I got a free HP LaserJet 4 the other day, which pretty much explains my budget for getting it working....the cheaper the better.  

It prints ok, but it squeaks a LOT, smells a bit like ozone if I print a whole lot, and after the first page, about 3 inches of the left side of each page has light-grey streaks.

I can put up with the ozone smell and the squeaking, if its not hurting anything.  But the grey stripe down the side of the page has to go.  Any suggestions on how to fix without spending much money?


Links to sources of cheap parts would be good....I can find 5k yield toner cartriges for $30, which I don't think is too terribly bad, but I don't know if that's all I need to do to fix it.

Quoted: I got a free HP LaserJet 4 the other day, which pretty much explains my budget for getting it working....the cheaper the better.   It prints ok, but it squeaks a LOT, smells a bit like ozone if I print a whole lot, and after the first page, about 3 inches of the left side of each page has light-grey streaks. I can put up with the ozone smell and the squeaking, if its not hurting anything.  But the grey stripe down the side of the page has to go.  Any suggestions on how to fix without spending much money? Links to sources of cheap parts would be good....I can find 5k yield toner cartriges for $30, which I don't think is too terribly bad, but I don't know if that's all I need to do to fix it.

If it's anything like the LaserJet III a friend owns, It probably needs the hot roller replaced...


His left some streaky lines down the left side of the page....  I opened it up and you could see on the roller where the teflon (?) coating on the roller was starting to scrape and peel off some.


He took it to get replaced and it works beautifully now.......

Have no idea what it cost, but he said it wasn't TOO expensive... Of course, that's relative..

Have a feeling that may be your issue as well........ seems it's common when the units get old.

Don't trash it tho !!  they're built like a damn tank ! thing will last forever with a little attention from time to time....

If you're mechanically inclined, maybe you can order a replacement roller and slap it in yourself....

Worth a shot, at least.....
Good luck with it,

JB


Ohh, and BTW, they ARE a little noisy..... tho any major squeaking means it probably needs some lube on the gears and such inside....... easy enough to take care of....   I'd use a silicone grease, as they're nylon gears, and don't know if petroleum based lubes will damage anything plastic in there...

Quoted: Quoted: I got a free HP LaserJet 4 the other day, which pretty much explains my budget for getting it working....the cheaper the better.   It prints ok, but it squeaks a LOT, smells a bit like ozone if I print a whole lot, and after the first page, about 3 inches of the left side of each page has light-grey streaks. I can put up with the ozone smell and the squeaking, if its not hurting anything.  But the grey stripe down the side of the page has to go.  Any suggestions on how to fix without spending much money? Links to sources of cheap parts would be good....I can find 5k yield toner cartriges for $30, which I don't think is too terribly bad, but I don't know if that's all I need to do to fix it. If it's anything like the LaserJet III a friend owns, It probably needs the hot roller replaced... His left some streaky lines down the left side of the page....  I opened it up and you could see on the roller where the teflon (?) coating on the roller was starting to scrape and peel off some. He took it to get replaced and it works beautifully now....... Have no idea what it cost, but he said it wasn't TOO expensive... Of course, that's relative.. Have a feeling that may be your issue as well........ seems it's common when the units get old. Don't trash it tho !!  they're built like a damn tank ! thing will last forever with a little attention from time to time.... If you're mechanically inclined, maybe you can order a replacement roller and slap it in yourself.... Worth a shot, at least..... Good luck with it, JB Ohh, and BTW, they ARE a little noisy..... tho any major squeaking means it probably needs some lube on the gears and such inside....... easy enough to take care of....   I'd use a silicone grease, as they're nylon gears, and don't know if petroleum based lubes will damage anything plastic in there...

There's no way I'm trashing it....the old HP printers could take damn near anything and keep going!

I'm mechanically inclined enough if I can get the parts cheap, and I can figure out what needs to be replaced so I don't spend money replacing parts that aren't the problem.  

I think I've got some White-Lithium grease, I was debating using that, since I *think* its OK for use on Nylon (I'd have to check, of course, before I end up costing myself more money).

After taking a quick look....is the "hot roller" kind of greenish looking and about 1" or so in diameter?

Doh....google gave me this!


Looks like a new Fuser Roller (the teflon one) will run me in the neighborhood of $39.99 and should fix the "stripe on left side of page" problem.

Now the question becomes:

Anyplace to get them cheaper?

Hard to say exactly without seeing it.......  Not sure of what, if any differences there are between the LaserJet III & the IV

When you open the top up, and look down inside the III, you'll see one roller that's exposed partly, mounted towards the front of the unit.

Looks like it has a very fine wire wrapped around it.......

NOT that one........

towards the back of the unit, is a thin, wide 'strip' looking thing, with a little tab, that you can pull out.....

This is a felt wiper assembly that cleans the hot roller....

The hot roller is mounted underneath this, from what I could tell.....


Now I have no idea how this is removed, as he took it to a guy who had been servicing it for years....  But I could see the coating where it was coming off, when the felt wiper was removed.

Maybe there's an access panel on the bottom of the printer, I just don't know.

Maybe do a search on HP's website for the owners/maintenance manuals ?

I know they have lots of them for various computer equipment, that you can download in adobe .pdf format.  Perhaps they have them as well, for the old LaserJets..... i'd think they probably do


Not sure if that helps any, hopefully it does.....

JB

Quoted: Doh....google gave me this! Looks like a new Fuser Roller (the teflon one) will run me in the neighborhood of $39.99 and should fix the "stripe on left side of page" problem. Now the question becomes: Anyplace to get them cheaper?

No real idea, but I think he said it around was 40 bucks as well.... just seems to stick in my head.....

Suppose you could search online with the name / part # and see who sells it, and for how much...

Might could save a couple bucks, who knows.....


Considering it comes WITH a video, I don't see how you can go wrong, at that price

If the toner streak is coming out as printed toner (does not rub off on your hands) then it most likely is the fuser. If it does rub off, you probably have a dirty transfer roller.

We're about to scrap our HP4SiMX and move into something that takes up less space. When we finally do, remind me and i'll slide our spare parts your way.

First off, congrats on scoring  ****THE**** workhorse of the laser printer world!

The ozone smell is normal (along with the paraffin/burning candle smell when the printer first wakes up from sleep mode).

The solution to your grey stripe along one side of the page may be as simple as replacing the cartridge. In fact, I'd seriously recommend replacing the cartridge before you attempt any repairs.

Note that the Canon EX print engine used in your LaserJet 4 was also used in a lot of other printers, including:

Acom MC5812
Anzac 3008/3010/3012
Apple LaserWriter 16/600, Pro 600/630
Brother 960/1260, HL-1260 DX/NE
Canon 1260/P-270
Canon 8 MARK IV/860/1260/EX
Canon LBP-1260/P-270
Canon LBP-8 MARK IV/LBP-860/LBP-1260/LBP-EX
Genicom 7612/7612 I/9080
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4/4 Plus, 4M/4M Plus
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 5/5M/5SE/5N
DEC Declaser 5100
DEC LN-09
Decision Data IS-682-4C
Lee Data IS-682
Printerm Master Check MICR 12 Plus
Siemens Highprint 4821-P10/P15
Tandem 5575
Troy 508 MICR/512 MICR
Troy 512 Plus
Xante Accel-A-Writer 812
Xerox 6R903
Xylostome XLP820

This means that a cartridge for any of these models will also work in your LaserJet 4 (very handy when searching for cheap cartridges on ebay).

The Printer Works is a good source for EX repair parts.