Problem printing color on Canon C3200

Discussion in 'Canon Color Laser Printers & Color Copiers' started by RickJ5, Feb 25, 2010.

  1. RickJ5

    RickJ5 Member

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    I'm having a problem printing color on my Canon C3200. I'm going to attach 3 files, 1 labeled good print which is how it's supposed to look, and 2 labeled bad print which show how it's screwing up. Some information about it to help with diagnosis. I started by trying to print the color covers. The first one comes out just fine, then it goes to hell. I gave up on the covers and then decided to print the inside pages which were B&W. The B&W prints perfectly. I printed 800 B&W copies without a problem. The problem only occurs when printing color. I was printing the cover on Mohawk 100 lb. cover stock fed through the bypass tray. The stock is supposed to be OK for digital printing. I tried both the glossy paper and extra heavy paper settings, it screwed up on both. Those settings were set on both the copier and in the driver. What I finally did was print the covers one at a time and they printed just fine. Good thing I only needed 200 of them. I'm guessing the problem isn't the fuser since the B&W copies print perfect and as far as I know there is only one fuser in the copier. I'm leaning toward the problem being the magenta drum since the bad prints have a magenta haze all over them. What I suspect is the cleaning blade in the magenta drum is shot and is spreading the magenta toner all over the drum when it tries to clean it off resulting in the haze. Doing it one at a time works because the blade has more time to clean off the drum. But, since I'm not all that experienced with copiers I'd like someone elses opinion before I go and spend $300 on a new magenta drum.

    Thank you.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    What is your drum yield/lifespan like?
    Hit * then hold 2 and 8 for a few seconds together, then hit * again. (* is addtl functions on the keypad with the * on it)
    Then click Copier
    Then click Misc.

    When our color drums get to ~180% yield we start to see unpredictable results. (Depending on what we've printed and maybe the drum itself, that number is between 150% and 190%) We can sometimes coax them into running a bit more by running a full auto gradiation but once we start getting background dropping all over at a higher than 150% yield number, they're too unreliable for us to run and risk getting hundreds of bad sheets midway through a run. Also around this point they'll start venting/dropping too much toner inside the machine for my liking. Usually it's the color you see going wrong, though I have had a weird issue where for some reason one failing drum affected another drum - not sure if it somehow threw off the auto gradiation (I'm a customer/printer not a tech) but I've had that happen twice in 6 years, so look at the yields under the service mode. But usually it's almost always the one that you suspect and the samples above sure look like the magenta is past its life cutting out leaving the yellow on one side and then backgrounding on the other.
     
  3. RickJ5

    RickJ5 Member

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    Jeff,

    I was hoping you would see this. I think this is pretty much the same problem I was having back at the end of November and it never got solved. I had checked the readings before on drum life and the magenta is at 62, yellow at 61, cyan at 62, and black at 44. The black drum was replaced not to long ago. Back in November I thought the problem was a driver setting, but I was still only able to print one page at a time. I had my copier guy out and as I recall he blamed it on the paper. I don't think it's the paper, I've had the problem on both Sterling Ultra Digital and Mohawk and both should be OK for digital printing. I'm now using the correct driver settings and both problems occured when using the bypass tray, so I'm using the right tray. I've done a little research on how copiers work and I had a couple thoughts. One was that the cleaner blade wasn't cleaning the toner off the magenta drum right and that's why the first copy comes out OK and then it goes downhill. The other thought was maybe the drum wasn't charging right, that might explain the yellow area. But, either way it pretty much seemed to me the problem had to be in the drum. So, I figure replacing the drum should solve the problem. The other problem is my copier guy decided he wants to end my service contract. He says I'm using too much toner. I told him up front I was a printer and I negotiated the 11 x 17 copies for 1 click and told him I would be printing stuff 2 up and cutting it in half. I'm talking with Canon about getting a service contract from them. But, they want to come out and do an inspection first. So, I'm trying to get this problem fixed by my copier guy and any others the machine might have before I let him off the hook and have Canon out for the inspection. Thank you for any help you can offer.

    Rick
     
  4. RickJ5

    RickJ5 Member

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    Jeff,

    In the interest of giving back to the community and maybe helping someone else like you helped me another guy suggested the following procedure.

    Additional Functions
    Adjustment/Cleaning
    Auto Gradation Adjustment
    Heavy 1/Heavy 2
    Quick Adjust
    Heavy 1/Heavy 2
    Full Adjust

    Full Adjust will ask you to print pages and then put the pages back on the scanner board.
    It's not exactly clear, but put the printing face down with the black bands towards the back of the copier.

    I followed that procedure and then printed 3 copies in a row and they were all fine. I then printed 10 copies in a row and they were also fine. I probably won't know for sure if the problem is fixed until I try to do a couple hundred in a row, but for now it looks OK and I can't really justify spending $300 on a new magenta drum.

    Rick
     
  5. Di Nut

    Di Nut Senior Member

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    We also have a Canon 3200 and have experienced the same problems. We to found that we have to, usually every other day, run a full adjust to get the best quality out of the machine. We used the Quick adjust several times but it doesnt improve the quality.
     
  6. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    Sorry for being away from this thread and that I didn't have a better answer for you (I don't seem to be batting very well on your questions... sorry!) Hope it holds for you until a nice yield. I can't remember having a drum fail with backgrounding at a yield well below 100, so my statement that ours never hold after they start to fail like that might be apples to oranges.

    We are also in the habit of always running the Full Auto Graduation Adjustment on our 3200/3220; whenever I have a run of 1000 or more to do that day, I'll do the full auto grad. It takes a minute or two, but it seems the best way to go or else things are less predictable and I end up wasting more time. I've never tried during the quick adjust followed by the full adjust as I thought the full made the quick redundant (never tested it though.)
     
