Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

[Guest]

Hey guys. I work for a graphic firm, and we have two Ricoh printers. One is MP C3003 and the other one MP C2000. And we have a serious problem with our print outs. We need full color prints for transfer printers, because the glue doesn't stick on a t-shirt for example if the color application is not thick enough.

The old printer MP C2000 has visibly brighter images, the colors are very vivid and look awesome. We also don't have a problem with transfers.

But the problem is with the new one, MP C3003. If compared, the printouts of the two have such a major difference that you can spot it miles away. The colors of the 3003 seem faded, not vivid and the transfer papers apparently don't get coated enough to actually transfer. I have tried literally everything and our service doesn't know what to do either.
It looks like the toner save would be on, even though I can't find a setting in the preferences which would allow me to turn that setting on or off. It's nowhere.

The only thing the service could tell us is that Ricoh recently changed the driver (?) settings of their printers, so that they use less color, and therefore they all print "a little faded". They said they can't do anything about it. And I don't really know if that's true or not.

Thanks for your help.

[sandmanmac]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

While I don't have a solution for you, and an uploaded sample might be helpful (or at least the current page counts). It probably just needs a PM, and if you are under a maintenance agreement, it's possible your "service" company just doesn't want to absorb the cost.
I will, however, call B.S. on the "driver" explanation, as your MP C2000 driver, or virtually any other PCL driver will work.

[Gplus]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

Hi, yes, I was planning on uploading a photo so that you can compare the two prints. It's so much visible in blacks, where the 2000 prints full and rich blacks, but the 3003 kind of makes small "unfilled" dots. The spots are not white, just of a darker greyish color. The difference, that the page is not fully covered where it should be, is really visible.

What is a PM?

[sandmanmac]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

What is a PM?

"Preventative Maintenance"

[HDSB]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

We have had similar issues and to resolve our trainers have had to edit the print quality options and colour options within the driver.

[TonerMunkeh]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

What I am finding particularly hilarious is you have been sold a low-end, occasional colour OFFICE MFP into a production print environment. This machine cannot possibly be expected to maintain the same sort of colour matching with the 2500 as the engine, toner and developer are all completely different.

[Gplus]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

Well, how do you change stuff inside the drivers? I'm not going to do that myself, but it's great to know stuff like this in case we do call our service upon fixing the problem and know some of the stuff they'll tell us. We do some printing and copying aside graphic design, so we have this printer for fast copies and such. We do have other printers like OKI's etc., but this thing particulary disturbed me and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

[DougD]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

You can make adjustments to the print quality in printing preferences but it's trial and error and you may find the quality on a different job is not to your liking. The attached screenshot is the PCL5c driver for example.
To get a better understanding of the toner coverage issue on the new machines, you can google "Ricoh PxP-EQ toner".

[Lagonda]

Re: Ricoh MP C3003 is printing faded prints

Couple of things spring to mind, first is what are you actually trying to print on? Anything other then 80gsm bond you have to vary the transfer current to ensure a good transfer of toner onto the stock your printing on. This can be done by putting the correct designation into the paper tray setting. Any more you may have to get a tech out to tweak the Service Programme settings.

The second is there was a Ricoh Tech Bulletin put out some time ago that told the tech to lower toner density levels to solve set-off from poorly fused toner.

However I do agree with TonerMunkey that a MP C3003 is a base model office copier with colour capability and shouldn't be used for serious production work. it just ain't going to cut it.