Monday, June 3, 2024

Tips for loading toner in a Ricoh MP 2550 or MP 3350 copier

Ricoh manufactures a broad range of multifunction office machines.  The MP 2550 and MP 3350 are essentially the same copier, just with different processing speeds.  (25 copies per minute and 33 copies per minute, respectively.)  Both are good low-volume copiers for a home business or a small office.  Like their predecessors, replacing any of the consumables (toner, photoconductor, staples, or paper) is a simple task.

Loading toner is something you will have to do quite a few times over the life of the machine, but once you've done it the first time it's a piece of cake.  The new toner should come with installation instructions, but this article will walk you through installing new toner in your MP 2550 or MP 3350 copier.

The first thing you should always do is make sure you have the right toner.  Depending on where you ordered your toner from, you might have been shipped toner for a different copier by mistake, and they are not compatible.  The correct toner for both the MP 2550 and MP 3350 is type 2120D -- this number should be printed on the toner bottle.

Each toner bottle comes with a large black screw-off cap.  This outer cap gets removed; the inner cap (much smaller and gray) stays on.  Removing the inner cap before installing the toner can cause a huge mess and wreak havoc on your machine.

To remove the old toner bottle, open the copier's front door (the main cover in the front of the machine with the Ricoh label on it).  Lift up -- gently -- on the green toner handle, and then push down on the green lever to the left-hand side of the toner unit.  The toner hopper (the tray that the toner bottle rests on) should pop out.

Remove the old bottle, and be sure that the inner cap (the gray one) is still attached.  Occasionally this cap can come loose and remain in the toner hopper, causing problems when the new toner bottle is installed.

If you haven't already, remove the black screw-off cap from the new toner bottle.  Set the bottle on the toner tray with the top of the bottle facing toward you (away from the machine).  Slowly push the toner hopper all the way in, until the green lever on the left side snaps into place.  Gently push down on the toner handle until it, too, locks in place.

Once you close the front door, the machine will cycle the toner.  If there was previously a low toner or no toner message displayed on the screen, the copier will now load the new toner, which may take a couple of minutes.  Once the toner has been loaded, your copier is ready to use again.

These tips also apply to older copiers in the same family -- the Ricoh Aficio 1022, 1027, 2022, 2027, 2510, 3010, 3025, and 3030.  All of these copiers use the same toner (type 2120D) and it is installed in exactly the same way.  Each toner bottle is rated to last about 11,000 copies, but of course this depends on what you are copying -- how much text or image fill appears on each page, what size paper you are using, etc.

If you are having trouble installing the toner bottle, call your local service provider to see if they can walk you through the installation over the phone.  You can also visit Ricoh's Support and Downloads web page to download the product manual for your MP 2550 or MP 3350, if you don't already have it.


(Originally posted on Helium.com, 2010)
(Disclaimer: I earn a commission on Amazon sales made from links in this post.)

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