Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Kyocera FS-C2126MFP+....learned my lesson.....

I am sure we have all been there.... you go to purchase something off of Craigslist or eBay and think that you are getting a really good deal but in actuality, it turns out to be a nightmare of epic proportions.

I've been looking for a printer/copier for the shop for sometime and stumbled across this Kyocera on Craigslist.  It was a 2013 model that supposedly worked fine.  Being it was a color copier, printer and fax machine all in one with a $200 price tag, I was all over it.  The guy that I dealt with was very nice and ran a very nice business die cutting foam.  He made a copy as I was standing right there to prove that everything worked as it should.  Admittedly, he mentioned that they only used it for black and white copies and the counter surely proved this.  So, the deal was made and in the truck it went.

When I finally got it home, I connected it to the network, installed the drivers and was able to get it to print relatively easy.  However, I had some trouble with the magenta printing correctly.  I happened across the self cleaning menu and so I ran all of the options several times.  After each cleaning,it got better and better.  I was all excited until I received the "Add Toner" message.  So, thinking it was simply out of toner, I ordered more.  When the packet of toner finally arrived, I installed them, re-powered the machine and waited for it to run through it's warm up cycle only to find the same "Add Toner" message. 

I was a bit perplexed so I turned to the internet for answers.  What I immediately found was a bit disheartening.  First off, who knew there were forum boards for printers?  Secondly, this particular model is know for having this issue because of problem with the toner supply drive.  Luckily, Kyocera has a fix for this and an accompanying bulletin.....however, the printer has to be almost completely torn apart. 

After some more internet searching, I found Printer Source in Pa.  Their website is HERE.  I called them up to explain the problem and lucky for me, I happened to get a tech repair man of the phone.  This guy knew his printers....and subsequently, knew the problems associated with them.  After a little digging on his end, he confirmed the issue I was having with factory techs at Kyocera and sent me a copy of the tech bulletin.  This bulletin was 50 pages long with detailed step by step instructions on how to disassemble and replace the defective parts.  Once I said that I wanted to attempt this repair, they were also able to get me the parts I needed.

Oh yeah, the bulletin said that this was an 8 hour job...





 See those white parts....they are the issue....
 

Well, after seven hours and a couple of mistakes regarding the timing of the components, it's printing.  I really do not want to have to do that again......


The other '56 fender...

So this fender turned out to be one large dent....





There is still a little left to do, but at least there is no filler....

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Model A to T5 adapter....

We have been working on this adapter on and off for the last several months but are getting fairly close to releasing it for production.  This adapter will adapt an S-10 or V6 Camaro T5 to a stock Model AA truck bellhousing.  It include both bolt patterns for the '83-early '93 T5 and the late '93 to '96 T5.  It is used in conjunction with the AA truck bellhousing.

We had to use the truck bellhousing because the stock passenger bell is about 2" deeper and the input shaft of the T5 is simply not long enough.  We fought with ways around this and actually came up with a fairly elegant solution.  However, that solution proved to be cost prohibitive.

One of the issues with using the truck bellhousing is the lack of the pedal pivot rod.  As with all of our adapters, an attempt is made to minimize the required modifications of stock components, so, the pedal rod is incorporated into the adapter in the correct location for a stock passenger application. 


The first pre-production kit is currently being made and a trial fitment is lined up on a customer's car.  We'll let you know when it is ready.