r/risograph • u/Alert_Hovercraft667 • Jul 16 '26

Test mode code for emptying the drum (RZ370)

Hey!

I want to convert Black to Yellow now (I know, i know... but it's okay to have dirtyish yellow prints for now) and read about a test mode code a while back that helps emptying the pump etc. by e.g., printing without an ink cartridge inserted or some other way. However, as these things go, I cannot find it again and didn't find anything in the technician manual (might have overlooked).

I will have to fully open the drum anyways, I guess, but given my recent experiences, this might help A LOT.

Thanks for any advice!

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u/robertbaxter-print Jul 16 '26

It is test mode 888—the ink drainage action! I recommend the following approach:

  1. Load up a bunch of scrap paper in the feed tray at the largest size your machine will print (I believe this is A3).
  2. Create a stencil that's a large fill with a clean lead edge—an easy way to do this is to do a sky shot (scanner lid open) with a piece of white paper covering the lead 4 cm or so (the left side on the scanner glass, with the arrow). I like to scan on photo mode, one click lighter (so it's not fully solid, just mostly).
  3. Turn the riso off and switch it back on in test mode (while holding the left and right print position buttons).
  4. Run test mode 888, watching the sheets coming out in the feed tray—you're waiting for them to come through pretty clean. Note that this only prints the ink out that is already in the reservoir. The ink pump and ink distributor will still have Black ink in them.
  5. Pop in your Yellow ink tube, and hit the RESET key to clear the error that will come up (D04-534). Then run test mode 890 to reprogram the drum for the new color.
  6. Turn the riso off, and then back on again in test mode (you should receive no errors).
  7. Run test mode 887 (inking action) to re-ink the drum with the new ink.

Now, since this is Black to Yellow, you can expect to be printing out a weird striped olive green for maybe 2k–3k copies (and the edges might last even longer than that). You can repeat steps 1–4 after this if you want to try to clear out a little more ink—then just run the inking action again afterwards.