Ancient HP IIIP

[me]

Now, I've dug out my old HP IIIP as the main printer is playing up. I
should have the users manual out of a storage box tomorrow, which might
help, but it is covering almost half the page with grey, I took the
toner cartridge out and there was toner left on the photosensitve drum,
I wiped it clean, but it was able to pick up sufficient toner to
replicate the half page of grey (right hand side as opposed to top or
bottom half). Is there anything else I can do to clear it before I get
another toner cartridge. At a guesstimate I would say the cartridge is
about seven years old.

 

[Impmon]

Is there anything else I can do to clear it before I get
another toner cartridge. At a guesstimate I would say the cartridge is
about seven years old.

Sounds like toner is leaking out so unless you're an expert at
repairing cart, your best bet is a new one.

 

[Tony]

Now, I've dug out my old HP IIIP as the main printer is playing up. I
should have the users manual out of a storage box tomorrow, which might
help, but it is covering almost half the page with grey, I took the
toner cartridge out and there was toner left on the photosensitve drum,
I wiped it clean, but it was able to pick up sufficient toner to
replicate the half page of grey (right hand side as opposed to top or
bottom half). Is there anything else I can do to clear it before I get
another toner cartridge. At a guesstimate I would say the cartridge is
about seven years old.

Timothy
Almost certainly the wiper blade has failed, this fails more often than other
components when the cartridge has not been used for a reasonably long time. The
symptoms match a wiper blade failure exactly. The blade cannot be repaired so
either a new cartridge or a new wiper blade is required (if you replace the
wiper blade without the correct lubricant you will be throwing your money away).
Tony

 

[Arthur Entlich]

It could be a lot of things, depending on what circumstances were
involved in creating this page. Were you trying to print something with
information on it, or a blank page, or was it a test sheet???

Most likely, the drum went bad, but there could be other causes. Make
sure all the corona wires are clean. If you shake the toner cartridge
to even the toner out, does it still coat the same area on the paper or
is it more evenly gray ?

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Got a question regarding this.

I first thought wiper blade also, but, why would the OCP drum pick up
toner to begin with, if the drum wasn't being charged to pick it up.
Wiper blade or not, the toner has to be attracted to the drum first to
make it print gray.
As I understand the purpose of the wiper blade, it is to remove excess
toner that remains attracted to the drum during the printing process
after it has transferred the majority of it to the paper but before the
drum is "rewritten" to with new information, to avoid "ghosting" from
the old information. The drum is supposed to only pick up toner in the
areas where black is supposed to print. If the printer is working
correctly, why is the drum picking up toner on one side to begin with,
regardless of the wiper blade condition?

Art

 

[me]

It could be a lot of things, depending on what circumstances were
involved in creating this page. Were you trying to print something
with information on it, or a blank page, or was it a test sheet???

Most likely, the drum went bad, but there could be other causes. Make
sure all the corona wires are clean. If you shake the toner cartridge
to even the toner out, does it still coat the same area on the paper or
is it more evenly gray ?

I've tried wiping things I can get to without a screwdriver. Initially
just a test page. I've since printed out a few more pages and its now
almost a uniform on the right hand half of the page, plus about half an
inch on the left hand side now, right up to the page edge, so beyond the
normal printing edge.

 

[Impmon]

If the printer is working
correctly, why is the drum picking up toner on one side to begin with,
regardless of the wiper blade condition?

Because the toner would still be there waiting to be wiped or
imprinted. Without the blade, toner would keep accumulating on the
drum and eventually build up to make grey or black streak across the
paper.

 

[Tony]

I hate questions I don't have an answer for Art<g>.
What I suspect happens is that the drum picks up small amounts of toner from
the waste compartment at all times when it is printing and the blade fails to
clean it.
Tony

 

[ken smith]

The wiper blade removes excess toner from the drum and carries it to
the waste compartment. It is not easy to replace as the cover has to be cut
off.
It is similar to the wiper blade in the car. There are no corona wires in
the HPIIIP cartridge. It has been replaced with a PCR, postive charge
roller.
This also means no high voltage and resultant ozone.

 

[Alan]

Now, I've dug out my old HP IIIP as the main printer is playing up. I
should have the users manual out of a storage box tomorrow, which might
help, but it is covering almost half the page with grey, I took the
toner cartridge out and there was toner left on the photosensitve drum,
I wiped it clean, but it was able to pick up sufficient toner to
replicate the half page of grey (right hand side as opposed to top or
bottom half). Is there anything else I can do to clear it before I get
another toner cartridge. At a guesstimate I would say the cartridge is
about seven years old.

I've had similar results when given an old HP unused for two years. A
new cart and it was fine.
After a year or so open and unused a toner cart is very likely
useless. If it's been in very low humidity it might last longer, but
seven years would be a miracle.

 

[ato_zee]

I've had similar results when given an old HP unused for two years. A
new cart and it was fine.
After a year or so open and unused a toner cart is very likely
useless. If it's been in very low humidity it might last longer, but
seven years would be a miracle.

Likewise a new toner cartridge fixed the problem.

 

[Impmon]

I've had similar results when given an old HP unused for two years. A
new cart and it was fine.
After a year or so open and unused a toner cart is very likely
useless. If it's been in very low humidity it might last longer, but
seven years would be a miracle.

*raise hands*

Vintage LJ III sitting in damp basement for several years and still
printed fine when I needed to use it after LJ III ran dry. It's
probably still fine now though I use newer LJ for most of the B&W
print jobs.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Yes, but only after a a fair number of prints went through, I would
expect. Most of the toner should be transferring to the paper and
fusing onto it.

Art