Can one turn a color laser printer upside down

[micky]

Can one turn a color laser printer upside down without bad things
happening? The plastic that holds the bottom tray in is very thin,
starting to break off, and I'd like to glue it. I think it's an Epson
but I can find out the make and model if it might matter.**


I turned an inkjet printer upside down once and spilled red ink on my
stairway carpet and on the bathroom floor, where it stained the grout.
I had to scrape out the grout to a depth of at least 1/8" and maybe
1/4", I can't recall. Deeper than I would have expected. My
flat-blade screwdriver was shaped like an arrow when I was done. The
carpet never got fixed. (The plan is that eventually it will be as
dirty as the red spot looks. )


** ( The platic channel that holds the document feeder on has already
broken off a piece. I can maybe glue it back, but the same piece on the
other side is alreay cracking! Here I can't have too much glue on
either side or it will interfere with sliding on. In the case of the
bottom tray, I can certainly have excess on the bottom, which at most
touches the table.)

 

[Keith Nuttle]

You will probably be OK if you are very gentle. There is always some loose
toner in laser printers and that will fall out but it won't stain your floor.
When you turn it back the right way you may need to run quite a bit of paper
through to pick up the loose toner in the paper path.
You should remove toner crtridges etc before you turn it over and make sure you
store them out of the light (light will cause them to deteriorate over time).
Tony

If you know the model number of the printer you may be able to find
someone on the internet who sells parts for the printer. You may also
try to contact the manufacture of the printer

 

[Hactar]

When a printer is shipped UPS or FedEx it can end up in all sorts of
positions. As pointed out, removing the cartridges pretty much
returns it so the state it was shipped in.

New printers usually have cardboard tabs to keep sensitive parts from
banging into each other, too.

Take out any trays or paper holders too.

And waste toner containers, if there are any, and spilled toner.

 

[micky]

Can one turn a color laser printer upside down without bad things
happening? The plastic that holds the bottom tray in is very thin,
starting to break off, and I'd like to glue it. I think it's an Epson
but I can find out the make and model if it might matter.**


I turned an inkjet printer upside down once and spilled red ink on my
stairway carpet and on the bathroom floor, where it stained the grout.
I had to scrape out the grout to a depth of at least 1/8" and maybe
1/4", I can't recall. Deeper than I would have expected. My
flat-blade screwdriver was shaped like an arrow when I was done. The
carpet never got fixed. (The plan is that eventually it will be as
dirty as the red spot looks. )


** ( The platic channel that holds the document feeder on has already
broken off a piece. I can maybe glue it back, but the same piece on the
other side is alreay cracking! Here I can't have too much glue on
either side or it will interfere with sliding on. In the case of the
bottom tray, I can certainly have excess on the bottom, which at most
touches the table.)

Well, thanks Tony, Keith, Ed, Hactar.

My friend still hasn't had time to install the printer. And the
warnings made me consider putting the printer on two piles of books or
something and gluing it while it's right side up.

The plastic is very thin on the piece that holds the document feeder to
the rest of it. I glued the part that broke off (no ink in the document
feeder) with epoxee for plastic. And I noticed that the other side
was cracking too.

I may try to glue the second side if it finishes breaking, but I think
it's more likely I'll glue the whole document feeder to the rest of the
printer, with Ambroid Cement. One of the best glues there is, but only
sold at model and model train stores. It sticks to almost anything,
dries quickly, is strong, but weak enough you can break it off if you
want to disassemble something.

On the bottom are long thin ridges that hold the paper tray in place.
There are still 7 or 8 inches of ridge on both sides, but about an inch
is broken off and only holding on at the narrow end. That's what I
wanted to turn the printer upside down to glue.

I can find out the brand if anyone wants, though this model is about 10
years old. The previous owner managed to use it for 10 years. The
document feeder seemed to hold in place pretty well even with one half
of the slot broken off, and certainly the paper tray was okay.

It's a color laser, printer copier scanner. I hope my friend gives it
back to me when he's done with it. (He bought a new pritner and then
found out it wouldn't work with his old version of Mac OS.)

 

[micky]

It's a color laser, printer copier scanner. I hope my friend gives it
back to me when he's done with it. (He bought a new pritner and then
found out it wouldn't work with his old version of Mac OS.)

So he's buying a new Mac that will work with the new printer.