black specks on Xerox 242

[Mary Lou]

I am getting fine black specs on non printing areas. Never seen this problem before. I replace the black drum. Any suggestions?

 

[Graphix]

Is it possible for you to upload a picture?
It will make it easier to Diagnose.

 

[Mary Lou]

I tried to take a picture but the specks are so fine that they don't show up. I talked to a Xerox tech that said it's the IBT belt cleaner. I am trying to get if off and clean it now. I took the screws out but cannot get the blade out.

 

[Graphix]

I guess you could try that, but I'm a little suspicious whether that would work.
Did you try running many printouts?
Is there any pattern on the streaks?
ie. Are they occurring with a certain gap or are they random?
Try checking if the fuser has any toner residue on it.

 

[Mary Lou]

When I run test prints there are streaks on the black. No real pattern just streaks. That's why I think it's the IBT belt cleaner. I just can't get it out to clean it. I replaced the fuser last week.

 

[Graphix]

Are the streaks occurring on the black color only?
If yes then it is not an IBT issue. Check the drum!
If not the drum then Developing could be an issue.
Can you scan the printout?

 

[Mary Lou]

Cleaned the IBT cleaner and the spots weren't there at first. Now they are back all over the sheets as before. The developer looks fine but I can't think of anything else that cause it.

 

[Mary Lou]

I cleaned the IBT cleaner and the spots were gone for about 500 sheets. Back again and I have to get a newsletter out by tomorrow. Any other suggestions?

 

[Graphix]

Little difficult to judge the problem looking at the image.Open the cleaner assembly and check if its overflowing with toner. If it is then maybe there is toner jam in the outlet to the waste toner box.
refer to attachment and pull the spring that is circled. Nudge the cleaner Assy. And see if there is any toner jam.
If so, this could cause the excess toner to come in contact with ibt belt and cause streaks. Are there lines occuring on the left of the printed sheet?

 

[Mary Lou]

No lines on the left side of the sheet. When I had the IBT cleaner out yesterday I didn't see any toner on the spring but will check again. The belt is clean also. Just ran a print and it's worse today. Does that sound like a developer issue?

 

[Mary Lou]

I took the IBT cleaner out again. Didn't see any toner jam. It was full of toner again though and I just cleaned it yesterday. Every copy I run gets worse. Went from fine black specks that were barely noticeable to almost solid grey looking.

 

[Mary Lou]

Problem solved. It ended up being the black developer unit. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[ivacopy]

developer unit and developer it self 100%

 

[Mary Lou]

The black specs are back. I changed the black developer unit and black developer in January which solved the problem then. I have tried everything I can think of: put in a new black drum, took out the IBT cleaning assembly twice and cleaned it really good, cleaned the drum drawer and changed fusers. Any other ideas?

 

[PrintingFools]

A few questions :
1. Are you duplexing ?
2. open the machine, open the drawers one by one SLOWLY, is there black toner dots or toner dust on the drawers look at every inch.
paying attention to the top drawer the most. Most likely the top outer edge. Not inside the drawer, but when you open it the top.
3. look at the imaging belt/film does it have black toner dots on it, like tiny dots dumped at the edge?
4. open the are where the drums are, in the very front on top..is there toner collected were it should not be ?
I've seen this before and solved it..there are only about 1-4 reasons for it

 

[Mary Lou]

Thanks for responding. Prints were 1 side, not duplexed. I cleaned pretty much every area that there is. Looked at the transfer belt with a magnifying glass and it's clean. When you've seen this before were the specks covering the entire sheet?

 

[PrimeCrisp]

I have a similar issue. However, the specs of toner fused all over the printed page appear to be blue, not black. I have not used a magnifying glass and its possible that it actually is black.

1. I am doing manual duplex on 12x18 inch 250gsm glossy stock. The defect is present on the first pass. The defect is not present on automatically duplexed 8.5x11 inch 32 pound bond paper. I print way more 8.5x11 auto duplexed than I do 12x18 manual duplex, I would say 10:1 ratio.
2. There is toner on the front ledge of tray
3. From previous observation of the ITB there was no contamination.
4. There appears to be a small amount of toner in the drum tray near the toner inlet.


When I print in standard 28-32 pound paper this defect is not present. These specs appear to cover the entire page and are noticed when looking up close at the page. From far away they are not too noticeable but compared with an unprinted sheet they change the tint of the sheet. They are smaller than the yellow dots that are printed on the page to indicate the machine's serial number.

As for troubleshooting I have swapped the drums and cleaned out the ITU cleaner without any changes being observed. I suspect the issue is before the ITU or ITU cleaner.