Paper Curling in WorkCentre Pro 5632 Office Finisher Output Tray - Solution Options

[JRJoyce]

Thanks Fabio.  The local Xerox support installed some of the fixes that Tier II support recommended without success.   Worse, they didn't seem to have any idea what the 'heater' option was.  At present we are just stuck not being able to use these high speed printers for large jobs, so they are almost useless, being relegated to printing jobs you would normally direct to a small desktop unit.

I'm convinced that it's an engineering issue with the roller that forces the paper against the fuser assembly being unheated.  The result of this is that for large jobs it cools off while the heated fuser does not, resulting in differential heating of the paper which drives moisture off of one side, but not the other, causing it to curl.

If anyone can suggest a Xerox part number for me to research that would address this issue, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Cheers,

John

[Fabio]

i am not into hardware , i think you need to wait until a xerox employeer repsons

you have a rather old firmware, maybe you can try upgrading? who know?

latest one = 25.054.065.130 but you need to contact xerox to obtain it

[JRJoyce]

Fabio,

Thank you for your response.  The finisher on this unit is the 'Office Finisher', not the 'High Volume Finisher', so I don't know if it includes the same options or responds to the same codes, but I'll take a look.  However, to answer your question, I'm including some of the firmware version numbers below.  These are from the Configuration Report from the machine we've been working with most immediately, I don't know if the others are the same, though I think they were obtained at the same time, so they most likely are.  If the one you are looking for isn't included in there, just let me know which one you need.

• System Software Version: 025.054.033.00000
• Paper Feeder Software Version: 000.040.000
• High Capacity Trays Software Version: 000.010.009
• Finisher Software Version: 003.051.000
• IOT Software Version: 092.003.000
• SIP Software Version: 025.054.008
• DADH Software Versino: 016.028.000 

Just to make sure my original post was clear and is not causing confusion, the initial jam is not occuring in the internal paper path, but external to the finisher.  Because of several factors, but I believe predominantly due to the severe curling, after 100-200 sheets the paper starts to wad up between the Top Tray and the Stacker Tray.  While this would result in our having to abort the print job all by itself, eventually the wad of output would block the exit paper path enough that the printer would sense a jam in the internal paper path at the exit port and stop.  Unfortunately, while the printer would reprint the sheets in the paper path when it jamed, the user has to try and figure out what the last good reported page was and manually reprint the reports in that range, making it all too easy to miss regenerating some of the analytical reports.

As it appears that the board software will allow me to include images, I'll see if I can get a picture of one of our jams to post.  Hopefully this will help make sure we all have the same understanding of what is going on.

Have you heard anything specific regarding the 'Heater Kit' for the WorkCentre Pro 5632 that Tier II support mentioned? 

Thanks again,

John 

[Fabio]

hello john, what firmware is your machine having?

maybe this is helpful ? :

Paper jams due to moisture build up in High Volume Finisher .  *33 option to have these door fans on for all types of jobs and not just for duplex, as it is at the moment.

This issue has been fixed in System Software 21.113.02.090  expected to be released early November, 2009.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
A Feature Enablement code is now available so the door fans will be ON for all printing, not just Duplex. This should reduce the jams caused by excess humidity.

1) At the machine console, press the Access button.
2) Press the Enablement Code soft button
3) Enter *3386827641 (make sure to include the * character)

To disable the feature so the the door fan only runs during Duplex printing, Enter  *3386827640.

[JRJoyce]

Greetings,

We have a number of leased Xerox WorkCentre Pro 5632  multi-function printers with the optional 'Office Finisher (LCSS)'.  Whether used as a printer or a copier, we have discovered that when large quantity jobs are run, after approximately 100-200 pages have gone through the printing path, the paper output into the Finisher, which started flat, have strated to curl so much that instead of stacking, they basically wrap around each other into a large wad of paper that then jams the printer itself.  We have had the field technicians out multiple times and they have lowered the fuser temperature to the minimum value, but the units still jamb after 100-200 pages due to the curling. 

The technician blames this on moisture in the paper and says that there is nothing she can do.  While I agree that moisture is one factor, we have a number of similar capacity Kyocera printers that show no problem with large jobs and the same type of paper.  Based on my observations and what little information I've been able to obtain from Xerox Tier I and Tier II support, I believe that the following is what is actually happening, along with the suspected machine condition causing the behavior: 

 When job starts paper, with an unknown moisture content, is fed through the paper path, the report text is printed on it, and it exits the Office Finisher flat and is stacked properly.  For this to happen, any moisture in the paper has to be driven off evenly.  At this point

• The fuser, which is temperature controlled is at its setpoint temperature.
• The pressure roller that the paper passes between is unheated, but in equilibrium with the fuser due to thermal conduction at the fuser temperature's set point
• This results in  moisture being driven off of the paper evenly, thus no curl.

After 100-200 pages, the paper starts to curl toward the printed side of the paper.  Eventually this reaches a point that that the paper hangs on the lip of the paper exit slot and doesn't stack, does not fall/slide into correct positions for the finger roller to grab the paper and pull it back against the stop, or the pages start wrapping and crumple up blocking the paper path.  As the curling becomes more extreme as printing progresses, I believe the problem is due to differential heating of the paper.  The most likely cause for this would appear to be the following:

• Temperature on the printed side of the document being held steady, so that the same amount of moisture as initially is being driven off the front of the document.
• If the pressure roller is unheated, or its heater cannot keep up with the amount of heat transfered and carried off by the heater, its temperature falls.
• With  the back of the document  heated to a cooler temperature due to the undertemp roller, less moisture is driven off the back of the paper.
• As the damper paper fibers expand while the dry ones contract, the paper curls toward the printed side of the paper.

The technician indicated that if the documents were printed duplex, the curling would be significantly less, which is what I would expect with both sides of the paper having been pressed against the fuser.  Unfortunately, these reports have to be printed one sided, not duplexed.

I discussed with Tier II support the possibility of configuring the printer to print single sided, but to run the paper through the duplex printer path, even though this would slow the document output.  Unfortunately they knew of no way to do this.

After explaining my analysis to them, they contacted the engineering support group and discussed my analysis with them.  Unfortunately, they said that this group only talks with the field technicians, so I couldn't discuss this issue with them directly.  However Tier II support did say that the engineering group indicated that there were two options that might help.  He described these as:

• A heater, designated for high humidity environments.
• A decurler

They support person I spoke with would not provide me with any of the part numbers he'd been given, nor have I so far been able to find any useful reference regarding these items on the Web.

As the vague descriptions provide so far appear to be consistent with my differential heating analysis, I'd like to find out more about them before scheduling another visit with the field technicians.  Can anyone on the board provide any additional background regarding these items, whether a part number or more detailed description?  Ideally, I'd love to locate a manual on them, but don't think that's going to happen.  I did find a description of what sounds like a similar solution with the Xerox Nuvera EA Digital Production System.  At this point, I don't know whether the 'heater' mentioned is similar to the Nuvera's decurler or if it may be an internal heater to heat the fuser's pressure roller.  Any information that anyone can provide regarding a decurling solution would be appreciated.

As a high-speed printer, the WorkCentre Pro 5632 generally works very well, but I'm afraid that it won't do us much good if it will only print 'small' jobs (some of our are 2,000-3,000 pages long at a time.

Thanks for your help and suggestions,

John