4345 swing arm

[redcow]

Any tips changing the swing arm ***'y on a LJ4345?

[ptjeff1]

I've never seen the 4345 but if it is similar to the 4300 then we have instructions posted here that may help. http://www.printertechs.com/tech/assemblies/swingplate/swingplate1.php

The instructions cover changing the gear that drives the fuser, which is the part that most commonly gets worn out. If you change the entire assembly there is quite a bit more dissassembly.

[woodss]

If I was ever to work on a 4200, 4300 or 4345 printer I would replace the whole assembly I know it takes longer.

To do but its long term messure that the printer wont have that problem for a while, and its better for the customer's confidence, with the service yechnician.

that is my apporach in a whole in printer service, sorry to say this to you Jeff, and with respect too, I think that soultion to me is just a bandaid job, my point is whatif it fails after doing that for a period of 3 to 6 months, no no I would rather take my time to do the job right, however I respect your views with the procedure, however I would try to do the full thing first if i dont have time to do it, I do the shortcut one second hoping it will be just as good.

[redcow]

I'm told that you can't do it like the 4300's.

Even if doing it the shortcut way, if it fails again after 6 months(so far I'm over the six months since the shortcut was done) , it's well worth the time saved.

It's not a "bandaid" job as woodss points out because you are replacing the bad worn out gear that is causing the noisy problem.

If there is only one problem every 6 - 9 months, the end user will have no problem with confidence in the tech.

[Manuals]

Well I respect what you say Redcow, but do you respect what I say, I have learnt from very early in my career that taking shortcuts isnt always the best, I learnt this the hard way.

I done my fair share of shortcuts earlier on in my career, like even using a screwdriver to rub off glazing off a upper output rollers, and just changing gears in a fuser which failed again.

It may seems to you my apporach is by the book, well I prefer it that way, if I want to do service properly I would rather learn how to do it correctly.

I have not worked on a 4200 or 4300 yet but when I do I will learn how it comes apart just like any other model I have worked on.

What if the other gears on the assembly play up what then? I would believe someone didnt do the alignment properly, thats exactly why I dont really trust this procedure.

Practices I dont like in the service industry is shortcuts like these and rubber roller rejuvenation, fill and dump toner cartridges.

I stil dont trust these plastic junkie 4200 and 4300 models because of the fuser problems, and poor construction, with impressions of the problems, I wouldnt waste my money on these, I feel that the last decent engine was the 4000 engine.


Stuart........I see you haven't learned anything in the past 6 months. Your knowledge of printer repair can still fit on the head of a pin. You should seriously think of a career change while you're still young. And while you're at it, you should go back to school to learn to speak and type in English.

[woodss]

Paul, those kind of posts are I would consider a put down, yes I have been learning but I want to learn at my own pace, you told me that you were a plumber, I really don't want to change my career, is not your decision, are you trying to iron me out for your own selfish gain.

[Manuals]

Stuart.......A monkey can be trained to replace assemblies. It takes a REAL technician to diagnose and repair a problem.

Paul

[MichaelTech]

Now, now, that will be just about enough of this malarky.
I though the ***'s for the word assy., was odd.
However, to the matter at hand: 4345-MFP
Fuser access= the same.
Swing Arm= the same, with screw
May have to lower power supply to acess.

Just like the 4200\4300's!

Now lets all play nice, "Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction":cool:

[woodss]

I am very much aware of that Paul, I agree for what you said about a real technician, I am a Certificate IV in Information Technology Graduate which the course taught computer networking and repair, at college as well there is a study skills department and I am having help with my English.

I know printer repair is different, however the course taught troubleshooting, troubleshooting to me is to isolate the problem within a computer or a printer, and then come up with a fix for it, I admit I am inexperienced thats because I have been focusing on my info tech courses, however I have been studying printer repair from documentation from HP, once I finished my diploma in infomation technology put my focus into printer repair full time I will learn a lot more than I do now, with the videos I have watched and things I have read with servicing, I believe I can learn more when I put learning printer repair full time.

I don't want a fight to develop, and upset Jeff.

What is Redcow's name?

