Ricoh CL3000 Color PCU Unit leaking?

[Joe L]

Good morning,

could someone please explain to me why a new, replacement color PCU unit would have toner on it when it is new coming out of the box? Do they ship it that way? Is there toner inside a PCU unit? If this is a photoconductor why would there be toner in it?

the part number is 402525. I appreciate any insight into this

thank you

joe

[GIUBOSS]

it depends on how much toner, generally it should not be dirty but there may be a slight veiling of toner for factory tests but I would consider it negligible because it must have the seals in order not to spill the toner.

[fshead]

sometimes they use yellow toner as a drum lube to keep blade from flipping......
Some drum do not ship well and depends too how it was boxxed.
If it looks used then maybe you got taken...

[fshead]

Not one to throw away working machines i get in trade that machine from 2004..............
AND YOU could buy a much better used replacement than wasting money on a 16 yr old printer...
I could point you in if needed......Hows the fishing doing over there?
I use to run up to SEABROOK,NEW HAMPSHIRE to fish in early may

[Joe L]

I thought some pictures might help. This unit appears to be new, but it is leaking all over. If it is a drum, why is there toner leaking out of it?DSC08102.jpgDSC08103.jpgDSC08104.jpgDSC08105.jpg

[mga]

I thought some pictures might help. This unit appears to be new, but it is leaking all over. If it is a drum, why is there toner leaking out of it?DSC08102.jpgDSC08103.jpgDSC08104.jpgDSC08105.jpg

Don't take the seals of and send it back {DON'T TRY TO USE}

[Joe L]

So...is there in fact toner inside of this unit? And how does that make sense if this unit also uses toner.....and this is a drum?

[Phil B.]

So...is there in fact toner inside of this unit? And how does that make sense if this unit also uses toner.....and this is a drum?

If I'm not mistaken there is also a dev unit for each color drum in the assembly.
And yes there IS toner in drum assmy from assembly n test.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[slimslob]

If it is a complete PCDU them it does have developer in it. If it is just a PCU then there would be a small amount of toner and powder form the lube bar in the cleaning station. In either condition, they are all tested in a machine, usually attached to a yellow development unit for a PCU or the color it is going to be for a PCDU. After testing, the test developer is normally removed. For there to be toner on the outside as shown in your pictures, that would have had to have happened after the shipping covers were taped on for the toner to be on the tape. On the other hand for there to be more than one color, it had to have happened while the unit was in the test machine. That must have come from an after market source. If it came from Ricoh then someone is going to lose hid or her job. Fired for cause. Here in the US that means no unemployment check.

[sandmanmac]

I never worked on these but if i remember correctly (and it appears to be the case), Yes, the C/Y/M PCDU's come as a complete assy with dev, included. So yes, they have toner in them.
Parts were discontinued for that printer in 2011, and the unit shown here could well have been manufactured many years before that, so I agree with Slim that this unit wasn't purchased from Ricoh direct, or a dealer, but rather Ebay or someplace like that.
Who knows where it's been, and what's happened to it over the last decade of bouncing around from dealer to dealer and liquidator to liquidator.
It's not overly surprising that it looks the way it does, and I imagine that returning it might not be an option. If not, you can just try to clean it up as best you can and then run some pages to clean up the drums, etc. It will likely make awful prints at first, but might improve as it runs a little.
TIP: toner particles are extremely fine. Tech vacuums have very specialized filters.
Toner will go right through the filter of a regular household vacuum and a shop vac is entirely out of the question. Compressed air is also not going to help your cause if you spray it in the wrong areas. So be careful how you choose to go about cleaning the units