Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!SPHINX.UCHICAGO.EDU!moku
From: moku@SPHINX.UCHICAGO.EDU (Mark Francillon)
Newsgroups: comp.laser-printers
Subject: Re: LW fuser problems?
Message-ID: <8712172228.AA15115@brillig.umd.edu>
Date: 25 Nov 87 17:29:07 GMT
References: <8711121801.AA08578@brillig.umd.edu> <8711242034.AA21602@brillig.umd.edu>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: sphinx.uchicago.edu.uucp!moku (Mark Francillon)
Organization: U Chicago Computation Center
Lines: 45
Summary: Got one.
Approved: laser-lovers@brillig.umd.edu

In article <8711242034.AA21602@brillig.umd.edu> chuq@SUN.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
>>A recent issue of MacTutor reported that some (heavily used?)
>>LaserWriters have been seen to have fuser roller damage caused by
>>constant contact with the rubber guides above the roller.  They said
>>that there is no known fix for this problem, short of rebuilding the
>>engine.  Does anyone know more about the potential for trouble here?
>
>I was amused by this. Here at Sun we tend to beat LW's into the ground
>(15,000-20,000 pages a month is not uncommon on the one down the hall). LW's
>with 150,000 to 200,000 pages on it are not uncommon. I've never seen
>this on the machines here, and I think if this was a 'common' problem it would
>have shown up by now.
>
>For all we know, they're refilling their cartridges with bad toner or
>something, and it's corroding their rollers. I don't think this is a problem
>I'll lose sleep over just yet.
>
>Has anyone else seen this problem on a laserwriter? Or is this just
>MacTutor's problem?
>

Yeah, we've got a LW+ with about 120,000 copies that has just the problem
described in MacTutor--or rather the problem described in the newest (Nov.)
issue, in which someone argues it's not the rubber guides but the separation
claws on the underside of the fuser cover that cause the wear on the roller.
On ours, the coating on the roller is worn through at four points--which
match exactly the spacing of the claws.  Bad toner's obviously less likely
to corrode the (metal) claws than the rubber guides, and on our LW at least
it's been Apple toner all the way.

I've been thinking about cannibalizing an old HP Laserjet for a fuser
assembly that's in better condition.  It looks identical to what's in the
LW (except that the top roller doesn't have the orange coating).  Anyone
know of any reasons why I shouldn't try switching them?

     Mark Francillon
     Dept. of Anthropology
     University of Chicago
     ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!moku

[[Editor's note:  I am suppressing most of the messages on this topic
because it seems to have been beaten into the ground.  I'm only forwarding
messages that seem to add some additional information to the discussion.

					--Rick ]]