[pchelpers] Re: The Quality of Printing

Hi Cyril,

Thursday, October 30, 2003, 7:29:54 PM, you wrote:

CH>     One of my printers is an HP 672C. It seemed pretty good when it was
CH> relatively new but now I find that I cannot seem to get it to print text
CH> without fuzzy edges around the letters. I followed their cleaning procedure
CH> and put a new print cartridge in the machine but it still does not seem to
CH> print clean.

I've repaired nearly 30 HP deskjets in the last week or so; been going
through the pile in the office to see what's repairable so can get rid
of those that are not, to make room for more junk (ahem).  If someone
had asked me, I woulda sworn we only had about 10-ish of them.

Have you tried another set of new cartridges? Often, new cartridges
will be duds, especially if you buy refurbs.

If that's not the case, remove the cartridges and check to see if the
printheads (on the bottom of the cartridges) are coated with ink. If
so, the waste ink cup needs to be cleaned out. To do this, open the
lid, remove the cartridges, then unplug the printer (you don't want
the carriage to go home). Also remove the paper tray; it has a
spring-loaded clip underneath. Use a star driver to remove the two
screws from the top of the case, then use your fingers to release the
4 clips on the bottom, two on each side. DON'T TIP PRINTER, IF
POSSIBLE. If the cup has fresh ink in it (and it will if you've been
running the cleaning cycle), tipping will cause the ink to spill all
over, and it's a royal pain to clean up. Once the clips are released,
you can work the case up and off. It's a tight fit. Once off, look at
the right-hand side, where the cup is, and you'll see another star
screw, this one two sizes smaller than the ones holding the case on.
Remove the screw and the cup will slide out.

Run the cup under hot water for a while. If you see large clumps of
ink, remove them. While that's happening, take a spray bottle of
cleaner and clean out the area around where the cup rests; ink tends
to spray, due to the way that HP printers clean the printheads. Be
careful to keep away from electronics; if the electronics are inky
(unlikely), leave them that way, unless you have some circuit board
cleaner handy.

When you get tired of inky water running down the drain (it never runs
clear; you simply get diminishing returns), put everything back
together, in reverse order. When you put the cover on, make sure that
the buttons on front are OUT as far as they'll go. Once cover is back
in place (which can often be as tricky as getting it off), make sure
that both buttons feel ok. Once the cover is back on, put the
cartridges back in place, plug the power cord in, and wait for it to
come to rest, and print a page. A test page can be printed on the 600
and 660 by pressing and holding down the power button, pressing the
resume button 4 times, then releasing the power button; I assume it'll
work for the 672 also. The 8xx and 9xx printers print a detailed
pattern that lets you see if all pins are firing (press Resume 5 times
for these printers), but the 600 and 660 only print a set of
horizontal lines, which isn't all that great, so you may get better
results with a picture or document.

Problems feeding paper:

If the printer has trouble grabbing paper, remove the paper tray, and
spray some belt dressing (available from local auto store) onto the
visible part of the three rollers. Damp is enough; doesn't need to
drip. Run a page or two through the printer until it stops coming off
on the paper.  It shouldn't take more than 2 sheets.


For HP Laserjet 5L, 6L, and 1100 printers, there's a repair kit
available for free, if I recall correctly; it's a piece of cardboard
that you shove down into the paper "tray", let sit for a moment, then
remove.  It leaves a piece of plastic behind.  Peek down before and
after and you'll see it.

Oops, last day for it is FRIDAY. Here's the link, if you have one of
these printers and are reading this on or before Friday:
http://www.hp.com/support/ljsepkit

"The HP Free Customer Replaceable Pads program will be shut down on
October 31, 2003. This ordering web page will be discontinued as of
that date."

It claims that the kit isn't for the 5L's, but I've installed it on a
lot more 5L's than 6L's and it works great.

--Scott.

Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig>
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