Laser printer question

[helius]

What exactly does the drum do?

My printer's been acting up lately (the toner won't "dry" completely; it smudges when I touch the printed surface). :(

[Leon]

http://www.howstuffworks.com/photocopier1.htm

Inside a copier there is a special drum. The drum acts a lot like a balloon -- you can charge it with a form of static electricity.

Inside the copier there is also a very fine black powder known as toner. The drum, charged with static electricity, can attract the toner particles.

There are three things about the drum and the toner that let a copier perform its magic:

The drum can be selectively charged, so that only parts of it attract toner. In a copier, you make an "image" -- in static electricity -- on the surface of the drum. Where the original sheet of paper is black, you create static electricity on the drum. Where it is white you do not. What you want is for the white areas of the original sheet of paper to NOT attact toner. The way this selectivity is accomplished in a copier is with light -- this is why it's called a photocopier!

Somehow the toner has to get onto the drum and then onto a sheet of paper. The drum selectively attacts toner. Then the sheet of paper gets charged with static electricity and it pulls the toner off the drum.

The toner is heat sensitive, so the loose toner particles are attached (fused) to the paper with heat as soon as they come off the drum.



Since it is printing fine, the problem is not with the toner or drum... Sounds like your fuser is messed up.

[jarfykk]

Just a note from someone who has done alot of laser printer repair. Leon's correct, it is most likely the fuser (or some part of the fuser assembly). Depending on what kind of printer I could get you a cost estimate for the part. The easiest to get is HP, pretty much anyone can order the things. If it an Apple Laserwriter they're harder to just acquire but any Apple Authorized service center can order em (as long as they can service printers). Brother and other more 'minor' brands are sometimes hard to get parts for but if you tell me what region you're in and what model, maybe I can help.

jarfykk

[helius]

Thanks for the replies.

It's an old & cheap Okidata, which means it's probably more cost-effective to just buy another cheap printer. :heh: