Price to get laserjet 4 cleaned?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Samson
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Samson

A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
 
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.
Click to expand...

It could be a damaged drum. Try another toner cartridge first (they
often go cheap on eBay).
 
Thus spaketh Bob Eager:
It could be a damaged drum. Try another toner cartridge first (they
often go cheap on eBay).
Click to expand...



Could also be a scratched fuser unit, we were forever seeing scratched
fuser units because people had either dropped paper clips, staples or
used recycled toner carts and the clips had come off.
 
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
Click to expand...

For printer of that age it will be totally uneconomic even if you can get
anybody to do it. He will be better off buying a new printer.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/86254/lexmark-e120n.html

Is an example of what he can get for a budget price.

Peter Crosland
 
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
For printer of that age it will be totally uneconomic even if you can
get anybody to do it. He will be better off buying a new printer.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/86254/lexmark-e120n.html

Is an example of what he can get for a budget price.
Click to expand...

Most places are offering £20 cashback on this making it an even better deal.

http://www.printerland.co.uk/acatalog/Lexmark_Mono_Printers.html for
example.

Peter Crosland
 
Samson said:
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
Click to expand...

This is unlikely to be fixed with cleaning. As Bob Eager has pointed out it is
more likely to be a toner cartrdige problem.
Tony
 
For printer of that age it will be totally uneconomic even if you can get
anybody to do it.
Click to expand...

You can get a refurb kit at quite reasonable prices.
He will be better off buying a new printer.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but depending on the model he has by no means certainly.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/86254/lexmark-e120n.html

Is an example of what he can get for a budget price.
Click to expand...

And then pay exorbitant prices for consumable. Lexmark are rarely if
ever good value.
 
This is unlikely to be fixed with cleaning. As Bob Eager has pointed out it is
more likely to be a toner cartrdige problem.
Click to expand...

There's really very little it can be. Toner cartridge is favourite in my
experience, and if it fails you can always keep the cartridge (because
you *will* fix it!).

As someone else said, perhaps a scratched fuser. Not that difficult to
look at.

These printers may be old, but in my experience they are worth repairing
if you can DIY. Most faults are DIY-able and a complete 'new' printer
costs peanuts and gives you most parts apart from perhaps rollers.

The LJ4 is likely to be going long after the Lexmark has worn out. And
will have cost a good deal less to run, with the Gillette economics of
modern printers.
 
Samson said:
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
Click to expand...

I'm sure you can get some cleaning paper which you feed through like an
ordinary sheet, think you need software - definitely used this before and it
cleaned my printer fine.

HTH
 
This is unlikely to be fixed with cleaning. As Bob Eager has pointed out it is
more likely to be a toner cartrdige problem.
Click to expand...

First thing you do, have you tried it, is to remove the cartridge
and rock it forwards and back to redistribute the toner.
Is it an OEM HP cartridge? They often go quite cheap on
ebay?
If it's not OEM HP and is a re-manufactured one you may
have (like pre-owned cars) bought someone elses problem.
A lot of remanufacturers don't replace the scavenger blade
that removes surplus toner, they just refill with bulk buy
toner, often cheap and not matched to the printer..
The leaflet that HP enclose in the box has instructions
about how to redistribute the toner, and AFAIR how to
clean the corona wire.
Some re-manufacturers do a good job, but like ink
cartridges the problem is knowing which, unless you
have a personal recommendation from someone who
is satisfied.
 
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
Click to expand...

0p doing it yourself.
Most likely either a dirty mirror [ use a kleenex ] or a shitty
cartridge leaking toner.
 
Dave said:
Peter Crosland wrote:
Click to expand...
Take a good look at the prices of consumables first. Lexmark are good at
selling very low cost printers and getting lots of money back from ink
and toner sales.

Dave
Click to expand...

And the cost of replacement drums -- youch!!!
$165 and up for my Okidata LED printer. $95-135 and up for my Brother
laser printer.

The particular Oki drums last for 20,000 pages (40 reams of paper); but
then -- oh boy! Drums do not last forever.

I am partial to HP's "industrial strength" printers because the drums
are part of the toner cartridge. When I did a long project for our
regional phone company, we had HP 4 printers throughout and used
third-party recycled cartridges exclusively. The quality was always
excellent, and the price for these cartriges very attractive. My sense
was that the recycler checked and replaced the drums with good refurbs
as needed. I think that the swap price was about $45 each cartridge, and
the cartridges were stuffed with lots and lots of toner.

