IKON CPP500 / KM Bizhub Pro C500 Troubleshooting

[frokey]

Hello everyone! This is my first post on the forum.

I'm a co-owner of a small design company and have an IKON CPP500 which I understand to be the same as a KM Bizhub Pro C500. In the past year or so, we've run upon some difficult times and I have had to make the unfortunate decision to end our maintenance contract. (really didn't have a choice). So now I have to service the printer myself.

So far, it's been doing ok, but recently it began streaking and giving problems with gradations or graduated fills. I've cleaned the coronas several times, but that only made a minimal improvement. I've thought about the developer, transfer belt, drum, etc., but really don't know where to look.

I've been able to obtain the service manuals, but that doesn't really help unless you know the cause of the various problems that may occur. Does anyone know of a troubleshooting resource for this machine or can anyone give guidance on what to check/replace when "xyz" occurs? Thanks so much for your help!

 

[msaeger]

You should attach an example.

 

[frokey]

Definitely! I'll upload one a little later on today. Thanks!

 

[frokey]

Ok. Here are a couple of samples. The chicken one shows the streaks in the blue areas. You can see lines in the dark areas too, but those actually came from the scanner (another problem) and are not on the print. The second pic is an example of problems with scanner lines. I would assume that I'd need to clean something to clear this up, but I'm not sure what.

Thanks for any help you can give and if you have any questions or need more samples, please ask.

 

[UberTech]

What kind of volume has the machine done? If the drums are new I would strongly suspect the transfer belt needs a rebuild.

 

[frokey]

Well, counter says 638368. We've had PM's done since the machine's been in service, but I'm not sure how many copies since the last PM and whether or not the drum was replaced at that time.

 

[UberTech]

Well if the belt was not rebuilt with enough care it could be stuffed in about 20 sheets. The best thing to do is print a full page test chart of about 50% density for each colour C M Y K (four charts) if the lines are the same on all colours it is the belt. If it is worse on some colours than others then it is a drum(s)

 

[frokey]

That makes perfect sense! Now, (dumb question alert!), is there something built into the Powerpress (Creo) to print the test, or should I just lay something out in photoshop or illustrator?

 

[frokey]

I went ahead and did something in photoshop. Have a few questions. Why 50% and not 75% or 100%? On the yellow it's really hard to tell because it's so light. From what I can see, the magenta is coming out the best. Can't tell on yellow. Black and cyan definitely have streaking. Going to go ahead and try a heavier coverage and see if I get the same thing. I'll let you know what I find. Oh, and thanks again for the help!

 

[UberTech]

If you print the charts any darker you probably won't see the fault. Light tones are the hardest for the machine to reproduce without fault. For yellow you could do 20% black and 50% yellow. From what you saying about cyan and black and from your print samples I would say the cyan and black drum are probably stuffed.

 

[frokey]

Ahh, I see. Would the streak/line pattern be the same if it's the drums? I've ordered from Precision Roller before and just checked their pricing on drums. It's $326.95 each. Is that a fair price?

Also, do you have any input on my earlier question about the scanner lines?

Can't tell you how much you're helping me!

 

[UberTech]

If the streaks are the same for each colour it is probably the belt. If each color prints with different streaks then it is the drum. DISCONNECT THE POWER remove the scanner glass and clean the mirrors. If that is US dollars for the drum it is atleast 20% cheaper than what we sell them for.

 

[frokey]

It must be the transfer belt because the streaks are exactly the same. I'm seeing at least 3 different products on precision roller...

Transfer Belt Separation Claw Assembly - $75.50 US
Transfer Belt Cleaning Unit (D) - $279.95 US
Transfer Belt Located in the Intermediate Transfer Unit - $549.95 US

Which one(s) should I be looking at?

 

[UberTech]

To rebuild the transfer belt you will need.

3 x 1st transfer roller (colour)
1 x 1st transfer roller (black)
1 x 2 transfer roller upper (sits in the belt)
1 x 2 transfer roller lower (sits in the ADU)
1 x transfer belt

Or just get an entire intermediate transfer unit.

I will say rebuilding one of these is not for the faint hearted and if your not carefull you could end up in the same place you are now in about 20 prints.

 

[frokey]

Man! Looking like an expensive ($1k or more) and in depth job! How would you suggest I proceed? Look for the entire transfer unit, separate pieces, or an entirely different route?

 

[UberTech]

Assumeing this is actually your problem I would say getting indivdual bits and rebuilding will be cheaper than buying a whole new unit. This isn't something that you buy second hand and hope it's better. This is typical wear and tear.