Ricoh C7110 Scratching coated stock

[Lukek]

Hi All,

We have recently purchased a new Ricoh C7110s and generally it's been fantastic, however we have had one issue from day on, that we have been unable to resolve. One coated stock 300gsm and above our prints have a lot of scratching on areas with toner coverage, it's very noticeable and the Ricoh service teams haven't got a clue how to resolve it. We were originally told that it was acceptable quality, then that it was due to the stock and then it was the printing speed settings. Once we have proved that it was not any of these things we were then told it was as our printer does now have the decurling unit and the tracks between the fusing unit and the buffer pass are scratching the curled prints. I have stopped a print before it comes enters the buffer pass unit and it is still scratched so i know that this is not the case. I was hoping someone here has some good advice and maybe knows of a setting or a reason behind this. Everything else runs really well including envelopes, we have some great quality prints coming out of this machine however this is a real problem for us and one we need to resolve. Our coated prints seem fairly waxy and toner heavy i noticed someone on here said how good the prints on there 7100 looks on coated stock, almost offset like so i'm sure it may just be a setting that is causing all of our coated stock issues.

 

[tpmar]

Hi All,

We have recently purchased a new Ricoh C7110s and generally it's been fantastic, however we have had one issue from day on, that we have been unable to resolve. One coated stock 300gsm and above our prints have a lot of scratching on areas with toner coverage, it's very noticeable and the Ricoh service teams haven't got a clue how to resolve it. We were originally told that it was acceptable quality, then that it was due to the stock and then it was the printing speed settings. Once we have proved that it was not any of these things we were then told it was as our printer does now have the decurling unit and the tracks between the fusing unit and the buffer pass are scratching the curled prints. I have stopped a print before it comes enters the buffer pass unit and it is still scratched so i know that this is not the case. I was hoping someone here has some good advice and maybe knows of a setting or a reason behind this. Everything else runs really well including envelopes, we have some great quality prints coming out of this machine however this is a real problem for us and one we need to resolve. Our coated prints seem fairly waxy and toner heavy i noticed someone on here said how good the prints on there 7100 looks on coated stock, almost offset like so i'm sure it may just be a setting that is causing all of our coated stock issues.

Are the scratches all over the sheet or mostly in one area? I had a similar issue on some light 80# gloss text stock with heavy coverage but the scratches were mostly on the non-operator side and near the center of the 12x18 sheet. Under the adjustments for skilled operators I ran the "smooth fusing belt" and that seemed to help a lot. Can you share a picture? Good luck and let us know what fixes this for you.

 

[Lukek]

Thanks for the advice, we have smoothed the fusing belt with no luck. They are all over the sheet, in the feed direction i will take a picture tomorrow to show the extent of the scratches. Thanks !

 

[bill kahny]

Does it happen from all trays? All sheets/bands above 300 gsm? always in the same spots? only in image area or are they just harder to see in non-image area? - change the grain direction for the paper is my guess

 

[Shawnd]

I will wait to see pictures, is it on both sides?

What size envelopes are you printing?

 

[InvisSoul]

That's strange it's happening since day one. My first thought is that it's missing a mylar piece in the paper path somewhere that's causing that scratching.
It's a tough problem because it can be anywhere in the paper path.
Is it just scratching the toner or the actual stock in non-printing areas?

 

[Lukek]

Sorry for the delay in uploading these photos, it's been a busy couple of days. These images show the scratches as best I can, I know it's a heavy black toner sheet which is extreme but it's good for showing the problem we are having. The scratches seem to be in the toner only, like the toner is being scratched off while running through the printer. It's always in track and shifts from sheet to sheet almost as if it's being scuffed or run across a sheet of sand paper. It's only visible in image areas and is being a bit of a problem for us.

As for envelopes we print a variety of sizes but mainly C4, C5, DL and DL+ both window and plain envelopes, we've done runs of 2,000 - 3,000, just fill the tray and let them run with no problems.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Shawnd]

I get those, but usually it is from the paper transfer unit, I check it for lines and can usually match them up to the sheet, I just swap that out and the lines disappear.

 

[tpmar]

Sorry for the delay in uploading these photos, it's been a busy couple of days. These images show the scratches as best I can, I know it's a heavy black toner sheet which is extreme but it's good for showing the problem we are having. The scratches seem to be in the toner only, like the toner is being scratched off while running through the printer. It's always in track and shifts from sheet to sheet almost as if it's being scuffed or run across a sheet of sand paper. It's only visible in image areas and is being a bit of a problem for us.