[redcow]

Thanks MichaelTech, I will pass the info out to the tech working on the 4345.

Woodss, if by the book works for you, great. To each his own. And sometimes one has to work that way to get to learn the shortcuts.

Manuals, cut back on the coffee.

thanks all

[woodss]

Thanks MichaelTech, I will pass the info out to the tech working on the 4345.

Woodss, if by the book works for you, great. To each his own. And sometimes one has to work that way to get to learn the shortcuts.

Manuals, cut back on the coffee.

thanks all

Yeah thats how we all learn, however we all have standards to maintain, forums are great to learn them from, I don't mind shortcuts but only if it doesn't decrease the quality, Paul does have a point, a real technician needs to know which assembly is failing, thats where troubleshooting comes into the mix, without the ability to troubleshoot a person is up the creek without a paddle, manuals aka Paul if your reading this do you agree with that?

I am working by the book to learn about the machine first and then find the shortcuts later.
Redcow a question how did you learn? did you learn by the book or did you learn the shortcuts first from forums,

How I started:
When I started learning I had nothing nor a service manual or forums because I didn't know of any, the first 6 months I learnt from just trial and error, from a computer repair background I already knew about the concept of troubleshooting, I repaired computers since I was 15, my dad worked at a computer auction house from 1999-2003 and we sourced old LaserJet series II and III printer, how exactly how I embarked into printer repair was strictly by accident, it all started with a inkjet printer using too much black ink with letters and it was costing us too much money so we decided to buy a LaserJet III printer in around August - September of 2000, but the machine had a 50 service problem my dad was friends with a tech whom we meet at auction house who he too purchased printers from, maybe to savage parts from,

Prior to 2003 first 3 years of my career which I call now my early dark ages all I did was just making one printer out two for example and fixing paper rollers with wet and dry sandpaper very unorthodox method of repair but thats all I knew, at the time, rubing off the glazed shiny layer now if you want to use roller cleaner why not simply rub of the glazed layer with sandpaper and apply rubber cleaner on the roller after being sandpapered wouldnt the soultion penetrate into the roller much better.

However the tech said buy the printer and I'll repair it, however my dad agreed my dad took the printer home that night to show me, from that point on I decided why not I try to repair it, then I was told it was the fuser, I said why not replace the fuser then it worked, we also had a HP LaserJet IID as well for a while but I didnt know what D meant at that time, then I found out that it meant duplex!

Then my dad found a service manual for the laserjet II from the rubbish bin at the auction house then I began to read it and it made some real sense, I spent two years educating myself about the printer model, and how to troubleshoot and such, 2001 and 2002, and worked up with HP LaserJet 4 and 5 series, learnt how fusers are put together, half test procedures etc, during 2002 I purchased a set of service manuals from ebay.com and during 2003 found a parts supplier as well to sell to the public, I am offically a end user however I am pretty experienced, its whats in your head is what makes the difference.

And the rest is history, the old laserjet III is long gone, however I have a old LaserJet series II in my garage on my desk there to do service sheets on and thats I need in there, however for service manuals I have a retired HP LaserJet 4M Plus with duplex function which came from the home office replaced by a Laserjet 4050N which has duplexer and lower bin, we have two of these, when the 4M+ finally dies one of the 4050s will take its place the current generation for us, for color we have a hp business inkjet 1200D for inside the house and a HP Color LaserJet 4500 for high volume color.

[woodss]

Manuals I would like you to read the above post.

[MichaelTech]

Sorry, redcow, it appears that these are made with the screw from the inside of the assy. HP's been reading our stuff!
I am working on a 4350 now, and alas, it's a bit of a tear down to do.
You have to remove the P/S, the plastic rail, and several screws on the right side to pull the plate out a bit.

Addendum: Toner lever should be down for the spring arm lever to be set.

[ptjeff1]

Ok, I'm reading this post a little late but there really isn't any need to get personal or offensive (or defensive). We're all just looking for information.

