My laser printer is OLD. It's a Panasonic KXP-4410 purchased in 1992 and it's still running. It's creaking and groaning and the rubber rollers are slipping and dirty. Looking in all the places I can get to does not allow me to clean and oil the roller bars nor do do a really good job of cleaning the rubber parts that pull the paper through. I found this article about how to make a paper shredder out of an old laser printer and it shows some good points on disassembling a laser printer. No, I'm not going to make a paper shredder out of mine but at least I have some guidelines about how to take it apart.

If it isn't any better when I get through, I'm not out much. I think I got as much use out of it as probably possible. So gonna do it. Here's the link to the web page:

Laser to Shredder
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

You sound like me O. I have an old Okidata Ol 400e. Luckily it's still working. I actually have a spare if this one kicks off. I got them from a company that was planning on sending them to the dump.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

I have an old HP III that was new in 1990. My company was replacing them with newer and color printers when I snagged it. It works great for black print, but it is an energy hog. In my old house, the lights would dim when the fuser heater came on. In this new house, I wired a dedicated 20 amp circuit. The lights don't dim. I only turn it on when I need to print something, and I let the print spooler "batch" things until I really need something.

I have an Epson/Stylus Photo R200 for color prints. Its claim to fame is it can print on CD/DVDs.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

I have an injet color printer but the laser is much less expensive to run for draft copies. I also like laser printing better as if the paper gets wet the ink doesn't run. It's strictly B & W, of course. I certainly don't get the mileage out of the ink toners that I do with the laser toners. I fear I will not be able to get toners for it much longer though. Staples put my toners on sale for 1/2 price and I bought the 4 they had left as I figured they wouldn't restock; they didn't.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

Oregonian wrote:

Staples put my toners on sale for 1/2 price and I bought the 4 they had left as I figured they wouldn't restock; they didn't.

Technology marches on...

When they surplused the HP III printers they also had some toner cartridges left. I got two, and I'm still using the first one. Those two will probably last the remaining life of the printer.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

If I can't get it fixed my toners are going to outlast my printer.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

I got the side and lower back panels off, cleaned and oiled where I could reach. The gears are all in very good condition. What a pile of gears. I oiled the drive shaft at the source and there was another one near the end of the print cycle that I oiled. Everything turned quite freely when I got through cleaning and oiling. Any rubber parts that pulled the paper got washed. I washed the 2 side panels in the sink and dried them. The back panel was attached by a plug with wires so I left it attached. Didn't want to go there.

I had to walk away from it a couple times when I tried to get the back panel back in as it's a down inside, up and under part and getting it lined up both ways was a bit tricky. Stuff comes apart a bit easier than putting it back. Seems true of just about anything.

I thought it rather nice that all of the screws were the same size so they fit in any screw hole. I only had to use one mug to put them in.

The printer is back up and running - it looks a lot nicer (cleaner) and sounds much, much quieter but is jamming about halfway under the toner. That will take a bit of tinkering.

There's a sticker on the back side that says, July 1992, on it. I had forgotten that there was a slot for a font card until I took the side panel off. The little wheel that allows you to insert it popped off tthe shaft when I removed the panel.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

WTG O!! Sounds like you've almost got that thing beat.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

I'm proud of you O. It is almost there.

The field engineers where I used to work told me one of their secrets. They wash the rubber rollers with alcohol to dry them out, if they are getting too sticky, and they wash them with liquid dish washing soap to soften them when they are starting to get hard.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

Thanks, RB.

The printer's gonna have to go back to the table. This time I'm taking the power cord with me so I can test print before moving stuff and lugging it back by my computer.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein