During low duty use of the machine, air can become mixed with the developer/toner mixture during agitation and cause rough patches to appear.

Cause:

When the machine is consistently used for low duty printing, air can mix with the developer/toner mixture during agitation which can cause developer deterioration and cause rough patches to appear in images. Low duty is generally defined when:

  • Jobs are consistently 5 pages or less
  • Pages have less than 4% coverage

  • Please remember that before paper can be used, it requires setting by the operator, especially if adjustments for a different type of paper (custom paper) are used.

Solution

  1. Replace the developer.
  2. Select Advanced Settings > Main: Image Quality Adjustment > Toner Refresh Mode, and then change the “3” setting to “3.5”. (SP3-820-001 Tnr Refresh Mode Img Area Thresh:K).
  3. If the problem persists, consult the product specialist.

  • If the toner refresh mode is set to "3" (default), the amount of toner consumed will be equivalent to operating the machine under normal conditions at 6% coverage.
  • Raising the setting higher than "3" could increase the occurrence of mottled images, increase toner consumption, and lower toner yield.
  • If the setting is set to “3.5”, then under normal operating conditions toner consumption will correspond to about 6.5% total image coverage.