Hi I'm new to the site.

I've been running an iGen3 for a few months now and we are having an ongoing problem with magenta splashing. Apparently it's a design flaw with machine. The magenta developer assembly sits on a downward angle which causes the toner to drop down.

I find that vacuuming out the developer housing seems to fix the problem but only for a few hundred impressions.

This problem is extremely annoying when printing variable data jobs.

Anyone have any fixes or solutions to this problem?

Thanks,

James

I'm pretty sure this is the same problem that our operators were having a while back. Xerox made a retrofit that fits over the opening of the ink cartridges. They are just little gray foam tubes. They are approx. 3" tall, 2" wide and about 1/4" thick? I think they now ship with the cartridges, but they always come in sort of squished, so our operators have a supply of these things to use each time they load a new cartridge (per the techs instructions). This seems to have solved the problem. Ask your Xerox Rep about this.

Thanks waptus.

Do these foam things fit onto the toner cartidges or the developer tanks. If they go on the toner cartridges then I don't see how they would fix this problem.

Have your CSE check all the hoses connected to your developer housing for cracks or and air leaks. We experience the Spitting of Magenta off and on since since installation 5 years ago and this has been the cause. Once the hoses are replaced the problem disappears until they get brittle and crack again.

I think I had that a bit wrong. Our head operator said the foam retrofits have more to do with small particles ending up stuck on the rollers that cause banding problems. They remove the foam insert that comes with the print cartridge (under the orange cap), and replace it with a new piece of foam. I think the theory is that the original pieces of foam get squashed in the cartridges and may possibly be breaking off and causing problems. This is supposed to help with that problem.
According to our operator, we have the splashing problem from time-to-time as well. Sorry for the confusion!

-Heidi

Thanks everyone. I guess I just have to keep up the maintenance.

It's not such a problem when doing large runs of a single page but when running say a bunch of individually named certificates it's a pain in the ass.

I really appreciate the suggestions.

James

Make sure you follow up with my original suggestion to your problem with your CSE. The Xerox term for the random Splatter appearance of blotches of color on the press sheet is called SPITTING (it can occur from any color, however Magenta seems to happen most often). There is some suggestions in your maintenance guide book for this issue in the image artifact section, But in our 5 years of experience, this is caused by a Leak in one or more of the hoses attached to the back of the Developer Housing. This can occur at any time even on a brand new machine, as it happened to us. Have your CSE (Service Technician) Come in an check these hoses for either a loose connection allowing an air leak or a crack in the plastic hoses. If it is a minor crack they maybe able to patch it with tape or if severe they may have to replace the hose. Call in a Service Call on SPITTING of Magenta Toner. If your Tech is relatively new to IGen repairs, suggest he check the hoses for cracks, even a minor loss of vacuum pressure can cause this problem. He can pull up and run the repair rep for Spitting. If they do not find a leak in the hose then your machine is PUKING and this caused by too much Toner in the Developer Housing as the result of a Toner Concentration problem. The CSE will then need to check your Toner Concentration level and make the necessary adjustments to fix this problem.

Thanks Tracey, I'll let the technician know.

Problem solved

Blew out the manifolds which sit above each of the developer housings with an air compressor. They were full of old developer.

Quick and easy.

Glad they found the problem, thus your machine was puking toner then, if the problem reoccurs, you may still have a vacuum problem with the hoses leading to that housing.
To help keep this from happening in the future, when doing developer changes, make sure you put the vacuum hose on the hose leading to the manifold on the upper back side of the developer housing and count to ten and repeat on the lower hose connector also. Tap the top of the manifold with the handle of one of the screwdriver tools before and while the vacuum is connected. This will help break up any build up. Do this on both the upper & lower manifolds, though the upper one is the one more likely to clog up.

Tracey