DIYbanter - View Single Post

PeterD

On 10 Jan 2010 09:42:21 -0500, (Samuel M.
Goldwasser) wrote:

Jeff Liebermann writes:

On 09 Jan 2010 19:43:17 -0500, (Samuel M.
Goldwasser) wrote:

Yes, well, it has been adeqaute for my needs.

I really hate satisfied customers. It's really bad for my repair biz.

Is it an HP 5M, 5P, 5L, 5N, or 5Si. They're all quite different.

LaserJet 5

Ok, EX II series printer:
http://www.printerworks.com/Printers/LaserJet_5_5M_5N.html

In this case I tend to agree but might explore the scanner assembly, probably
after I get a new printer!

You might be able to get away with just a (dry) air hose cleaning. The
laser slot is at the top of the printer. Remove the toner cartridge
and you should see the slot. There's no window. Just blow some (dry)
air into the slot and hope that it removes the dust. I would give it
about a 30% chance of success. If not, remove all the plastic outer
case parts. When you get the top off, you should see the laser
scanner assembly. No need to remove it. As I vaguely recall, the top
is held on with one screw and some simple snaps (not sure). Once the
lid is off, clean the haze off the optics and mirrors.

I once had a customer with about 10 laser printers including several
HP5m models. Some of them required cleaning the scanner optics about
twice per year. It took me a while to figure out what happened. They
were using refilled toner cartridges. The cart vendor was applying
stickers onto the cartridge that eventually would just fall off. I
was wondering where the glue went. I eventually suspected that it was
being volatized and was coating the inside of the laser printers,
including the scanner optics. Wiping down the inside of the printer
and finding a thin sticky layer confirmed my guess. I told the
vendor, who initially thought I was nuts, but eventually thanked me
for solving a running mystery.

OK, well, cleaned the two large lenses with isopropyl, dusted off the scanner
mirrors, blew out the long mirror. Basically, no change.

Time for new piece of junk printer, but that should be adequate for my needs.

Thanks!

FWIW, I got, off of eBay, a really nice Xerox 5400 40 PPM duplex laser
printer the other day. Incredible performance, had about 33K copies on
the counter. Price? Well, 49.95, and I was able to pick it up and save
on shipping. I didn't complain about the fact it came with a brand new
toner cartridge, either. I still laugh whenever I look at it. bg

There are some good deals on higher quality printers right now, as
companies either upgrade, or go out of business.