LJ 8000 playing up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Newshound
  • Start date Start date
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Newshound

Sometimes the sheet being fed develops an irregular crease around the
middle. This is happening before the fuser because in the worst cases it
leaves unfused toner around the crease. It seems to happen whether or not I
am using the duplexer. Any suggestions as to what I should check? Mostly it
is only "cosmetic" without making the print really unusable.
 
Newshound said:
Sometimes the sheet being fed develops an irregular crease around the
middle. This is happening before the fuser because in the worst cases it
leaves unfused toner around the crease. It seems to happen whether or not I
am using the duplexer. Any suggestions as to what I should check? Mostly it
is only "cosmetic" without making the print really unusable.
Click to expand...

Does this happen from more than one tray? I suspect that it does.
When the portion around the crease is unfused, is the portion above it fused?
How many pages since the last maintenance kit was fitted (see the configuration
page)?
If you remove the fuser are there creases on the soft roller?


Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Tony said:
Does this happen from more than one tray? I suspect that it does.
Click to expand...
I havn't seen it from tray 3, but I have this set up with A3 which I don't
use much
When the portion around the crease is unfused, is the portion above it
fused? Yes

How many pages since the last maintenance kit was fitted (see the
configuration
page)?
Click to expand...
600. It's an ex lease one from a big Ebay dealer
If you remove the fuser are there creases on the soft roller?
Click to expand...
Not creases exactly, four or five equally spaced shiny bands about 2 mm
wide. From the dust residues I don't think the fuser has been out for a
while.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

thanks for the help
 
Newshound said:
I havn't seen it from tray 3, but I have this set up with A3 which I don't
use much

600. It's an ex lease one from a big Ebay dealer

Not creases exactly, four or five equally spaced shiny bands about 2 mm
wide. From the dust residues I don't think the fuser has been out for a
while.

thanks for the help
Click to expand...

The shiny bands are normal, they are on one of the rollers in the fuser are
they not? They are caused by the little "claws" that help to guide the paper.
Does the paper exit the printer normally or does it jam in the printer?
600 pages since last maintenance kit indicates that the fuser should be brand
new in which case I wouldn't expect it to be dusty unless the printer has been
stored for a time.
The possibilities are that the paper is folding in the fuser itself or as you
say before the fuser.
One way to find out is to do a half test. Assuming the problem occurs with the
multipurpose tray (Tray 1), feed a page from tray 1 and lift the top lid just
as the page dissapears from view. Remove the toner cartridge and look at the
paper in the printer to see whether the crease is visible and where? This is a
bit tricky since you have to stop the printer at exactly the right moment so
you may have to experiment and you also need to catch it when the failure
occurs which depends how often the crease happens. First thing is to see if the
crease happens from tray 1. This sort of problem is rarely tray specific, but
if it does not happen from tray 1 and only happens with tray 2 that is a clue.
It could take a while for the whole story to become clear.
One last thought, these are reasonably noisy printers but sometimes they
develop a loud rattle. If you stand at the fuser door the rattle seems to come
from the left hand side and near the top of the printer, let me know if this is
happening.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Tony

Many thanks for all the info. Of course, typically it is behaving at the
moment. One thing I noted, when removing the fuser to investigate, one of
the clips didn't seem to be clicked right down. It is now. The paper has
always been exiting normally even when creasing and it doesn't seem to have
the clatter you describe, but I'll listen more carefully next time I am
doing some printing. Also do the half test if it starts creasing again.

thanks again

Steve
 
Newshound said:
Tony

Many thanks for all the info. Of course, typically it is behaving at the
moment. One thing I noted, when removing the fuser to investigate, one of
the clips didn't seem to be clicked right down. It is now. The paper has
always been exiting normally even when creasing and it doesn't seem to have
the clatter you describe, but I'll listen more carefully next time I am
doing some printing. Also do the half test if it starts creasing again.

thanks again

Steve
Click to expand...

The clatter is unmistakable, sounds like bits are coming apart, so if you don't
hear it that's good and I wouldn't worry about it. This problem seems to only
occur in this model of printer with very high page counts usually in excess of
1 Million or thereabouts.
If the fuser had not been fully locked in place anything could happen to the
paper, hopefully that was it.
Good luck
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
The clatter is unmistakable, sounds like bits are coming apart, so if you
don't
hear it that's good and I wouldn't worry about it. This problem seems to
only
occur in this model of printer with very high page counts usually in
excess of
1 Million or thereabouts.
If the fuser had not been fully locked in place anything could happen to
the
paper, hopefully that was it.
Good luck
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

Thanks, the page count is only showing 30,000 (or can it be "clocked" by
someone unscrupulous?). It's just creased another one slightly and it is
definitely before the fuser (stuff in the "valleys" isn't fused) but I think
after the print stage because the unfused deposits look good and the text
lines look true after the valley is flattened out.
 
Newshound said:
Thanks, the page count is only showing 30,000 (or can it be "clocked" by
someone unscrupulous?). It's just creased another one slightly and it is
definitely before the fuser (stuff in the "valleys" isn't fused) but I think
after the print stage because the unfused deposits look good and the text
lines look true after the valley is flattened out.
Click to expand...

