SOLVED - Iridesse streaks - charge wires?

[Stickman42]

We've had the Iridesse since 1/1/22. Recently (in the past 6 weeks) we've been seeing light/dark streaks in our prints (see attachment). Our techs have said it's the charge wires, and replacing them with new immediately resolves the problem. However, we are needing to replace them much sooner (1 week instead of one month). The tech also said he's not seen this problem at any other machine sites. This makes me think it's something environmental. I have been running a cool mist humidifier in the wide open room, mainly for other equipment, and the humidity level at the Iridesse is currently at 37%. This issue was not present at this time last year. Any ideas on what the cause might be?

 

[kslight]

I would have agreed with checking your humidity. But as you’ve done that - 37% is decent this time of year - if replacing the wires fixes the issue (temporarily) then it must be something with the wires right? I don’t have an Iridesse, but there’s got to be some automatic or manual cleaning routine you can run right?

I feel like maybe this could be a filtration issue in the machine, but again not knowing the Iridesse - are you able to check if the machine is due for filters, or examine them to make sure they are in place and or not clogged?

If you’re able to change the wires yourself, maybe the tech will let you keep some on hand to cut down on service calls. If it’s a constant issue the tech “hasn’t seen elsewhere” and isn’t able to resolve, I’d be shouting for a service engineer to visit.

 

[Stickman42]

Thanks @kslight. The regular tech is one we've known for a long time and have a lot of trust in. He's as eager to resolve this as we are. We do have spare wires on hand and can change them ourselves. They are included in our maintenance contract as parts, so if too many of them get used, Xerox themselves may escalate the issue to someone higher up in service.

 

[Stickman42]

Tech was back yesterday. Our discussion touched on the dust building up on the inside of the printer. His initial thought was the 10 pt. C1S stock we run a lot of. However, nearby we run a lot of groundwood paper on a roll-fed Oce printer. This paper gets slit and cut in line. It generates a significant amount of paper dust. Strange how it took a long time for the issue to surface.

My attention now shifts towards dust containment. Anyone have any experience to share? I'm in an environment where we're bigger than where a single point-of-use air cleaner would be sufficient, but not large enough for a huge industrial system. I'm thinking some sort of a woodworking type of dust extraction machine (something like this), where I could add several branches to dust collection heads at my Oce printer, and maybe my two Horizon perfect binders.

 

[afilsonCSA]

Tech was back yesterday. Our discussion touched on the dust building up on the inside of the printer. His initial thought was the 10 pt. C1S stock we run a lot of. However, nearby we run a lot of groundwood paper on a roll-fed Oce printer. This paper gets slit and cut in line. It generates a significant amount of paper dust. Strange how it took a long time for the issue to surface.

My attention now shifts towards dust containment. Anyone have any experience to share? I'm in an environment where we're bigger than where a single point-of-use air cleaner would be sufficient, but not large enough for a huge industrial system. I'm thinking some sort of a woodworking type of dust extraction machine (something like this), where I could add several branches to dust collection heads at my Oce printer, and maybe my two Horizon perfect binders.

You could try contacting G.F. PUHL near Nashville, TN. They help build collection systems big and small.

 

[kslight]

Tech was back yesterday. Our discussion touched on the dust building up on the inside of the printer. His initial thought was the 10 pt. C1S stock we run a lot of. However, nearby we run a lot of groundwood paper on a roll-fed Oce printer. This paper gets slit and cut in line. It generates a significant amount of paper dust. Strange how it took a long time for the issue to surface.

My attention now shifts towards dust containment. Anyone have any experience to share? I'm in an environment where we're bigger than where a single point-of-use air cleaner would be sufficient, but not large enough for a huge industrial system. I'm thinking some sort of a woodworking type of dust extraction machine (something like this), where I could add several branches to dust collection heads at my Oce printer, and maybe my two Horizon perfect binders.

I dunno, I’m skeptical. I have run some of the dustiest paper imaginable (7pt return card cut out of parent sheets) by the skid through a couple different printers without corotron issues. And during Covid parent size sheets were often what I had to buy, again quite dusty. My Ricoh has a paper dust collection unit before the registration that I vacuum out as needed.

 

[KopyBoss]

We run some of the dustiest paper and never had this problem on our Iridesse's.

 

[Stickman42]

Update: we're focusing on the paper we run through the machine. Our primary application is book covers on 10 pt. C1S. For years we've been buying Tango in cartons. Recently we were offered to buy loose sheets on skids. I chose to do this because there was a lower price and we would save ourselves the trouble of opening and flattening all the cartons. All worked well for 2 skid type deliveries, then our charge wire issue started.

First pic is showing the amount of dust easily seen in the paper stack. Second pic is the resulting coating that builds up on the charge wire.

My paper rep's explanation is that it's the same paper (skids vs. cartons), but they get converted in two separate locations. The skid lot may have come off a cutter with a dull blade.

I ordered 2 pallets of cartoned stock (at the lower price) to see if we get any improvement in charge wire life.

 

[Stickman42]

Another update - the cause of the problem was our humidifier. Apparently when using tap water, primarily calcium and to a lesser degree other minerals (as per Xerox's analysis) become airborne and wound up collecting on the Iridesse's charge wires, and a lot of other places too. Interestingly, we've seen this white haze on machine covers, file cabinets, etc... We stopped using the humidifier 7 weeks ago and there is no sign of it anywhere.

I did learn from my Xerox tech that another local shop had the same issue. they installed reverse osmosis filters on their humidifier, but even that didn't help.

I also visited a very large digital print facility that has a robust humidification system and I noticed the same white haze on their machine covers. Maybe because they had a larger, more open room the humidifier didn't cause them any problems?

An internet search did raise the same concerns about using tap water in smaller, intended for home use humidifiers, recommending distilled water instead.

I'm not sure what I'll eventually do, as the lack of humidity is not yet a problem. We've had a mostly mild winter here in SE NY.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Another update - the cause of the problem was our humidifier. Apparently when using tap water, primarily calcium and to a lesser degree other minerals (as per Xerox's analysis) become airborne and wound up collecting on the Iridesse's charge wires, and a lot of other places too. Interestingly, we've seen this white haze on machine covers, file cabinets, etc... We stopped using the humidifier 7 weeks ago and there is no sign of it anywhere.

I did learn from my Xerox tech that another local shop had the same issue. they installed reverse osmosis filters on their humidifier, but even that didn't help.

I also visited a very large digital print facility that has a robust humidification system and I noticed the same white haze on their machine covers. Maybe because they had a larger, more open room the humidifier didn't cause them any problems?

An internet search did raise the same concerns about using tap water in smaller, intended for home use humidifiers, recommending distilled water instead.

I'm not sure what I'll eventually do, as the lack of humidity is not yet a problem. We've had a mostly mild winter here in SE NY.

Interesting. Have you tried talking to any of the large humidifier manufacturers? They might have more guidance on how to solve the dusting issue. If it's not coming from the water, what is it coming from? I'd imagine Calcium is too heavy to be lifted into the air, if it was attempting to do some sort of diffusion. Could it be airborne paper dust/coating combining with the vapors and settling as dust?

 

[narseman]

We've had the same issues, with haze deposit everywhere. RO system combined with softener system cured it. We went with a Merlin humidifier sys. Expensive but effective. Once the haze reaches your sensors.. you'll have a lot of problems. (Note: Merlin did not provide the softener sys. We did that ourselves.)