Subject: Kyocera FS-MFP
Question: I’m getting grayish background on the right side of copies made on glass, from the DF and internal prints. It’s as if the exposure was set manually to a darker setting. Sometimes it starts in the middle of the page or 3/4 way down. Machine had a maintenance kit installed in May of this year (new drum and developer unit). I went there yesterday and I removed the MC assembly. It all looks good. Drum looks new. It’s a medium to low volume customer and is in a clean environment. They are using OEM toner. The left side is good. If I make multiple prints it does almost go away. This MC assembly was about $40 plus dollars and new drum unit was about $61(crazy). Mag roller does not look caked up or anything (looks good). All maintenance kit parts in the machine look great. I have another customer with a Kyocera FS-1135MFP with about 50K original copies doing the same thing. I removed the MC assembly in that machine (it looked great), reinstalled the same MC assembly, and the copies looked good after that. I’m just afraid they call back with the same issue. Any ideas? Thanks.
Answer: It’s not clear to me if you already replaced the drum unit or not. I’ve never had one last 70K, most fail at about 50K (poor copy quality) but I’ve always used generic toner. Still worth it if you do all the math. I would say bad drum. Copy quality problems that were not the drum were always caused by generic toner, I’ve found. Vacuum out and replace (with a different brand) and you’ll be back in business. I have about 10 of these and it’s been consistent. If I get a copy quality call, other than slit glass, it’s always drum or toner.
Question: I tried vacuuming the developer unit out. The drum only has 10K prints (copies). They are using OEM toner. Thanks.
Answer: Maybe check the cooling fans and make sure they are not being blocked by paper folders. I have a doctor’s office that keeps setting folders up against the fan vent.
Answer: I had the same issue; thought it was DV, no joy, and turned out to be the drum.
Answer: I’ve had 5 DK150/170 cause this problem. When I was rebuilding the drum units, I paid attention to the contacts in the cartridge. It seemed the bad ones had discolored contacts at the little PC board on the right side and/or the drum shaft contacts were weak. I either bent the contacts using a paper clip to pull the contact to touch the shaft better or changed the drum doing the same to the new drum. Then I assembled it using conductive grease on the shaft and bent any contacts in the unit for positive connection. No call back on any…yet.
Subject: Sharp AR168S—Ghost Image
Question: Hi, it’s only been 54K and I’m getting an intermittent ghost image. The first page after cold start was ghosted. When doing 3 page sets, page 2 was ghosted twice then all other sets were all clean. Is there a sim for temp adjust? I couldn’t find it in my guide. I’ve not seen a fuser go bad in one of these with such a low count. Thanks for your help.
Answer: Stop a page halfway thru the cycle and see if it’s on there before the fusing process. If so, it’s a drum failure. If the fuser lays it down it’s the fuser. Good luck.
Answer: Maybe it’s a weak discharge lamp?
Answer: Set all the fuser temps to the lowest setting, especially if they only run 20 lb. paper.
Answer: If you eliminate the fuser, I would change the drum blade. I would not mess with temperature even if it is the fuser.
AR-168 is pretty old. Low volume could cause fuser rollers to be problematic even if they’re not badly worn. And, of course, is it OEM toner or generic? If generic, that is your first suspect and you would also have to replace the developer. The nice thing is that all that stuff is cheap for this machine. Blade, drum and developer probably total $50 or so. I’ve used generic developer, drums and blades in these forever without a problem but always used OEM toner.
Subject: Samsung 6320—Half Blank
Question: Customer has a Samsung 6320 in their basement office that uses OEM supplies. I had a call where the problem was half of the prints were blank. I took out the toner cartridge, shook it up, and it worked fine. But the problem came back. When the customer shook the toner cartridge, it worked fine. Problem came back again. This time I replaced it with a non OEM toner cartridge, which worked fine, until the same problem came back. Does anyone have a thought as to what is going on here? Thanks! Everything else appears to be fine, an occasional electric contact issue perhaps?
Answer: Often the toner sensor does not turn the toner add light. I take the toner waste unit off and pull the plug, then put a long screw driver in, dip stick style. If the toner is not empty, I would suspect the toner stir drive coupler.
Answer: Kind of a simple suggestion, but you never know. Is the machine level front to rear? How long before the problem reappears after shaking the toner? Check the toner drive. Also, check the transfer roller springs and brackets.
Answer: I had the same issue on a 6345, no stir. Took me a while to figure that out; on my cartridge the gear was missing. Obviously if you’ve changed cartridges, that isn’t the issue; it’s the drive.
