Patent ID: 6687476
Filing Date: 2004-02-03
Classification: G03G,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of regenerating a used developer-carrying member having a resin coating layer on a substrate, comprising:a step of scraping the resin coating layer of the used developer-carrying member to form a developer-carrying member surface having an unevenness; and a step of coating the developer-carrying member surface having the unevenness with a coating layer of a resinous composition comprising at least a binder resin and electroconductive fine powder, wherein the scraping step is selected from a group of steps consisting of: (A) a step of scraping the resin coating layer of the used developer-carrying member with abrasive particles to scrape off at least a portion of the resin coating layer and forming the unevenness on the developer-carrying member surface showing a central line-average roughness Ra of at most 0.8 &mgr;m; (B) a step of blasting the resin coating layer of the used developer-carrying member having a cylindrical substrate with particles having an average particle size of 15-250 &mgr;m together with air at a discharge pressure of 1Ã—105 Pa-5Ã—105 Pa through a nozzle having an inner diameter which is 0.15-1 times the outer diameter of the substrate to scrape off at least a portion of the resin coating layer, thereby forming a surface having the unevenness showing a central line-average roughness Ra of at most 0.8 &mgr;m; (C) a honing step of subjecting the used developer-carrying member having a cylindrical substrate to a liquid honing treatment of ejecting a liquid containing honing particles having an average of 15-100 &mgr;m together with air at a discharge pressure of 1Ã—105 Pa-5Ã—105 Pa through a nozzle having an inner diameter of 0.5-1.0 times the substrate outer diameter onto the resin coating layer of the developer-carrying member to scrape off at least a portion of the resin coating layer, thereby forming a surface having the unevenness showing a central line-average roughness Ra of at most 0.8 &mgr;m: (D) a step of disposing abrasive particles on the resin coating layer of the used developer-carrying member so that at least a portion of the abrasive particles are movable relative to a support therefor, moving the abrasive particles relative to the resin coating layer to scrape off at least a portion of the resin coating layer, thereby forming a surface having the unevenness showing a central line-average roughness Ra of at most 0.8 &mgr;m; and (E) a tape abrasion step of scraping the resin coating layer of the used developer-carrying member having a cylindrical substrate with an abrasive tape having a surface showing a ten point-average roughness of 6.0-30 &mgr;m formed by binding abrasive particles with a binder resin abutted against the resin coating layer at an abutting pressure of 1.0Ã—105-5.0Ã—105 Pa to scrape off at least a portion of the resin coating layer, thereby forming a surface having the unevenness showing a central line-average roughness Ra of at most 0.8 &mgr;m.