Re-commissioning an old laser printer - toner tips ?

[N_Cook]

Not been used for more than 10, years and been stored in a UK garage.
Although SMPS , powered up slowly via variac and the printer works fine. But
damp must have got to the toner. It clings to the opc giving a dusty
background rather than white. Removable opc and toner cartridge. Other than
removing the bung from the toner hopper area and placing in a sealed bag
with activated silica gel for a few weeks which I've done, then clean opc
and adjascent roller , any other tips?

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

N_Cook wrote:

Not been used for more than 10, years and been stored in a UK garage.
Although SMPS , powered up slowly via variac and the printer works fine. But
damp must have got to the toner. It clings to the opc giving a dusty
background rather than white. Removable opc and toner cartridge. Other than
removing the bung from the toner hopper area and placing in a sealed bag
with activated silica gel for a few weeks which I've done, then clean opc
and adjascent roller , any other tips?

The other possibility is that the drum has been exposed to light. Usually
this happens quickly and noticably, you get black streaks on the are which
have been damaged.

Since this has been in a garage for the last ten years, it may have been slowly
exposed to difused light.

If it is worth working on may be another issue. I once got into an argument
with someone who was very short on money and asked my advice about buying a
transformer to operate a 12 year old 120 volt printer here.

I thought it was a waste of money, for 2/3 of the cost of a transformer
she could buy a new printer that was faster, had more resultion, a year
warranty and a cartridge good for 1000 pages.

IMHO it's got to be a really good printer to bother. While you are at it, plan
on replacing all of the rubber, the fuser pad and if it's old enough to have
an ozone filter, that too.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Toner cartridges have a finite life and can fail, even when not being used.
This is almost certainly the problem.

If this is a high-quality printer -- such as an HP 4- or 5-series unit --
it's probably worth refurbishing. If not, I'd purchase a new one.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

William Sommerwerck wrote:

If this is a high-quality printer -- such as an HP 4- or 5-series unit --
it's probably worth refurbishing. If not, I'd purchase a new one.

Or even a III if it's the si (as in IIIsi) series. If it's just an LJIV or
LJ5 probabbly not and if it's the little guys (xxP or xL), not at all.

If it has a Postscript SIMM in it, that may be worth more than the printer.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Or even a III if it's the si (as in IIIsi) series. If it's just an LJIV or
LJ5 probabbly not and if it's the little guys (xxP or xL), not at all.

There is no LJ IV -- it's the 4. And the 4 and 5 were exactly the printers I
was suggesting were worth saving.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

William Sommerwerck wrote:

There is no LJ IV -- it's the 4. And the 4 and 5 were exactly the printers I
was suggesting were worth saving.

Oops, I've seen it both ways, but that does not mean it was correct.

I'd also save a IIISi with the duplex option too.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM

 

[Andy Cuffe]

On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:15:35 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk>
wrote:

Not been used for more than 10, years and been stored in a UK garage.
Although SMPS , powered up slowly via variac and the printer works fine. But
damp must have got to the toner. It clings to the opc giving a dusty
background rather than white. Removable opc and toner cartridge. Other than
removing the bung from the toner hopper area and placing in a sealed bag
with activated silica gel for a few weeks which I've done, then clean opc
and adjascent roller , any other tips?

Replacing the toner cartridge is probably the only reliable solution.
Toner cartridges don't last forever, even if they've never been
opened. The thing that seems to fail first is the rubber blade that
is supposed to clean the excess toner off the drum.
Andy Cuffe

acuffe@gmail.com

 

[David Nebenzahl]

On 1/26/2009 10:06 PM Andy Cuffe spake thus:

On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:15:35 -0000, "N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk
wrote:

Not been used for more than 10, years and been stored in a UK garage.
Although SMPS , powered up slowly via variac and the printer works fine. But
damp must have got to the toner. It clings to the opc giving a dusty
background rather than white. Removable opc and toner cartridge. Other than
removing the bung from the toner hopper area and placing in a sealed bag
with activated silica gel for a few weeks which I've done, then clean opc
and adjascent roller , any other tips?

Replacing the toner cartridge is probably the only reliable solution.
Toner cartridges don't last forever [...]

I know this, yet my printer (HP LaserJet 2100M sitting next to me here)
refuses to believe it. Bought it in 1999 (don't ask me how much I paid
for it; it's embarassing!). It's cranked out thousands of pages; not as
many as an office would put through it, but a lot nonetheless. It's
still on the original toner cartridge.

even if they've never been opened.

The replacement cartridge, also 10 years old, is still sitting in its
carton, unopened.


--
Made From Pears: Pretty good chance that the product is at least
mostly pears.
Made With Pears: Pretty good chance that pears will be detectable in
the product.
Contains Pears: One pear seed per multiple tons of product.

(with apologies to Dorothy L. Sayers)