on the TSB that rthonpm suggested they state that if using the new style toner the dev bias should be 560, dev bias for ID = 400. I had set them at 660 and 500 as stated in other posts on this site. What do you think?

Thanks

[M0scb]

The developer was not the problem. There was too much wax in the toner, hence the MP4500"A" to indicate the modified less wax bottles. Usually once the machine was on the new bottles and a developer replacement was performed they would run cleaner. Are you putting paper between the hopper and the pcu when you set the dev up? If this is not blocked while set up is running, more toner is added to the dev unit causing it to over tone. I found this does make a difference when I had the issue.