Canon PC-2 Copier Repair

[Myron Johnson]

I have a 15-year-old Canon PC-2 copier. It has worked perfectly all
these years, and has run maybe 10,000 copies.

All of a sudden, I'm having problems with the moving copy tray (the
glass and it's cover). Sometimes (maybe one in four copies), it begins
to hesitate just as it starts the "copying pass". Or sometimes it
hesitates half-way through the copying pass. Either way, the tray
stops dead and the copier gives a "Error 2"...which means "see a
repairman". I can buy a replacement for $80, so I won't be seeing any
repairman but me

In studying the problem, I tried removing the heavy lid and just
having the lightweight glass part of the copier move. It works MUCH
more reliably, but not 100%.

By all appearance, the mechanism is getting bound up at times. Then,
either the motor gives up or the something senses excessive force and
stops the motor. But in manually moving the carriage and in manually
rotating the internal gears, I can't find any binding. I looked for
broken gear teeth or gunk on the gears, but haven't found any. Also,
the intermittent nature of the failure is weird.

I tried putting more downward force on the carriage to see how much
margin there is in the drive system. Normally, the carriage can keep
moving even with a pound or two of extra force, so I don't think that
the problem is the motor per se.

Anybody had any experience with this? I found one other reference in
the newsgroups to an identical problem, but that person never got an
answer.

Thanks in advance, Myron

 

[Luddite]

Myron Johnson <mljohns@iname.com> wrote:

I have a 15-year-old Canon PC-2 copier. It has worked perfectly all
these years, and has run maybe 10,000 copies.

All of a sudden, I'm having problems with the moving copy tray (the
glass and it's cover). Sometimes (maybe one in four copies), it begins
to hesitate just as it starts the "copying pass". Or sometimes it
hesitates half-way through the copying pass. Either way, the tray
stops dead and the copier gives a "Error 2"...which means "see a
repairman". I can buy a replacement for $80, so I won't be seeing any
repairman but me

In studying the problem, I tried removing the heavy lid and just
having the lightweight glass part of the copier move. It works MUCH
more reliably, but not 100%.

By all appearance, the mechanism is getting bound up at times. Then,
either the motor gives up or the something senses excessive force and
stops the motor. But in manually moving the carriage and in manually
rotating the internal gears, I can't find any binding. I looked for
broken gear teeth or gunk on the gears, but haven't found any. Also,
the intermittent nature of the failure is weird.

I tried putting more downward force on the carriage to see how much
margin there is in the drive system. Normally, the carriage can keep
moving even with a pound or two of extra force, so I don't think that
the problem is the motor per se.

Anybody had any experience with this? I found one other reference in
the newsgroups to an identical problem, but that person never got an
answer.

are there loud clicks when this happens?
no gunk on the gears may be the problem,put some lithium grease on
the gear that drives the bed and all related ones.



> Thanks in advance, Myron

 

[Wes.]

mljohns@iname.com (Myron Johnson) wrote in message news:<c3f0210.0311181721.1deffb26@posting.google.com>...

I have a 15-year-old Canon PC-2 copier. It has worked perfectly all
these years, and has run maybe 10,000 copies.

All of a sudden, I'm having problems with the moving copy tray (the
glass and it's cover). Sometimes (maybe one in four copies), it begins
to hesitate just as it starts the "copying pass". Or sometimes it
hesitates half-way through the copying pass. Either way, the tray
stops dead and the copier gives a "Error 2"...which means "see a
repairman". I can buy a replacement for $80, so I won't be seeing any
repairman but me

I've never repaired this model but I found this site helpful for error
codes

http://www.copier-help.com/copier-help/ecs/canon/eccpc2.html

Seeing that they point to the power board check the power supply for
dry caps.

I would also question how the movement mechanism senses its
positioning and if the motor mechanism runs in both directions, what
kind of motor it uses (stepper, DC, AC), does it have a slip clutch to
protect the drive from over running the ends.. ect.. ect..

Wes.

 

[Myron Johnson]

spamthis@hayclan-oz.com (Wes.) wrote in message news:<cbaeebae.0311182337.6201a0d7@posting.google.com>...

I would also question how the movement mechanism senses its
positioning and if the motor mechanism runs in both directions, what
kind of motor it uses (stepper, DC, AC), does it have a slip clutch to
protect the drive from over running the ends.. ect.. ect..

Wes.

Thanks for your reply.
There doesn't seem to be a movement or location sensor problem. The
copying bed has actually STARTED on it's copying pass when it decides
to freeze up. The paper starts to feed and the bed starts to move.
Then, there will be hesitation in the bed...kind of jittery like it is
binding and then moving a bit...maybe for an inch of travel when it
will give up and stop and the copier gives an error #2 message.

Not sure what kind of motor it is. But I doubt it is a stepper. I
don't think there is a clutch, but not sure.
Thanks!