Colour Laser Printer Problem - inc pics!

[Fluke]

Hi all,

this is a bit of a last resort really but was hoping that someone might have an idea, because I'm all out!

Basically we have an old Oki C7300 mk2 that has started to print with a seemingly faded patch down the left hand side of prints.

The area is aprox 1.5" and runs down the whole of the page.

It looks to me as though it is not laying down a particular colour completely but cannot work out which one. I have shaken all the toners and they are all fairly new. All of the drums are also well within service life too.

I have cleaned the led sensors and cleaned the belt.

I have checked the fuser is not to blame by interupting a print before it reached that part.

 

I do have a spare image drum and toner for each colour but am reluctent to try those as I cannot imagine they would really like to be opened and then left on a shelf for several months..?

 

Here are a couple of pics which hopefully illustrate the problem.

 

Full page;

please ignore the blotchy scan - everything past the first inch or so on the left is fine.

 

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5965/scan1medium.jpg

 

Crop;

The cyan section shows the problem most clearly, please note the heavy noise/pixelated gradient.

It is difficult to see from these scans but the problem does show on the other colours on the printer too.

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/6078/scancrop.jpg

 

Any ideas?!

 

Cheers.

[jamesreedersmith]

Looks like the transfer belt is going.Whats the reported life on it?

[rad]

New or refurbed toners?

 

I'd say its the transfer belt though if it is the same place each time. I take it no blockages in the paper run

[Fluke]

Many thanks for the quick replies both. Interesting thoughts about the transfer belt. Reading up about what it actually does(!) does certainly point a finger at that. The life on the belt though is still very high - showing at 83% on the web interface. Of course it could just be a knackered belt..

Re toners, we always use new Oki toners rather than refurbs for all colour printers.

[Ian_Cooper_Printware]

If the life is showing 83% on the interface then call Oki tech support in Slough (01753 819800) and they will probably swap it out for you FoC.

 

They are the most helpful of the vendor tech support lines I have come across.

[Zourous]

It may be similar to a problem I experienced on a HP 2600 model printer. We had unexplained fading on the magenta output and had done the usual checks as you have done. A quick look on the net showed this was a common fault with toner particals getting onto the internal scanner mirrors inside the printer. This is because a fan was placed too nearby the mirrors and toner particals blew onto it. The magenta was the worst affected because it was the closest to the bottom of the stack of toners and nearest the fan. I found a PDF on the net on how to clean the internal mirrors that involved various stages of taking the printer apart to get to the mirrors. When I got to the mirrors eventually I cleaned them as advised and although it was hard to see I was removing any debris at all, the solution worked and I had a perfect working printer again.