Michael Black wrote:

"Rodney Pont" ) writes:
I've got a laserjet 4M and there has always been a slight delay between
switching it on and it powering up. Now the delay can be a couple of
minutes if it's not been switched on for a couple of weeks.

I haven't pulled it apart yet but I was wondering if it's a known
common problem. It's not worth me getting a new power supply with
injets being so cheap these days.

I believe the proper last sentence is "It's not worth me getting a new
power supply with laser printers being so cheap these days".

I had an inkjet, an Apple Stylewriter bought used for twenty dollars
in 2001. When I filled up the ink cartridge, I was really disappointed
by how little I could print before I had to refill. And I realized
early on that the ink so easily smears when it gets wet.

A few months later, I got an old TI laser printer for $25 at a school
rummage. That lasted a while, but when it ran out of ink, I was
uncertain about it's state so I simply replaced it with another used
laser printer. The second one cost me only $15, but it was an HP Laserjet
4P. It had fewer pages on it than the TI, and had no problem from the start
(unlike the TI that had some slight printing problem that might have simply
been the lack of toner). It's lasted longer than the TI in my hands,
and I don't foresee it going bad.

But if it does, I'll simply buy another used laser printer for about
the same amount. And if those run out, I can buy a laser printer new
for under a hundred dollars, which is far less than I paid for my first
dot matrix printer in 1982, or my first daisywheel printer in 1984.

Michael


My first "Printer" was a pair of heathkit H-14 printers, in pieces in
a box for $20 at the Cincinnati hamfest in 1983. Both were missing the
masked ROM CPU, which set me back another $30. It was RS-232 with
square print wires, but it did a nice job. I found out later that it was
the same printhead and drive motors used in Diebold ATMs, and dug about
20 defective ATM printers out of their dumpster when I worked next door
to their service center in Orlando. I still have a few good, spare
print heads, somewhere. ;-)

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida