HP Laserjet III Smears

[jariep]

I just finally got the Transfer Guide Assembly re-mounted.

Before I knew that I had something stuck in the Transfer Guide Assembly, I had tried to print many pages, most never went through the Transfer Guide Assembly. So many pages tried to print without paper actually going through the printer. Could this have damaged the toner cartridge components?

Here is a URL to see a printout from the printer, now that the fragment has been removed from the Transfer Guide Assembly. Paper is no longer jamming, so that is one problem that has been fixed, but now I have another.

http://clexos.tollfreepage.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PrinterSmear

If I buy a new cartridge, will this fix the problem?

[Placebo]

The first thing I would check is the small brass grounding tab on the left front of the registration/transfer guide assy. The tab should be folded back under the assy facing you as you insert the assy. If it is in correctly you can push down on the tab and it will spring back up into position.

If all that is okay and it still prints the same then I wouldn't hesitate to change the toner cartridge.

I just saw your other post on this subject and noticed that you stated you took out the tranfer guide assy by removing two screws. That struck me a little odd as there should be four screws securing the assy to the chassis. Did you perhaps mis-type that?

[jariep]

you were right, there are four screws.

I just received the new toner cartridge, but the output has dark toner colored background and the strange thing is that the reverse side of the page is stained with a little bit of toner, as well.

I checked that little brass piece that you mentioned. Yes it is facing me. It has a metal clip beneath it were it rests on, which pushes the brass piece up in a horizontal position. If i press the brass piece downward, it springs back up.

I have no idea what is causing the pages to come out as before, so dark.
This time, though, there are no black spots as in the page you saw before.

The strange thing is that before the incident I had with the folding bed, the printer seemed to print pages perfectly, with normal white backgrounds. I have some pages that I tried to print before removing the Transfer Guide Assembly, of which, those few pages that did go past the speck of plastic that was jamming the transfer guide assembly, that were really filled with toner that was fused to the paper. So all of these problems started happening after the foldable bed fell on the paper cartridge, before I had unscrewed any part of the printer.

So I really have no idea what is causing these pages to print out in such a dark manner.

Note: there is a portion of the transfer guide assemble, like a thin metalic cover that almost covers a roller, where that brass piece, that you metioned in your last post on how to install it, that it should be facing me. Well, the metal cover (has two screws securing it) that covers the last roller on the Transfer Guide Assemble gets filled with toner every time a page prints. The metal cover as well as the roller get very dirty with toner all over. I need to clean them imediately after printing a page. I don't know what is causing this, but it seems abnormal.

Note #2: I went ahead and did a test to see where the page starts to become dark. I printed a page and opened the printer door before it went through the fuser. Apparently the paper is a dark gray along with the printed characters on the page. I'll see if I can post a scanned image of a printed page.

2nd Question: Is it OK to clean the drum of a toner cartridge with Isopropyl alcohol and a new kitchen paper towel? I had done this in the past with my original toner cartridge and never had any problems doing this. I did this because the drum would be covered in toner in some instances, and I would wipe it clean with a moist paper towel, and would be printing clean pages after doing this. Maybe this shouldn't be done, but it never caused a problem.

Is exposing the drum to light a bad idea?

I'm not sure if it is called the drum but I am talking about something that looks like a drum in the cartridge which has a plastic flap that covers it. The flap can be easily slid open to expose it. If this is not the drum, please tell me. Thanks.

One last question. I just bought a new toner cartridge but the characters look blotchy. Is this do to a defective cartridge? The old cartridge doesn't have this problem. The old cartridge is an OEM cartridge. The new cartridge is a new compatible toner cartridge (has a new drum).