Another Color Laserjet 4500 Problem / Question

[Clint Young]

Okay - Finally I got some help over at my house today for lifting the near
100lbs printer. I have had the 500sheet tray3 sitting around for a while,
but never installed it. Now that I got a duplexer for the printer I
decided to install them both.

I installed the Duplexer and the Tray3 and went to print. When it goes to
pickup the paper I hear a squeaking noise, and then it gives me a paper
jam. However, I don't think the paper is actually jamming, but not
picking it up. I thought the Duplexer might be the culprit.

I removed the Duplexer from the mix, and just had the 4500 on top of the
Tray 3. When it went to pickup from tray 3, I heard the same noise and
got a paper Jam.

When both of them are removed, it prints perfectly from Tray 1 and 2.

Is there something on the bottom of the Printer that might be faulty for
pulling paper into it? I'm not sure exactly what to look at here. It is
not likely that the Duplexer, as well as the Tray 3 are bad. I am
thinking it is how the printer pulls the paper inside of it.

Thanks for you your input.

 

[Tony]

Okay - Finally I got some help over at my house today for lifting the near
100lbs printer. I have had the 500sheet tray3 sitting around for a while,
but never installed it. Now that I got a duplexer for the printer I
decided to install them both.

I installed the Duplexer and the Tray3 and went to print. When it goes to
pickup the paper I hear a squeaking noise, and then it gives me a paper
jam. However, I don't think the paper is actually jamming, but not
picking it up. I thought the Duplexer might be the culprit.

I removed the Duplexer from the mix, and just had the 4500 on top of the
Tray 3. When it went to pickup from tray 3, I heard the same noise and
got a paper Jam.

When both of them are removed, it prints perfectly from Tray 1 and 2.

Is there something on the bottom of the Printer that might be faulty for
pulling paper into it? I'm not sure exactly what to look at here. It is
not likely that the Duplexer, as well as the Tray 3 are bad. I am
thinking it is how the printer pulls the paper inside of it.

Thanks for you your input.

Probably needs new feed rollers in tray 3.
If you pull the drawer right out you will see a light gray roller actually in
the tray itself, it comes out by squeezing a small plastic tab at one end and
pulling the roller off the shaft. You need to fold a plastic cover towards the
back of the tray. There is a matching roller up inside the housing assembly
which you can see if you look where the tray was located.
You need to change both of these rollers.
The same rollers are used in tray 2 so you could try swapping them between
trays to be sure. Both should be replaced at the same time.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[davidslingshot]

Does printing at 300 dpi use 1/2 the toner that 600 dpi uses?

 

[Tony]

Does printing at 300 dpi use 1/2 the toner that 600 dpi uses?

Generally speaking Lasers use less toner at 300 dpi than at 600 dpi.
I have not done any detailed research into this but I think there are caveats.
Some images will not look good at 300 dpi but most text will.
The way that some lasers work may affect the amount of toner saved.
Colour imaging is quite different to monochrome and I suspect that there may be
different constraints.
There may be others here that can be more definitive.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[jasee]

Generally speaking Lasers use less toner at 300 dpi than at 600 dpi.
I have not done any detailed research into this but I think there are
caveats.
Some images will not look good at 300 dpi but most text will.
The way that some lasers work may affect the amount of toner saved.
Colour imaging is quite different to monochrome and I suspect that there
may be
different constraints.

It shouldn't logically: the printed area should remain the same if the
maximum/minimum dot size as a percentage of the area remains the same. It
may not of course, but if it does the picture will appear noticeably paler
or darker.

Some printers have an "economode" which seems to alter the distribution of
the tones: some tones which are darker are printed lighter.

AFAICT colour imaging should only effect the skew angle of the dots.
Although traditional printing requires the three primary colours and black,
black is actually seem by the eye by printing the three colours together. It
may be that when printing at 300 dpi less real black is used at the expense
of greater contrast.

A distinction should be made between the dpi and the actual screened size
which can be half the dpi!