Self overhauling printer

What printer ?

If you're mainly using B&W you can get cheap (as in *really* cheap=20 lasers these days, and the refills can be around =A36 for 2000 sheets'=20 worth)

What printer ?

A Samsung ML-2000. I've been very pleased with it but it's getting tired.

If you're mainly using B&W you can get cheap (as in *really* cheap lasers these days, and the refills can be around £6 for 2000 sheets' worth)

Yes I know, but I'd rather get this one back to good working order than it go to landfill.

I've had really cheap printers but this has given far better results and excellent service. The cost isn't an issue.

Thanks anyway,

Mary

But not Samsung?

Mary

No...I expect that spare are limited...they are not so well made (I have one of those, for obscure reasons; but nine LJ4s...).

The reality is that Samsung are largely a 'domestic' rather than 'industrial' brand, and the expectation is that you can throw them away when they break, and buy another one.

Frankly I'd always rather have a second hand HP than a new something else.

Plenty of spares and repair manuals available, and they are worth fixing.

Actually fixing stuff is getting easier every year -0 the plethora of specialist parts suppliers and online manuals is really improving things.

I wish there was a moderated web site for DIY as well - the ones where you can discuss stuff, post up pictures and diagrams and have an archive of 'how I fixed my XYZ' would be brilliant.

Take a look at a site I use a lot..

Maybe we should get together and build one.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mary Fisher" saying something like:

I've got one of those. I bought it at the same shop I bought the everlasting lighter and the self-filling beer bottle. My house is also lit by the self-fuelling generator.

The Natural Philosopher expressed precisely :

I agree with that last line, with the proviso that you meant HP's more robust office printers than the LJ5 and LJ6 range. One second hand office grade HP will outlast several new Samsung's and if parts are needed, the most likely part will be replacement rollers - which do perish after years of use, but cost around 20p. The cartridges are slightly more expensive Samsung's, but they print several times the number of pages per cartridge.

I paid £20 for a well used network HP4000 with duplex 6 years ago and it is still going strong on its original cartridge.

Totally agree. I only ever buy HP printers, and they never seem to fail

- they just get passed on to someone else when they are replaced. I don't recall a single instance of actually throwing out an HP printer.

Please tell me where you get new rollers for 20p....! And for which model...

Bera in mind that in some cases, HP cartridges are more expensive for a reason. The LJ4/5 cartridges contain the photo drum, etc. so that is automatically replaced when you use a new cartridge.

The LJ5 is VERY robust. I assume you were referring to the LJ5L.

They were throwing out a Laserjet 4M+ at work last week. I grabbed it. Really quiet example, works fine. 12 pages/minute, PostScript printer! It's done nearly half a million pages so is still a youngster.

How do you know? Have you done comparitive tests? Or are you just taking the manufacturer's figures as true?

My Samsung has done a LOT of printing, I need very high quality - much of it has to be camera-ready - and I suspect that only the rollers need changing now. I just don't know how to get into it. The HP I had didn't last half as long as this one has. It certainly wasn't as robust.

Mary

Why do you replace them?

Mary

The build quality is considerably poorer on the Samsung; I have one, and I've looked. Toner is more expensive, too. I have it only because I got it half price, brand new, for its photocopying ability.

If it was one of the later consumer models, I'd agree. But look at the kind of thing I was talking about (for example) and you'd see a very different story. As I said, I have a nice, working LaserJet 4M+, and it has done nearly half a million pages. On the other hand, I've seen a Laserjet 5L pack up terminally after less than a tenth of that time.

Well, we're not going to agree. I'll go to the website.

Mary

Because I like new stuff :-)

I might replace a printer to get a faster one, or one with more features.

I might just get bored of seeing the same printer day after day and fancy a change.

All I'm saying is that there are HP printers, and there are HP printers. And a big gulf between them!

I've still got an original Apple Laserwriter I, based on the Canon engine with postscript interpretor, over 20 years old. It was the first postscript laser printer (although there were a couple of earlier ones which did the postscript RIPing in an external box). The EP cartridges haven't been made for ages, and my last one became unusable about a year ago. Also, with only 1Mb of memory which isn't expandable, it was getting difficult to print some postscript documents on it today.

I did once take the thing to pieces to see if I could get any more memory in it. I had to undo the best part of 1000 screws to get the processor board out (it's in the lid, and you have to remove everything from the lid before you can get to it). I was amased when I got it back together and it still worked, but sadly without any more memory!

Yes, I threw one of those out a few years ago. It was just failing too much on print jobs due to lack of memory. But it was ancient, yet still fine.

(actually, I gave it away; it was still useful to someone).