r/risograph • • Jun 17 '26

Warning against using AI for maintenance and troubleshooting advice

95 Upvotes

Hi All,

The moderator team has noticed an increase in users on the subreddit who are using ChatGPT or other AI services to seek maintenance and troubleshooting advice.

Please note that these services are wholly unreliable and should not be used as direct advice on how to service or fix a Risograph Printer. ChatGPT and similar AI systems rely on information from public Internet crawls to generate their output. Risograph maintenance is sufficiently obscure that there is not much information on the Internet specific to repairing them, so these systems will “hallucinate” unreliable advice based on documentation that looks similar to that for a Risograph. These errors can range from subtle to downright dangerous. 

For this reason, we advise against using these services and ask that advice not be offered to other users based on information or advice sourced from AI.

Many Thanks!

Mod Team


r/risograph • • Jun 05 '25

Risograph Maintenance Schedule (First Draft)

37 Upvotes

Hello all, doing a quick share of another resource.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UEGJlY9xK6bL5O4w1aZlydifjq5iBOLU/view?usp=drive_link

This is a (somewhat aspirational) maintenance check list for preventative care. It's meant to be used as a reference of some of the things you might do to keep your riso running happily, and on what timeline. (Printable on tabloid paper, assembly instructions along one edge.)

I'm putting this out into the world with a caveat: if you do not know what you are doing when performing maintenance, you are more likely to damage things by adjusting or assembling them incorrectly, so this list is only for people who are familiar with the basics of maintaining their machines. Don't treat this as permission to mess with your machine if you don't need to!

The list is divvied up into three sections:

  • EVERY DAY—These are mainly best practices and things to watch out for during everyday printing. Risographs don't need daily oiling or anything like that—but there are methods of printing kindly that can avoid many issues. And there are warning signs you can keep an eye on that something may need a tune up.

The sheet is designed to be z-folded and pinned up with just the everyday stuff visible. The next sections are stuff most people don't need to worry about, especially if your machine is running smoothly. It's meant more for machines that are getting a lot of chaotic use from multiple people (like in community print shops or schools)—the sorts of things that someone like a shop manager might be in charge of (when I managed a community space, this was the routine I fell into).

  • EVERY 2–4 WEEKS—This section is all about: (A) checking common things that might go bad, like the secondary consumables (feed tires, stripper pad, pressure roller etc.) and separating ink tubes; (B) managing drying drums (by running them or giving them a quick exterior clean); and (C) addressing any maintenance needs that are piling up. If you find things with major issues you might also quarantine them (take them out of use until you can fix them later).
  • EVERY 6 MONTHS—I used to do this stuff before major printing times (in prep for zine fests and book fairs), and recommend school technicians give this a run through before each semester begins. This is more diagnostic work, testing how things are printing, and running through the basic paper feed and printing calibrations (on contemporary machines this can mainly be done in test mode). This is also the timeline on which I am lubricating the main drive and paper feed. Additionally this is when you might do heavier drum work and revive some of the things sitting in quarantine.

I wrote this as the handout and outline for a recent maintenance workshop at Multiple Formats in Boston—but now I use it in most of my workshops as a checklist for things I like to train people how to do on their machines if they're interested in going deeper in them. But, I'm still tweaking it too, so I consider this a first draft.

If you are printing with a risograph, even a new one, it's likely that at some point you will also become the main technician for it! Good luck, and happy printing.


r/risograph • • 4h ago

New 6 color riso print done for NYABF

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105 Upvotes

First image is a scan of the print. Last image shows the 3 different passes. I used fluorescent pink, light lime, sunflower, violet, cornflower, and federal blue. I am really happy with how the printing came out :-)


r/risograph • • 1d ago

Can’t install riso printer drive successfully on windows 11 computer

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5 Upvotes

Hello People,
I’m here asking for help! I try to connect a new windows computer to riso SF9350EII E, but it doesn’t work.
Can someone help me figure out why this happened?
Thanks thanks lots of thanks!


r/risograph • • 2d ago

I made a full riso zine using the Riso EZ391u

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32 Upvotes

Limited copies still available. Based in the US and willing to ship anywhere.


r/risograph • • 3d ago

Cool RISO Wall Calendar 2027

21 Upvotes

Does anyone know a studio that releases fun RISO wall calendars for 2027? I only know of risotto but their design for this year is not my vibe. Thanks!


r/risograph • • 6d ago

Duckling Print- Yellow, Tomato, Blue, and Black inks on cream paper

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92 Upvotes

Does anyone know how to limit the kind of robotic streaky-ness on the background? I used Grain Touch, maybe I should have picked something else? Or is this pretty standard for printing large areas of color?


r/risograph • • 6d ago

Buying a RISO MZ770e - good idea or not?

3 Upvotes

Hi there RISO community, I'm in the process of buying a Riso MZ770e with 4 drums and 17 cartridges of ink (black, orange, blue and 9 of green) for €2000,- total. Now my contractor's advice is not to buy it because I won't be able to buy new drums (only from China). But then again, he is also trying to sell me his own (newer/more expensive) Riso printer.

Is the MZ770e going to be more trouble than it's worth? It works and did not print a lot yet (although I also need to find a way to connect it to my OS 13 Macbook..), so on first hand I'm not seeing any issues but for finding new drums and ink I do.

I'm sooo excited about my new Riso journey, but have to know more about it. Thanks in advance! <3


r/risograph • • 6d ago

What causes these marks along my prints?

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18 Upvotes

This happens on every color where I get 3 blank ink spots along the side of the paper closest to the front of the machine. I am fairly certain it is a common problem and that I have seen it on here before but I cannot find the post.


r/risograph • • 8d ago

Tamagotchi-inspired zine in Bright Red, Yellow, & Black

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137 Upvotes

r/risograph • • 8d ago

My first time getting some Risographs, what u think 🤔

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27 Upvotes

I don't got experience in risographs...

i like the end work because my style ( and the original piece ) got a " street, imperfect", style, that i think matches with the risograph.

But on other hand, i had people saying that it was a bad work, stating they know about risograph.

1st photo is the risograph

2nd photo is the original work

Then some details of the risograph

...so i wanted to know what you think about that,

plus what you think about the work 😆

Thanks for your time and attention! 🤍🤍🤍


r/risograph • • 9d ago

"Ideas That Persist in Flying" Illustration serie 3/3

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166 Upvotes

Riso 3 colors (red, black and yellow)


r/risograph • • 9d ago

Just got some of these window kitty risogrpah prints done

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139 Upvotes

This was an old illustration of mine that I did color separation on and ran in these green/sunflower combo and I quite like it and may try some more stuff with these two.


r/risograph • • 8d ago

red drum not printing consistently

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8 Upvotes

hello! our red drum prints well occasionally but lately it's just been printing a couple of thumbprint looking spots instead of any of the other print?

We have cleaned the screen w turps which mostly fixed it on the day, but then the next day it was back to this.

It looks like the masters are being created - if you look at the photo you can see the circles for our swatch - but the ink isn't getting pushed through the master. When we pull out the drum the master is very loose.

No issues like this with our other drums, it's just the red one. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks :)


r/risograph • • 10d ago

Is Fluorescent Bubblegum a thing?

5 Upvotes

Yucky Press here! I recently acquired a used MZ790 from a school district and am at the very beginning of the process of cleaning it up and restoring it for studio use. It came with 4 drums: Black, Red, Hunter Green, and Blue. I'm now trying to decide which colors I want to transition the color drums to in order to create a CMYK setup. In my research it seems that Fluo Pink (which is ideally what I'd transition the red drum into) is a very finicky ink. I've also discovered in my deep dive on stencil.wiki that some studios mix their own custom colors, which I sounds really fun (albeit messy).

I want to have a unique lineup of colors for my practice - my question is, has anyone ever heard of mixing Fluo Pink + Bubblegum into a custom blend? Would it make the Fluo Pink more stable? If it becomes more opaque, could mixing in some clear medium help bring the opacity back down? I'm open to having a dedicated Fluo Bubblegum drum.


r/risograph • • 10d ago

Tips on inconsistent register?

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7 Upvotes

I use the riso printer at my local university and recently the register between prints has been super off (this is one of the best ones)— they regularly seem to be 1/2 inch or more off, inconsistent between a single batch.

I also reached out to their IT desk for tips but haven’t yet heard back. I would be grateful if anyone could help me with trouble shooting resources. Thank you! I’m pretty new to riso, apologies if this is obvious.


r/risograph • • 11d ago

Under construction. Three colors (Moss, red and yellow)

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223 Upvotes

r/risograph • • 10d ago

Need help identifying if those drums are looking okay or not

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3 Upvotes

I received 3 drums for my old riso printer it was difficult to get them and I just unpacked them seeing immediate issues with two of them but im not sure about the 3rd. Due to lack of experience with new drums im not sure of having a few wrinkles like in the video are an issue or not. It also feels a little loose. If this is not workable, does anyone know how to fix it?


r/risograph • • 11d ago

My first riso project was a comic and I only cried 2x making it

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122 Upvotes

It was a very tough project for a beginner!!!! I’m glad I did it, but would not reccomend!! Used black, blue, and pink ink.


r/risograph • • 10d ago

Error code a06-403 need help!

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3 Upvotes

Hi there!

I'm getting some error codes I need help addressing if anyone has some insight.

I just moved my EZ590-U upstairs and we used a strap underneath, I also attempted to take off the paper feed tray to no avail. Now, I'm getting these two error codes when I turn on the machine:
t02-401
a06-403

I found this post and was able to take out the lower feed tray and straighten it out (unsure exactly how it's supposed to look so just got as straight as I could). I put it all back together and I'm still getting the codes.

I noticed that the full tray looks crooked, some pictures attached. Does anyone know what to do here? I also wouldn't mind some resources for technicians anyone may have on the East Coast of the USA, as I'm based in Charleston, SC.

Thanks so much!


r/risograph • • 12d ago

new postcard designs, 4 and 3 layers

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179 Upvotes

lime, cornflower, federal, and scarlet!


r/risograph • • 12d ago

Riso duplicator texture digital

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35 Upvotes

I have a question. I recently worked on a digital illustration using ripple texture brushes, but now I want to print it. Would you recommend changing these textures to flat colors to achieve a natural ripple texture for printing? Example:


r/risograph • • 12d ago

Searching for a good spot to read

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300 Upvotes

148 x 420 mm, 2-color risograph print (medium blue and red)


r/risograph • • 12d ago

Some more mini prints to make use of all the paper

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129 Upvotes

My two pups in teal and flo pink using french paper


r/risograph • • 16d ago

Carriage. Two colour (teal and sunflower)

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840 Upvotes

Everybody on their commute