Off Topic: Re: Non-XYW question. Printer

["J. R. Fox" jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

"M.W. Poirier" wrote:

>  You mentioning the fuser is frightening, indeed. I noticed
>  that the toner is sticking to the drum (I think that that
>  is what it is called). This development happened after I
>  posted my initial query.

A lot may depend on how much you like that printer, and if you are
reluctant to replace it. I had an LJ-II for over 15 years. It was
heavy, unwieldy, noisy, slow, and an electricity hog, but built like a
tank (ultra reliable), and had the best paper path I've seen to this
day in a laser. A good part of the reason I kept it that long was for
Xy. I ultimately got rid of it, because I had long wanted the LJ-4
(possibly the last great model in that line), so I finally bought one
on Ebay. It was in perfect cosmetic condition, came with a bunch of
extras, and was supposed to be low-mileage and in excellent operating
condition. After I had been using it for about a week, the paper
advance mechanism gave out, which cost about $150. to replace, with
the labor. I'm reasonably satisfied that the seller was unaware of
this impending problem at time of sale. These things happen with used
gear, but I plan to keep this
printer in service for a long time. I don't like the flimsy plastic
build quality of the many models that came later, whatever their other
advantages may be.

> At the moment the whole page is
>  grayish, although the letters on the page are quite dark,
>  and so things can be read. This grayish cast is a bit un-
>  even, in the sense that there are wide bars or lighter and
>  darker gray. If you have any ideas, I like to hear them,
>  because I don't want to buy a cartridge if it's the fuser.
>  If it's the fuser, I think I'll scrap the printer and get
>  a new one.

That may not be necessary. I bought a spare fuser assembly on Ebay
fairly inexpensively, and there seems to be a large quantity of spare
parts for the HPs available, on Ebay and elsewhere. (I could probably
dig up some seller URLs for you.) Of course, you would still be
looking at the labor costs in many cases, though I recall the seller
of my spare claiming that the fuser was something that a user who was
lightly skilled with hardware could replace himself. For anyone
planning to keep an HP-LJ any period of time, there are a couple of
pocket-sized trouble-shooting guides that are well worth purchasing
for around $15. They have all the HP error codes, and can give you a
better idea as to what may be indicated by way of repairs. I'll try
to flip through them soon, to see if your description pulls up
anything.

The drum is probably one of the last things that is going to go,
usually after several hundred thousand copies. I think there is also
a small brush that comes with many models (also with some HP laser
toner cartridges) that is used to clean a couple of wires under the
hood, and possibly the exposed portion of the fuser assembly (?).
Please excuse my uncertainty on this, but typically years will go by
in between the occasions when I need to brush up on this stuff. I'm
going to put this on the List, in case anyone else might benefit from
it.


Jordan