Yes the page count can be reset, you have to go into Service Mode to do that.
The pages since last maintenance can also be reset.
I have been holding back with this advice, hoping that the fuser latching
problem was the cause but if I had to guess I would say this is a fuser
problem. If the fuser is a rebuilt one they can sometimes be troublesome. Can
you live with diverting the output to the slot in the fuser door (it's called
the face up tray I think), this is just to eliminate the exit assembly from the
equation. A table or box sat behind the slot would catch the paper unless your
printer came with the catcher. You should be able to set this option in the
driver. If the problem still occurs I would bet on the fuser. If it doesn't I
would suspect the exit assembly (sits under the top cover at the back and feeds
the paper into the face down tray). The only other part I can think of is the
main gear assembly, this drives the fuser and other parts (this is the part
that starts to rattle when it gets badly worn) but I suspect this is unlikely
to be the cause.
Any chance of getting the supplier to fix it, he says hopefully?
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Make sure the paper is the correct size (and not too wide) or that it is
not being feed into the printer from the paper tray or manual feed in
such a manner as to get "squeezed" by misadjusted margin slots.

Make sure the paper isn't warped of damp from storage or hasn't gotten
directly wetted by something

Make sure the paper path doesn't have an scrap of paper that might be
impeding the movement of the paper through the paper path.

Make sure the corona wires are clean (if they are accessible).


Art
 
Yes the page count can be reset, you have to go into Service Mode to do
that.
The pages since last maintenance can also be reset.
I have been holding back with this advice, hoping that the fuser latching
problem was the cause but if I had to guess I would say this is a fuser
problem. If the fuser is a rebuilt one they can sometimes be troublesome.
Can
you live with diverting the output to the slot in the fuser door (it's
called
the face up tray I think), this is just to eliminate the exit assembly
from the
equation. A table or box sat behind the slot would catch the paper unless
your
printer came with the catcher. You should be able to set this option in
the
driver. If the problem still occurs I would bet on the fuser. If it
doesn't I
would suspect the exit assembly (sits under the top cover at the back and
feeds
the paper into the face down tray). The only other part I can think of is
the
main gear assembly, this drives the fuser and other parts (this is the
part
that starts to rattle when it gets badly worn) but I suspect this is
unlikely
to be the cause.
Any chance of getting the supplier to fix it, he says hopefully?
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

It seems to be better feeding from tray 3, also using the "face up" tray
(but I have
only been doing small numbers of prints for the last few days). I'm missing
the proper catcher for the face up tray but I'm sure I can cobble something
together.
My guess though is fuser rather than exit assembly because of unfused powder
in the valleys. Perhaps I will take a closer look at that.

I think the supplier will be a dead loss. The control panel corner took a
knock
in shipping, I'm fairly sure it's cosmetic rather than serious structural
damage
but I couldn't get any response from them (which is also what a small
proportion of their feedback says). Pity really; for £99 plus £35 for
shipping
I reckon it's a reasonably buy for a robust A3 duplex printer. It's not a
huge
problem for what I need it for, it would just be nice if there was a fix
that was
not too expensive.

Thanks....Steve
 
Arthur Entlich said:
Make sure the paper is the correct size (and not too wide) or that it is
not being feed into the printer from the paper tray or manual feed in such
a manner as to get "squeezed" by misadjusted margin slots.
Click to expand...
Good advice, but I think it is OK (although it is interesting that it is
perhaps better from the other tray).
Make sure the paper isn't warped of damp from storage or hasn't gotten
directly wetted by something
Click to expand...
I've tried a couple of sources, including a fresh pack from a supply which
is usually OK.
Make sure the paper path doesn't have an scrap of paper that might be
impeding the movement of the paper through the paper path.
Click to expand...
Don't think it is that, because it is quite intermittent.
Make sure the corona wires are clean (if they are accessible).
Click to expand...
They don't seem to be accessible (although I havn't taken the spanners to it
seriously yet)

Thanks!
 
Newshound said:
It seems to be better feeding from tray 3, also using the "face up" tray
(but I have
only been doing small numbers of prints for the last few days). I'm missing
the proper catcher for the face up tray but I'm sure I can cobble something
together.
My guess though is fuser rather than exit assembly because of unfused powder
in the valleys. Perhaps I will take a closer look at that.

I think the supplier will be a dead loss. The control panel corner took a
knock
in shipping, I'm fairly sure it's cosmetic rather than serious structural
damage
but I couldn't get any response from them (which is also what a small
proportion of their feedback says). Pity really; for £99 plus £35 for
shipping
I reckon it's a reasonably buy for a robust A3 duplex printer. It's not a
huge
problem for what I need it for, it would just be nice if there was a fix
that was
not too expensive.

Thanks....Steve
Click to expand...

From your message I am reading that it does happen from more than one tray, I
would expect that by the way although I have seen a LJ8150 (very similar
printer) that creased paper in the fuser from one tray only but fortunately was
easy to fix.
The fact that it does not fuse in the creases does not prove that the fuser is
the problem. A crease has extra layer(s) of paper and that makes it hard for
the fuser to do it's job so it could still be the exit assembly. Testing with
the face up tray will, hopefully, prove it one way or the other. If you end up
having to replace something I hope it is the exit assembly because it should be
cheaper (although a bit more work, not too difficult however).
By the way, the service manual is available for free download from
http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/17664/HP_LaserJet 8000.html
Download all parts and uncompress.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Thanks again, especially for the manual link, I hadn't managed to spot that.
Aren't there a lot of bits in one of these! It's currently creasing about 1
page in 10 from tray 3. Anyway I have a bit of light reading now!
 
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