As for envelopes we print a variety of sizes but mainly C4, C5, DL and DL+ both window and plain envelopes, we've done runs of 2,000 - 3,000, just fill the tray and let them run with no problems.

Thanks for all the help.

My tech is here right now and I showed him your pictures, he works on a couple of 7110's and he thinks like someone else mentioned that it is the mylar on the bottom of the transfer belt. How many clicks on you machine?

 

[Lukek]

Thank you both for your help, I've changed the transfer unit but no joy, I have got a tech coming in on Monday and will ask him to replace the mylar hopefully that will solve it ! The clicks on the machine is around 330,000

 

[InvisSoul]

Sorry for the delay in uploading these photos, it's been a busy couple of days. These images show the scratches as best I can, I know it's a heavy black toner sheet which is extreme but it's good for showing the problem we are having. The scratches seem to be in the toner only, like the toner is being scratched off while running through the printer. It's always in track and shifts from sheet to sheet almost as if it's being scuffed or run across a sheet of sand paper. It's only visible in image areas and is being a bit of a problem for us.

As for envelopes we print a variety of sizes but mainly C4, C5, DL and DL+ both window and plain envelopes, we've done runs of 2,000 - 3,000, just fill the tray and let them run with no problems.

Thanks for all the help.

Yeah that probably a mylar piece that is doing that and it's probably right after the fusing exit. Check the mylars around that area and see if there is any built up toner, cause that might cause the scratching.

 

[Lukek]

Have changed the mylar under the transfer belt and the one just after the fusing exit and still no improvement, i'm thinking it might be worth changing the transfer belt itself but i dunno how much success i will get. I've had a closer look today and the areas with no toner are also scratched. I'm a bit at a loss with this.

 

[InvisSoul]

Have changed the mylar under the transfer belt and the one just after the fusing exit and still no improvement, i'm thinking it might be worth changing the transfer belt itself but i dunno how much success i will get. I've had a closer look today and the areas with no toner are also scratched. I'm a bit at a loss with this.

Yeah now that's a tough one to narrow down. If it's scratching the paper I highly doubt it's the belt, because you'd probably see some strange voids in the printing.

I'm assuming these sheets you took pictures of are just single sided? If not does the scratch happen on both sides if you duplex?

I know when I had this kind of problem before we detached the pieces of equipment after the fuser to see if the scratch was coming from the fusing section or another section. Just a process of elimination.

 

[bill kahny]

inspect the paper before putting it into your machine. I had a bad batch with scratches every 3 sheet caused by the converter. I don't recall the brand though.

 

[Lukek]

I will keep chipping away and trying different things, our Ricoh tech keeps trying to tell us it is acceptable and is considered as within range of this machine. I don't believe this is acceptable and have tried various brands etc

 

[PrintIT]

I will keep chipping away and trying different things, our Ricoh tech keeps trying to tell us it is acceptable and is considered as within range of this machine. I don't believe this is acceptable and have tried various brands etc

Ahh, the old "I've tried to fix this too many times, so now it's within spec".
I love when they pull that one.

 

[inoxx]

We got the same problem. Our tech told that if we run single sided and face up it should not be there. Why does it has duplex then tech?

We have tried to lower the temperature and that did make it better.

 

[pacart]

They need to escalate the issue to Ricoh corporate and have the engineers look at it if the techs can't figure it out. It is never acceptable to have scratches. Our Konica scratches Kromekote when we duplex and we now have had it escalated to Konica-Minolta corporate and are awaiting an answer.

 

[Manafaith]

They need to escalate the issue to Ricoh corporate and have the engineers look at it if the techs can't figure it out. It is never acceptable to have scratches. Our Konica scratches Kromekote when we duplex and we now have had it escalated to Konica-Minolta corporate and are awaiting an answer.

Agreed....force them to fix the problem by bringing in an "Expert" It can be so frustrating when you hear "thats as good as it gets" or the "within spec" line. Exactly how many scratches do they spec as normal

 

[inoxx]

They told us, the duplexer is causing the scratches. When not duplexing and running face up you will see no scratches. Why does this machine have a duplex unit then?