Cleaning the Paper Path?

[tpmar]

I'm running a Ricoh ProC9100 and want to do the best preventative maintenance I possibly can. Manafaith gave me a great list of stuff to do weekly, but I haven't been able to find much about cleaning the paper path. I have been doing the paper dust collector once a week but that's about it. Any suggestions as to what else I should be cleaning and how to go about it would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I'm running a Ricoh ProC9100 and want to do the best preventative maintenance I possibly can. Manafaith gave me a great list of stuff to do weekly, but I haven't been able to find much about cleaning the paper path. I have been doing the paper dust collector once a week but that's about it. Any suggestions as to what else I should be cleaning and how to go about it would be appreciated, thanks.

Call your paper supplier and ask for a carton of cleaner paper. It's a special sheet made with dust-absorbing edges. Surprised you don't already have some?

 

[arossetti]

Typically you will want to wipe down the paper path with a lint free cloth and whatever Ricoh suggests - alcohol, water, film cleaner. I don't know what the path is made of so I can't say what you should use.

Then using a swab I would go in and clean all the sensors in the paper path once again with whatever Ricoh suggests.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Typically you will want to wipe down the paper path with a lint free cloth and whatever Ricoh suggests - alcohol, water, film cleaner. I don't know what the path is made of so I can't say what you should use.

Then using a swab I would go in and clean all the sensors in the paper path once again with whatever Ricoh suggests.

Conversely, you can talk to one of your manufacturers in the area that has a wind tunnel (for testing aircraft builds), take your printer over there and let them clean it up. Most have printer discounts, so be sure to ask for that.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Why can't you just use a fire hose? Seems like it would save a lot of time and effort...

Lol, not with water though. You could hook it up to an air compressor, but generally you need something with a little big more oomph to get the dust out of these suckers.

 

[msaeger]

These are good

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...Mqd82GqoS9fhdBg-8foaAs_YEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[tpmar]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love all the suggestions! The fire hose being my current favorite. I realize I brought that on myself, I guess what I meant to say was that with my old Indigo I used diluted white vinegar because it had a lot of rubber belts and things like that alcohol would tend to dry out. I guess I'll stick with that for the Ricoh.

 

[tpmar]

These are good

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...Mqd82GqoS9fhdBg-8foaAs_YEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks msaeger; got some ordered.

 

[Shaare]

Conversely, you can talk to one of your manufacturers in the area that has a wind tunnel (for testing aircraft builds), take your printer over there and let them clean it up. Most have printer discounts, so be sure to ask for that.

A fragile machine with so many moving parts put in a wind tunnel... what can possibly go wrong! hahahahaha. Seriously, what gives? Is that for real?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

A fragile machine with so many moving parts put in a wind tunnel... what can possibly go wrong! hahahahaha. Seriously, what gives? Is that for real?

We live in a town where there are a different aerospace based manufacturers. They lease out any time where the wind tunnel isn't being used. I'd assume at least auto manufacturer in your town does the same thing. Give them a call, I've tried many different options since the inception of Xerox and it makes the machine run like new, no jams in over 3 months.

 

[tpmar]

We live in a town where there are a different aerospace based manufacturers. They lease out any time where the wind tunnel isn't being used. I'd assume at least auto manufacturer in your town does the same thing. Give them a call, I've tried many different options since the inception of Xerox and it makes the machine run like new, no jams in over 3 months.

I always try to report back to the gang here at Print Planet when I come up with a solution to a problem, and here it is, brace yourself, 3000 psi of paper dust removing power!!!!! Works great, although for some reason I'm now having some electrical gremlin problems, probably just a coincidence though.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I always try to report back to the gang here at Print Planet when I come up with a solution to a problem, and here it is, brace yourself, 3000 psi of paper dust removing power!!!!! Works great, although for some reason I'm now having some electrical gremlin problems, probably just a coincidence though.

Did you turn the machine off before you cleaned it? Pretty important step, but I've seen it happen once or twice.

 

[Santa]

I have found that the "glitter Cannon" works best. The initial air blast clears away the light contaminants and then the glitter acts as a "scrubbing" agent to get out the really heavy stuff.

Working on a patented version myself so...shhhh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgFTLzV8Y5s&feature=youtu.be

 

[namelessentity]

I don't think I've ever cleaned the paper path on any machine I've run. Maybe some canned air here and there, but I've never actually opened stuff up and done real cleaning.

 

[kdw75]

I don't think I've ever cleaned the paper path on any machine I've run. Maybe some canned air here and there, but I've never actually opened stuff up and done real cleaning.

Same here. Being a pressman, I always felt like preventative maintenance and cleaning was a good thing, but the techs tell seem to prefer that we wait until something breaks as it's easier to track down. I have offered to clean sensors, but they tell me just to call them and they will handle it.

 

[arossetti]

I don't think I've ever cleaned the paper path on any machine I've run. Maybe some canned air here and there, but I've never actually opened stuff up and done real cleaning.

I found it to be less important on color digital devices due to the large amounts of coated stock that would be ran through however on the BW devices if you are running a few million impressions a month of 20# uncoated the paper path can look like the machine needs to go to narcotics anonymous.