For: Xerox Versant 80 / 180 / 2100 / 3100
Xerox’s new Versant models are awesome full color multi-function copiers, and the drum cartridges are a testament to how well built these machines are. These cartridges are clearly designed for long lives, and they’re easy to repair or rebuild. You’re going to love them.
The original drum cartridge part number was 13R674 (013R00674), but at the start of 2017 a new part number replaced the first one: 13R676 (013R00676). There are four of these cartridges in each machine, one for each color (K, C, M, Y, R1-R4)
The stated yield is a rather optimistic at 348,000. Reports from the field say they rarely make it anywhere near that. I think 280-300 thousand is a more realistic expectation. Usually they fail because of copy-quality issues before the drum count actually comes up. The limiting factor seems to be the charge roller’s surface wearing out. The yield information is also clouded by the fact that the higher the number of average copies/prints per job, the longer the yield is extended. The stated yield is based on the machine running a minimum average of 26 pages per job. If you average shorter copy/print jobs, the machine will call for new cartridges a lot sooner.
The cartridge is pretty basic: an OPC drum (photoreceptor), charged by a PCR (charge roll), which gets cleaned by a foam cleaning roll. There is a drum cleaning blade and a nice solid plastic waste auger, which moves waste toner away through a waste-toner shutter when the toner leaves the cartridge. Finally, there is also a typical CRUM chip (Customer Replaceable Unit Monitor) which keeps track of the copy count.
The foam cleaning roll is a bit different from those in earlier machine. Previously, machines had solid foam all the way across. But these newer ones have a spiral design to them, presumably to reduce the surface area in contact with the charge roll, thus reducing wear and increasing the yield.
The parts for rebuilding the new rolls are just coming to light now, and by the end of the summer a complete rebuild kit should be ready to roll.
Rebuilding these turns out to be refreshingly straight forward. The only tool you’ll need will be either a Philips head screwdriver or a 5.5mm nut driver.
PROCEDURE (to get oriented see photo #1)
1. Remove the front end Cover (1 screw). See photo #2. There is a ring-shaped finger-pull which will fall right off when the end cover is removed. Caution: once the end covers are off, the white plastic bushing for the front end of the waste auger is not captive, and can pop off and get lost if you don’t watch it.
2. Remove the rear end cover (See photo #’s 3-5, 1 screw). The CRUM Chip is found on the underside of the rear end cover. It is held in place by a pair of clips which you’ll need to depress to slide the chip off. Here you’ll also find a ring-shaped finger catch which will now fall right off.
3. Remove the charge roller (PCR) assembly (2 screws from the left side).
4. You can now take the charge roller right out of its cradle bearings and the cleaning roll will also come right out.
5. Turn the cartridge on its left side and walk the front drum bearing/clip off the end of the drum. Then walk the rear drum bearing/clip off of the rear end. Each of these bearing/clip pieces requires a little bit of jiggling to extract them straight off the ends of the cartridge. The rear one can be particularly stubborn (jiggle it up and down to walk it off the end).
6. Lift the drum out of its cradle (see photo #7)
7. Remove the drum cleaning blade (2 screws).
8. Save some of the toner to use later as starting powder for the new drum and blade. Then clean out the plastic cleaning auger (this is a huge improvement over earlier models which used metal springs as augers. I’m very happy to see an auger this sturdy). Take care not to damage the mylar recovery blade (seal blade) while you vacuum this area.
9. Reassemble the cartridge. Ideally, you should reassemble with a new drum, charge roll, cleaning roll, blade, and CRUM chip.
Note 1: Starting Powder – Make sure the drum and the edge of the cleaning blade have starting powder on them (or use the toner you recovered in the previous step as starting powder). After the drum and blade are back in place, rotate the drum several times by hand to make sure the drum rotates smoothly and easily and that the blade doesn’t get hung up. The blade should clean any starting powder off of the drum completely. After the drum is properly started, you can reinstall the charge corona assembly.
Note 2: Greasing the Charge Roller – Clean off any old grease from the charge roll cradle bearings and apply fresh grease sparingly. Too much grease can migrate to other components in the cartridge and ruin the copy quality. Conductive grease is recommended here. Avoid getting grease on the black ferrite bead that is spring loaded against the rear end of the charge roll’s shaft. That black piece is the contact terminal for the charge.That’s all there is to it! Nice and simple. The Versants will eventually replace the entire line of DocuColor 250 style machines. It’s good to see they are their equal or possibly even better in some ways. Happy cartridge rebuilding everyone! Have a wonderful summer.
