Technical Tip

Xerox 5945 Drum Cartridge

Xerox^® WorkCentre^® 5945 / 5955 Drum Cartridges—

Repairing and Rebuilding the Print Cartridges for the WC-5945 & 5955

The WorkCentre 5945 styles are new comers on the Xerox copier scene.  These guys are black & white multifunction copiers.  I got my paws on one of the drum cartridges and thought they looked intriguing. Some of the parts of this cartridge have already begun to become available, so that’s always helpful. This month, we’ll start with an overview of the cartridge, especially where the CRUM chip is situated. Then let’s take one of these babies apart and see how to rebuild the upper half.  We’ll leave the lower half (the developer station) alone for the time being.

Photo 1: CRUM chip location

The WC-5945/5955 print cartridge is sold under the part number 013R00669 (13R669).  It can be found online currently for between $115 and $140 for a new OEM cartridge.  Not bad considering it has a stated yield of 200K according to the machine’s brochure.  The cartridge has an upper half which has the drum, blade, charge roll, and a cleaning roll (a white foam roll).  The lower half has a developer station including an ATC Sensor (Automatic Toner Concentration).

A first glance at the front end of this print cartridge would remind you of the C123 or WC-5225 drum cartridge.  The lower half being a developer station is also reminiscent of a C123 or 5225 drum cartridge.  That’s where the similarities end.  The parts in the upper half are longer than the C123, so nothing really crosses over up there.

The drum reset CRUM chip looks more like one of the C35 style drum CRUMs.  It can be found just behind the right side of the front end cover (see Photo #1).  It is easily replaced (one screw, T-10 Torx bit).  Replacing the CRUM chip will reset the drum count and allow you to extend the life of the cartridge considerably.

Keep in mind that because the cartridge has developer in it, it’s important that it be hand-delivered and not turned upside down during handling.  This is because if it gets flipped over, the developer material can migrate up into the upper half where the drum and charge roll are at.  This means that for now at least, you’d not be able to ship a rebuilt cartridge.  Unless you have replacement developer material, you will not want to clean out anything inside the lower half (developer station).  Eventually replacement developer and a new developer pull-seal will no doubt become available and then a true full rebuild will be possible.

Now let’s get into the procedure of taking off the upper half and replacing the drum, charge roll, cleaning roll, and drum blade.  This can get pretty messy, so make sure you are working over a drop-cloth. You’ll also need a Torx T-10 sized driver bit.

PROCEDURE:

1. Remove the CRUM chip from behind the right side of the front end cover (1 screw – Torx T-10) (see Photo #1).
2.  Next remove the rear end cover (2 screws & release one clip on your lower left) (see Photo #2). Take care from here on that the white drum / mag roll bushing does not slip out, or else the drum becomes loose and can be easily damaged. Also watch over the cleaning auger coupling as it will pop off the auger if you pull on it at all.
3. Next comes the front end cover (2 screws) (see Photo #3).
4. Then take off the front inner plate (3 screws, T-10) (see Photo #4). Be very careful that both the front and rear white plastic drum / mag roll bushings stay in place.
5. Now very gently lay the unit on its right side so that the drum is facing upwards (see Photo #5). Hold the drum steady while you extract first the rear and then the front white drum / mag roll bushings. The developer station (lower half of the cartridge) can now be moved away from the upper half. Warning: the toner reclaim chute at the rear will dump a small pile of toner and make a mess for you.
6. The drum with its bearings can now be lifted out of its cradle. This exposes the charge roll and drum blade (see Photo #6).
7. Next you’ll want to remove the charge roll assembly off of the cleaning assembly (2 screws from the left, one near the front, and one near the rear end (see Photos 7 & 8).
8. The charge roll can now be replaced (use a little bit of conductive grease on the plastic cradles which the charge roller sits in). The white foam roll just behind the charge roll is the charge roll cleaning roll. It comes out easily at this point as well.
9. Finally you can remove the drum cleaning blade (2 screws) and gently vacuum out the waste toner auger behind the blade (be very careful not to hurt the Mylar recovery blade).
10. Clean everything up nicely and reassemble. Note that it is not good to use a vacuum on the lower half (developer station) as you don’t want to lose any of the developer material, and also because the ATC sensor is static sensitive (if you don’t use a static dissipating vacuum the sensor will be in danger of being blown by ESD static discharge). If you do plan to replace the developer and clean out the unit, you should first remove the sensor.

That’s it!  Not so bad was it?  Ok, maybe the drum getting loose when one of the white bushings accidentally slips out of place can be a bit frustrating, but you get used to paying attention to those two bushings pretty quickly.

I hope you all enjoyed the article.  Next month we will have to crack open one of the fusers from this same new series.  Can’t wait!  Have a great month!