[geeks] Printers, postscript, networking...

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 @ 20:40 -0400, der Mouse said:

> > The LJ series [of laser printers] is also getting old now, and it is
> > hard to find one in good condition.  I see a lot of them for low $$$
> > or free, but most are pretty badly beaten up and would need repair.
> 
> I'd say, rather, that it's hard to find one *available* in good
> condition.  

I thought that was context-evident... :/

> The oens that are still in good condition are, I suspect,
> generally owned by people from whom you'll get them only as bequests in
> their wills. :-)

True.

Although, once in awhile a business will just arbitrarily dump old
equipment that is otherwise in fine condition.

I seem never to be there when it happens...

> I know my LJ IIISi is proving itself to be a real Timex.  

Several of the LJ series were like that.

There used to be a good reseller that sold reconditioned HP lasers, somewhere
in Virginia, USA, but I can't seem to locate them again.

> Toner carts are not cheap,

That's one problem with an old printer.

> but I seem to need them at a rate of like one every few
> years, so that's no biggie.  And it's designed for *much* heavier load
> than I put on it - this is the sort of printer used in environments
> where daily paper consumption is measured in reams, or even boxes, not
> sheets.

Most good laser printers do more than I'll ever ask of them.

Even the HP 1320 (PostScript, duplex, small) is rated at 10K or more pages per
month.

I bought 15K pages of paper years ago and still have over half the box.

> I even had an electrolytic cap go bad and damage one of the PC boards.
> But (reinforcing its Timex image :) I left it on and let the short burn
> itself out, then put in a replacement cap (the old one was in good
> enough shape to read its markings), and it's Just Worked ever since.
> Despite a little cavity burnt in the PC board.  There must have been no
> etch runs in the part eaten away - probably just power and ground
> planes....

The DEClaser I have had a dirty and broken glass plate, the one that separates
the laser and mirror from the toner compartment. I could not get glass cut
that thin, so I hacked in a 1/16" piece which did the job for the time I used
it.

Not an easy printer to take apart and repair though.


-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["The strength of the Constitution lies
entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it.  Only if every
single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the
constitutional rights secure." -- Albert Einstein]