************

We just repaired a LJ 4300 that had over 2.5 million pages; I was quite amazed. I've attached a picture of the swing plate assembly to show that the white gear really does not wear out like the black gear. You can see how the black gear is almost completely worn down but the white gear is fine. Needless to say we did change the enitire assembly since it was very dirty. We cleaned the assembly for the picture so it looks better than it did.

Michaeltech--I assume you ment 4345mfp in your last post? Our 4200, 4300, 4250, 4350 all have the same tear down for the swing plate.

On a side note: the forum software filters certain words so if you abreviate assembly with some form of assy, it might get changed to ***.

[woodss]

wow jeff that gear certainly does look like a busted gear, seems that white gear hasent even been used.

[Don S. Thompson]

Trouble is getting to the swing plate on a 4345. Lots of covers, power supply, etc. Figure 2 hours plus min. with instructions. Once into the bowels, similar to 4200-4350 series. Same part number. Quick way is your best option, else o got headaches with changing the whole swing plate.

[woodss]

Trouble is getting to the swing plate on a 4345. Lots of covers, power supply, etc. Figure 2 hours plus min. with instructions. Once into the bowels, similar to 4200-4350 series. Same part number. Quick way is your best option, else o got headaches with changing the whole swing plate.

If that was the best way, hp would have said so, I really think you can do that with your personal printers and it wouldn't matter, but with a clients printer different story, we need to determine what caused the black gear to wear out so prematurely.

we cant keep changing black gears all the time, we need to determine the root of the problem, black gear sometimes doesn't mesh with the fuser rollers, and at the high speed of the mechanics the plastic gear just rips to shreds, the soultion would be instead making these black gears plastic, it would be wise to make them metal, metal gears last a lot longer.

I would rather have the headaches than dealing with a angry client.

[redcow]

Here we go again.

Woodss - HP will always tell you to go by the book. Every manufacturer will always tell you to go by the book. They have to, they don't know who is going to take apart the machine. They don't like lawsuits.

It's the engineers job to determine the "root of the problem". It's the technicians job to fix the problem and let engineering know if it's a recurring problem.

Do you determine the "root of the problem" when the fuser has to be replaced after 200,000 pages, or do you accept the fact that it's mechanical and it just wears. I'm willing to bet money that you've seen more worn out fusers than worn out swing arm assembly gears. And yet this is the gear that drives the fuser. Or maybe you change the assembly every time you replace the fuser.

Why don't you tell the Engineers at HP that you want all the gears in your printers to be metal.

You, woodss, may have the time to determine the "root of the problem" for every service call or spend eight hours fixing a machine while you're pondering the reason for the planets spinning around the sun. Have at it. The rest of us have multiple service calls a day, where we're expected to fix all the machines we come in contact with.

Woodss, no disrespect, but if you're in field service you seriously need a career change.

[woodss]

I strongly believe that heat of fuser makes the plastic brittle and the teeth on the gears get too hot and they break off over time, it would turn out tension between gears would deteriorate over time and that could cause the gears to not mesh properly, there has to be some kind of spring for the swing plate assembly, if that loses tension it might cause the assy to lose tension towards the fuser.

It looks from Jeff's picture that the gears were grinding.

I really have respect for what you say Redcow, and I don't want to tear your integrity down, Im glad there is a person as experienced as u post on here.

I have all the time in the world to research.

Jeff, can you try to ask your R&D dept to determine the true cause.

[MichaelTech]

Well, the obvious: The gears are made of different material. Why are'nt all the gears white? The black gear is designed to be worn down, and the drive gear on the fuser is also so inclined.
Hard plastic wears down, and nylon\plastic gears stretch the teeth out.
It seems that the fuser sits a little loosly, and HP's take is that the power supply has slipped down slightly, causing this anomaly.
More and more I am getting printers that have been roughly handled in shipping, and due to the fragility of new units, there have been many issues.
I now look at the overall condition, and inspect several areas that may have damage. I do not go into the field much anymore, but have at least ten different printers to work on every day. The field techs do not have a lot of time to properly affect correct repairs, and send it on to the depot.
Printers are pretty basic, the problem is with cheaply made fragile parts.
Ya'll are pretty good helping people figure out technical problems, and Im glad to add what I can. Thanx.