Now, what I can't tell you is which HP 4 printers these were. Another
tech writer I know returned a recent "home-office-grade" HP laser
printer for a refund in a fury of rage, yelling that she will never
again buy another HP product (she replaced it with a Brother, and she's
been satisfied with it). I can't recall the details. I suspect that not
all HP 4 printers are sensible. But if the price were right, I'd buy one
of those I had used on the job in a heartbeat.

Richard
 
I'm sure you can get some cleaning paper which you feed through like an
ordinary sheet, think you need software - definitely used this before and it
cleaned my printer fine.
Click to expand...

You can, and I've used it. But vertical lines imply a different
problem...dirt general just generates smudges.
 
Samson said:
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
Click to expand...

It needs a toner when it starts printing lines. (Let your friend know) Try
that first. For home use, unless it has been battered, it will not need a
new drum or fuser module.
 
Ian Davies said:
It needs a toner when it starts printing lines. (Let your friend know)
Try that first. For home use, unless it has been battered, it will not
need a new drum or fuser module.
Click to expand...


Details are critical here, are the lines composed of extra toner or missing
toner. Extra would indicate cleaning or cartrige/drum issues, missing
toner would suggest a scratched fuser.

Printing a test page and getting a page count would be helpful too, fusers
last about 200,000 - 400,000 pages. I have seen these printers go over
800,000 pages with just cleaning and fuser repairs.

Fuser replacement is amost laughably easy on 4 series and the labor
shouldn't be much.
 
It needs a toner when it starts printing lines. (Let your friend know) Try
that first. For home use, unless it has been battered, it will not need a
new drum or fuser module.
Click to expand...

On that model, the drum is *in* the toner cartridge....
 
Details are critical here, are the lines composed of extra toner or missing
toner. Extra would indicate cleaning or cartrige/drum issues, missing
toner would suggest a scratched fuser.
Click to expand...

If the lines are narrow and white, yes. Wider, fuzzier lines and it
*might* be the transfer roller. As 'George' says, more info is needed.

Transfer roller takes one minute to replace.
Fuser replacement is amost laughably easy on 4 series and the labor
shouldn't be much.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be anything; it's so easy it's a DIY job. Open rear cover,
undo two screws, pull out fuser. Reverse to reassemble, taking care with
the little 'flag' on the right.

Fusers do come up on eBay sometimes. Beware...a LJ4 fuser is *different*
to a LJ4+ fuser, although they look very similar.
 
milou said:
A friend's HP Laserjet 4 now prints very noticeable vertical lines.
Looks as if it probably needs cleaning.

VERY approximately, what is a typical UK price for doing this:

(a) by a visiting tech coming to the house
(b) by taking it to a shop
Click to expand...

0p doing it yourself.
Most likely either a dirty mirror [ use a kleenex ] or a shitty
cartridge leaking toner.
Click to expand...

Very unlikely to be either.
A dirty mirror will result in missing information on the output and will not
produce vertical lines that resemble dirt.
Leaking toner will leave splotches or patches on the output that are almost
always random in nature.
The most likely cause is a failed wiper blade in the toner cartridge or a
damaged drum (both fixed with a new cartridge), or maybe a damaged fuser which
is easy to inspect (see somebody else's post in this therad which explains how
to remove the fuser, when removed just open the shutter on the fuser and look
for marks around one of the rollers - careful it may be very hot).
Tony
 
Thus spaketh Bob Eager:
If the lines are narrow and white, yes. Wider, fuzzier lines and it
*might* be the transfer roller. As 'George' says, more info is needed.

Transfer roller takes one minute to replace.


It shouldn't be anything; it's so easy it's a DIY job. Open rear
cover, undo two screws, pull out fuser. Reverse to reassemble, taking
care with the little 'flag' on the right.

Fusers do come up on eBay sometimes. Beware...a LJ4 fuser is
*different* to a LJ4+ fuser, although they look very similar.
Click to expand...



Yes, the amount of times I requested from resource control an LJ4+ fuser
and an LJ4 turned up on site and vice versa was ridiculous.

Amazingly simple to replace as you state.
 
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