  7. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    P.S. In service mode there's also an ADJ-LVL setting (0: Normal Mode; if you set 1 Compression mode 1 the density fluction will be greater; if you set 2 compression mode 2" you have to execute automatic gradiation compensation (full compensation) manually; and the setting INTROT-1/INTROT-2 which sets the number of sheets for image stabilization control (adjustment set 1 / adjustment set 2). Factory value is every 100 sheets; can be 50 to 1000.) (be very very careful in service mode)

    When we used our older 3200 for a long black and white run I once tried setting these up to 500 sheets instead of 100 as you can notice the machine stopping to q adjust every 100 sheets otherwise, but in the long run it wasn't worth the hassle of remembering to set it back for color runs or else have more noticeable fluctuations so I've left these default for years now as the slight delay isn't that bad in exchange for greater consistency.
     
  8. CanonTechGermany

    CanonTechGermany New Member

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    Problem printing color on Canon C3200

    Hey im new to this forum, but what i see is an old problem of the irc 3220. You have to chek your software version, its a problem of an old Dcon Version the new one is 37.o1 or 38.o1 . if you have an older Version your printer needs to get a complete software update and a new magenta drum. if your only replacing the drum without the update the error comes back.
     
  9. dragondog2468

    dragondog2468 Member

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    I have seen this before upgrade the firmware on the machine and do all the adjustments for color at least two times if this does not work adjust the bias a little in the servive mode as a last resort.
     
  10. millennium

    millennium New Member

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    Hi Rick I was wondering if you could help me with something. I have tried the full adjust and I printed out the sheet but when I go to put it on the glass and hit continue it tells me that I don't have it positioned on the glass correctly. Would you be able to suggest what I can do to fix that? I know I've got it on the scanner correctly and I've actually tried it all different ways on the glass but I still get the same message. I'm using the Canon ir 3200

    PLEASE HELP
     
  11. amscot

    amscot Member

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    Same problem

    I'm having the excat same problem. I've tried the page in all four directions, no go. On my color print, each color is offset from the previous one about 1/2 inch.

    Any ideas? Maybe it's too far out to calibrate?

    Cheers,

    Scott
     
  12. RonnyW

    RonnyW Member

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    When you say the exact same problem, you have heavy magenta backgrounding like the first post picture in addition to misregistration between colors?
     
  13. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    If you do a full auto gradiation adjustment are the c, m, y, and k blocks offset from one another (different distances from the edge of the sheet)

    Over the past 7 years, every time I've had a registration problem between colors with my canon 3200 or 3220 it's been because toner got under the ITB transfer belt. A tiny bit of toner under the transfer belt is enough to cause this. Often taking out the ITB and gently cleaning the back side of the ITB belt with a lint free cloth and the rollers carefully restores registration to perfect. Be careful not to touch the printing surface of the belt. Sometimes the rollers on the ITB assembly under the belt need to be replaced though.

    In 1.7 million 11x17's I've had to clean my ITB belts about 7 times and have my ITB rollers replaced three times.
     
  14. amscot

    amscot Member

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    Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, the CMYK are offset as you described. Now all color output reflects this, each image is separated into CMY and offset a little. Like those old 3-D pictures you needed to view with funny glasses.
    Cheers,
    Scott
     
  15. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    Well, my bet is that you need to either clean or rebuild the ITB transfer belt assembly. Hopefully just cleaning under the belt will be enough this time to save you the money of the rollers if you're not on a service contract.
     
  16. amscot

    amscot Member

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    Can you describe your recommended procedure for cleaning the ITB? I've got it out and there's lots of toner marks on it. A large band of yellow right across it. This looks like one of those things you don't want to touch much.
    Cheers,

    Scott
     
  17. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    Don't touch the transfer belt printing area at all - touch it only by the edges and carefully.

    It's best if you have a service contract to watch a tech do it as they can do it in their sleep and it's easier to do than to explain, or if you have a manual.

    But if not, be careful as a mistake can cost you hundreds of dollars as the frame has a lot of plastic yet it's $$$. I should also say I'm a printer not a technician. I don't know what to make of the band of toner on it - was an adjustment interrupted when you shut the machine down to pull it out? Ours are usually fairly clean from the normal action of the cleaning blade other than toner that has dropped from the (older) drum(s) along the edges of the assembly.

    If you haven't done it before, it's best to have two people so you have four hands (the techs will probably chuckle at this recommendation!)

    Basically stand it on end and remove the two metal shields on the bottom, the large one and the small one. They're screwed on the op side with a 4 screws for the large and one for the small and fit into a groove on the non-op side. Be careful not to break the small var-resistor - remove it by removing the two screws to remove the metal guards.

    Then the two colored handles you removed the ITB assembly with are also the pivot points. First remove the 4 screws on the one that faces the back non-op of the machine and pull it up so it swivels free. Then rotate the assembly and do the same for the handle that faces the front of the machine. Then the whole ITB assembly hinges with these two locking handles pulled up and releases tension on the ITB belt so you can slide it off. Note which way the belt is on - there should be a small mark on non-op (back) side but it's hard to see.

    For me it's often been enough to very carefully clean the inside of the belt with a lint free cloth and clean off the rollers and then reassemble. It's been not enough toner to see much but enough that it throws the color to color registration off.

    Make sure the belt is centered when you reassemble and that the foam inner rail on the belt isn't riding up on one of the rollers.
     
  18. amscot

    amscot Member

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    Thanks so much. I'll give that go.

    Cheers,

    Scott
     
  19. amscot

    amscot Member

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    I bow to you sir, deep, long, and low. I followed your procedure (amidst many baleful glares from co-workers) and the printing is now flawless. Thank you so much.

    Happy Scott
     

  20. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

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    Good deal! And my pleasure.
     

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