Laserjet 5000

[lannerman]

my laserjet 5000 is printing what appears to be excess toner in the last .5 inch on the right Hand side of the paper. The rest of the printing is fine but the results are unusable because of the strip of toner on the side.

The printer is nearly 10 years old and has given excellent service. I replaced the cartridge but no difference. I shook out a few tiny scraps of burnt paper from the fuser, again no effect on the problem.

Help please.

[cs_steve]

It sounds like it's time for a maintenance kit ... if you pull your fuser out and peek inside at the thin Teflon coating sleve, you'll probably see wear, toner buildup, maybe even a tear ...

[lannerman]

Thanks Steve for the advice. I've now fitted a Maintenance kit (fuser, rollers etc.)

However paper does not now feed properly because the 'shutter' which presents the paper to the entry rollers does not rise when required to. Paper is therefore not fed and a 'jam' is reported. when I present the paper at the right level manually, it feeds and prints OK with none of the earlier problem of excess toner streaking.

What have I done wrong?

[lannerman]

I fitted the HP supplied Maintenance Kit. Cannot see how fuser grease can affect the operation of a paper feed flap at the other end of the machine.

The fuser is working fine. When the paper is carefully fed by hand into the entry rollers it prints as required, it is just that the flap (don't know its correct title) which rises to line the paper up wih the entry rollers does not move and after a few seconds a 'jam' is reported.

The nearest item to the flap which I replaced is the separation pad. Could I have disturbed some linkage in the paper feed path? If so I cannot see how, ot how to correct it.

[ptjeff1]

lanermann, I deleted the post previous to your last post, I don't know if that was a spammer or a shill, but his/her comments were bizarre and inaccurate.

Are you referring to tray 1 - the manual feed tray or trays 2 or 3?
Can you print fine from one of the trays but not the other(s)?

I think you are referring to the manual feed and I'll check the linkage to the sep pad, I think there is a cam that you might have out of place. But I'll have to check when I get in to the office.

[lannerman]

Jeff, I should have made clear, it is the manual feed, I so rarely use the tray that I have not checked that.

By trial and error I have identified the cause as to do with the seating of the separator pad. It seems very sensitive to its position, poking with a screwdriver causes the feed to operate, but clearly this is not a final solution.

[redcow]

Yes you should have made it clear.
Now go back to Jeff's last question "Can you print fine from one of the trays but not the other(s)?"

Feed and print from tray 2, so that we know if that works. Next,
Remove and reseat the separation pad

[lannerman]

The separation pad for Tray 2 has been replaced and is now printing satisfactorily. At least I can get some of my backlog cleared.

I'll get round to checking the Manual feed again when i've a little more time. Meanwhile many thanks to all who helped me through a difficult time.

As always no magic cure, just plodding through a few logical steps.

[ptjeff1]

I just looked at a LJ 5000 and I would re-install the pickup roller and separation pad for the manual feed tray. Something is probably hanging up and blocking the metal lifter thing in front of the separation pad. There is a cam on each side of the pickup roller shaft that causes the plate to lift when the cam is in the right position. The lifter is spring loaded. Assuming you weren't doing anything that might effect the springs or cams, you would want to focus on the pickup roller and sep pad.