The cartridge drum has a long life: how often do you change the drum?

Of course, first of all, the life of the cartridge and its parts is influenced by the quality and thoroughness of refilling the cartridge. However, there are a number of other good reasons why you take your cartridge for repair.

First, let's clarify a few important points.

For younger printer models, the average drum resource ranges from 10,000 to 30,000 pages. We will take as a basis minimum value- 10,000 pages.

You have undoubtedly noticed that the productivity and wear resistance of the cartridge declared by the manufacturer and the actual figures for these indicators differ radically.

The root cause is that the toner supply is limited by the capacity of the hopper, which is quite limited. Therefore, we have a need to refill cartridges.

In addition, the degree of filling of the sheet is of great importance for the number of refills. Most manufacturers declare a certain number of pages (an average of 2,000 pages) that a cartridge can print without refilling, but they clearly specify the percentage of page coverage - 5%, no more. This is 1/5 of our entire resource of 10,000 pages. And if we need to print sheets with 100% coverage, then how long will the cartridge last? The number of pages is reduced by 20 times, and we get a sad figure - 100 pages.

Don't forget about the photodrum. If you only print sheets with 100% coverage, the cartridge will withstand at least 20 times more refills without replacing the drum. Thus, when printing standard documents with 5% sheet coverage (10,000/2,000=5), the cartridge will withstand 5 refills, and 20 times more (5*20=100), that is, 100, with 100% sheet coverage.

But even when you print completely white sheets, you wipe the drum enormously without wasting any toner.

You've probably heard of such a thing as toner saving mode. By turning it on, you get exactly the same sheet coverage, but with less toner, sometimes even 2 times less than usual. Thus, one refill of the cartridge with a standard filling (5%) of the sheet will last you not for 2,000, but for 4,000 pages. However, remember that a new cartridge in standard operating mode wears out 1/5 of the photoreceptor resource, and in economy mode - 2/5 of the resource. After refilling the cartridge, you will have 6,000 pages of drum operation remaining. Are you still working in saving mode? Then it’s not 3, but only 1.5 refills. Your image drum will not even last until the end of the second refill.

At the same time, you, like me, are unlikely to print 2,000 pages at once. Operating the printer in this mode is not intended by the manufacturer and is extremely harmful to it. Therefore, every time, before you start printing, your printer begins to prepare for printing: it warms up the oven and makes several revolutions of the photodrum, cleaning it and charging it at the same time. For HP and Canon printers, this process takes 1 page, while their counterparts from Samsung, Xerox, Oki and others require about 2 pages, and sometimes even up to 3 pages. Please note that the printer undergoes a similar idle run every time you turn it on. Don't believe me? You can disassemble your printer and see for yourself by recalculating the actual idle speed of the photodrum.

And again mathematics helps us. Let's say you print only one page each time and, as a result, you will use up 4,000 pages per refill (instead of the 2,000 originally stated by the manufacturer). Owners of Samsung and Xerox printers have even higher figures - 6,000. And you only printed 2,000 sheets. It's not fair, is it?

You've probably noticed that when you're trying to save money and print on half pages, the drum unit runs out incredibly quickly. Such half-sheets mainly include invoices and invoices to save paper. But do not forget that before starting to print each such invoice, the printer runs the photoconductor dry. This process reduces the drum life by half, and for Samsung printers by three times.

Now talk about the features of printing on A5 sheets. Using A5 sheet instead of A4 sheet, you reduce the image by 2 times and spend 2 times less toner accordingly. But at the same time the drum is forced to spin almost 2 times more. As a result, for Hewlett-Packard printers, drum wear will be (2,000*2*2=8,000) about 8,000 pages per cartridge refill. After such refueling, the drum resource is 4/5 exhausted. If you are the happy owner of a Samsung printer, then the numbers will increase even more (2,000*3*2=12,000) - up to 12,000 pages! You will exhaust the entire life of the photo drum in one refill!

What if you decide to turn on the toner saving mode? Then multiply the resulting numbers by 2 more. What did you get as a result? That's right - the photodrum needs to be replaced at the first refill, but there is still toner left... Miracles? No, reality. Sometimes you are forced to change the drum unit before the original toner runs out. And it’s good if only once. There are cases of replacing the cartridge drum twice before refilling with toner for the first time. Especially with the additional use of low-quality paper.

Have you ever thought that the drum in your cartridge does not last long? 1-2 refills, and it already needs to be changed. Let's try to figure out what is the reason for the fragility of the cartridge drum (photoreceptor). Of course, first of all, the life of the cartridge and its parts is influenced by the quality and thoroughness of refilling the cartridge. However, there are a number of other good reasons why you take your cartridge for repair. First, let's clarify a few important points.

1. The service life of a photodrum should be measured not by the number of refills, but by the number of revolutions it makes. An even more accurate calculation is to measure the drum life by the number of pages it would print in continuous operation.

2. Continuous operation is the process of printing one very large job with a huge supply of toner in the hopper and paper in the feed tray. Printing is interrupted only when noticeable defects appear on the paper caused by wear and tear on the photoreceptor. This is the real resource of the photoreceptor. For younger printer models, the average drum resource ranges from 10,000 to 30,000 pages. We will take the minimum value as 10,000 pages. You have undoubtedly noticed that the productivity and wear resistance of the cartridge declared by the manufacturer and the actual figures for these indicators differ radically. The root cause is that the toner supply is limited by the capacity of the hopper, which is quite limited. Therefore, we need to refill cartridges. In addition, the degree of filling of the sheet is of great importance for the number of refills.

Most manufacturers declare a certain number of pages (an average of 2,000 pages) that a cartridge can print without refilling, but they clearly specify the percentage of page coverage - 5%, no more. This is 1/5 of our entire resource of 10,000 pages. And if we need to print sheets with 100% coverage, then how long will the cartridge last? The number of pages is reduced by 20 times, and we get a sad figure - 100 pages. Don't forget about the photodrum. If you only print sheets with 100% coverage, the cartridge will withstand at least 20 times more refills without replacing the drum.

Thus, when printing standard documents with 5% sheet coverage (10,000/2,000=5), the cartridge will withstand 5 refills, and 20 times more (5*20=100), that is, 100, with 100% sheet coverage. But even when you print completely white sheets, you wipe the drum enormously without wasting any toner. You've probably heard of such a thing as toner saving mode. By turning it on, you get exactly the same sheet coverage, but with less toner, sometimes even 2 times less than usual.

Thus, one refill of the cartridge with a standard filling (5%) of the sheet will last you not for 2,000, but for 4,000 pages. However, remember that a new cartridge in standard operating mode wears out 1/5 of the photoreceptor resource, and in economy mode - 2/5 of the resource. After refilling the cartridge, you will have 6,000 pages of drum operation remaining. Are you still working in saving mode? Then it’s not 3, but only 1.5 refills. Your image drum will not even last until the end of the second refill.

Owners of Samsung and Xerox printers have even higher figures - 6,000. And you only printed 2,000 sheets. It's not fair, is it? You've probably noticed that when you're trying to save money and print on half pages, the drum unit runs out incredibly quickly. Such half-sheets mainly include invoices and invoices to save paper. But do not forget that before starting to print each such invoice, the printer runs the photoconductor dry. This process reduces the drum life by half, and for Samsung printers by three times. Now talk about the features of printing on A5 sheets. Using A5 sheet instead of A4 sheet, you reduce the image by 2 times and spend 2 times less toner accordingly. But at the same time the drum is forced to spin almost 2 times more.

As a result, for Hewlett-Packard printers, drum wear will be (2,000*2*2=8,000) about 8,000 pages per cartridge refill. After such refueling, the drum resource is 4/5 exhausted.

If you are the happy owner of a Samsung printer, then the numbers will increase even more (2,000*3*2=12,000) - up to 12,000 pages! You will exhaust the entire life of the photo drum in one refill! What if you decide to turn on the toner saving mode? Then multiply the resulting numbers by 2 more. What did you get as a result? That's right - the photodrum needs to be replaced at the first refill, but there is still toner left... Miracles? No, reality. Sometimes you are forced to change the drum unit before the original toner runs out. And it’s good if only once. There are cases of replacing the cartridge drum twice before refilling with toner for the first time. Especially with the additional use of low-quality paper.

Do you still want to print on halves?

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We continue to look at examples of printing defects in HP and Canon laser devices. Below you will see what defects are caused by: wear of the “squeegee” - the cleaning blade, dirt getting under the film, wear of the bushings of the rubber shaft, malfunction or wear of the charge shaft, dirt getting on the photo drum and much more...

Look - does your cartridge print like this? Then come and we’ll refuel and fix it.

Fig. No. 45 Poor quality cartridge refilling. After installing the photodrum, during the charging process, the pin was squeezed out, with the help of which a “ground” contact is provided to the photodrum. Cartridge EP-27.

Fig. No. 46 B in this case The photodrum cleaning knife (squeegee) is to blame for the defect. The edge of the cleaning knife is made of soft material and “dries out” over time (this process is lengthy, but it does happen.) and cannot erase residual toner from the photodrum.

Fig. No. 47 Dirt has gotten under the film that prevents waste toner from spilling out of the cartridge. As a result, the toner began to spill inside the printer; in this case, dirt under the film (mylar) got into the center and the toner began to spill onto the paper pick-up roller, which began to leave such a mark on the paper. This situation occurs often when they begin to print on drafts and especially on those “perforated” with a hole punch. Unnoticed dirt under the Mylar in time scratches the surface of the photodrum, and toner spills inside the printer leads to the need to carry out preventative maintenance on the printer.

Fig. No. 48 Defect - a wide dark stripe on the left and barely noticeable on the right on the print. During printer maintenance, the transfer shaft bearings (bushings) were generously lubricated. Oil from the left and right bushings got onto the sponge transfer shaft and caused this defect. This defect has nothing to do with the cartridge.

Fig. No. 49 The printer is defective, not the cartridge. The rubber shaft bushings in the printer assembly and fuser have worn out. The image appears double and is often blurred from the paper. The printer needs repair.

Fig. No. 49.1 The axis of the rubber shaft wears out the bushing, resulting in the print looking like in Fig. No. 49.

Fig. No. 49.2 Toner remains on the thermal film; due to the lack of pressure, it is not transferred to the paper.

Fig. No. 49.3 Worn bushing, side view Pay attention to the gray dust from the bushing; its presence can often be noticed even without disassembling the printer, upon careful inspection.

Fig. No. 49.4 On the left is a worn bushing, on the right is a new one.

Fig. No. 50 Quite an exotic case. There is thread wrapped around the transfer roller (left side) of the printer. As you can see in the image, the toner transfer on the left side of the sheet is not complete.

Fig. No. 51 Example of a faulty charge shaft in a cartridge. The charging shaft needs to be replaced. Be sure to attach a fingerprint to the cartridge, otherwise you risk receiving a cartridge with the same defect after refilling.

Fig. No. 52 Another example of a faulty charge shaft in a cartridge. The charging shaft needs to be replaced. Be sure to attach a fingerprint to the cartridge, otherwise you risk receiving a cartridge with the same defect after refilling.

Fig. No. 53 Another example of a faulty charge shaft in a cartridge. The charging shaft needs to be replaced. Be sure to attach a fingerprint to the cartridge, otherwise you risk receiving a cartridge with the same defect after refilling. All the lines, marks and strokes are caused by a damaged cartridge charge shaft.

Fig. No. 53.1 Also faulty charge shaft in the cartridge.

Fig. No. 53.2. Even slight dirt on the charge shaft can cause a defect in the print.

Fig. No. 53.3. When replacing the photodrum, the new photodrum is sprinkled with talc for lubrication, and if the talc gets on the charge shaft, then defects appear on the print where the talc sticks. I repeat once again that the charge shaft must be clean.

Fig. No. 53.4. Another example of talc getting on the cartridge charge shaft. This defect can be removed by cleaning the charge shaft, only without the use of aggressive liquids.

Fig. No. 54 This defect in the print (text smearing along the direction of the print) is caused by drying out of the lubricant under the thermal film of the printer and has nothing to do with the cartridge. The printer needs URGENT repair.

If you do not stop printing, then with such a malfunction, the printer gears wear out very quickly:

Fig. No. 54.1. The pendulum gear of the HP 4350 printer is completely worn out. The unit must be replaced.

Fig. No. 54.2. Wear of the rubber shaft drive gear. The gear needs to be replaced. To replace the pendulum assembly, the printer must be disassembled to the following state:

Fig. No. 54.3. Replacing the pendulum mechanism of the printer. As you can see, it is better to stop printing in time and call the service only for small, inexpensive repairs and, most importantly, quick repairs.

Fig. No. 55 Another exotic malfunction. The malfunction is very similar to a foreign object in the laser scanner (especially since live cockroaches were found in the MFP), but it was caused by a paper clip getting under the brake pad. When the sheet moved, the paper clip touched one end of the paper and the other to the chassis of the device, and in this place the toner was not applied to the photodrum. MFP requires prevention.

Fig. No. 56 When printing on drafts, be prepared to seriously spend on consumables. On the right side of the print there is damage to an expensive photodrum (the price of which is about 10,000 rubles) from staplers. As the saying goes, “the miser pays twice.” Please note that the printer itself costs about 25,000 rubles.

Fig. No. 57 The Teflon coating has been erased from the thermal film installed in the printer on the right. The printer needs repair.

Fig. No. 57.1 Same as Fig. No. 57 - damage to the thermal film, but more severe - part of the thermal film on the left is missing. The printer needs repair.

If you continue to print on a printer with such a malfunction, the fuser assembly (heater bed) and rubber (pressure) shaft may be damaged.

Fig. No. 57.2 Due to torn thermal film, accumulated, coked toner can damage the rubber pressure roller of the fuser.

Fig. No. 57.3. Further printing with a torn thermal film causes damage to the rubber shaft...

Fig. No. 58 Black sheet. It turns out that when refilling the cartridge, you forgot to put the charge shaft back or the contacts on this shaft are damaged. If the other cartridge also prints like this, then the printer is faulty. If there are white margins on a black sheet, then the printer is also faulty.

Fig. No. 59. If, after refilling color cartridges, a background or stripes appear, then the technology for refilling the cartridge may have been broken. In this case, it is necessary to change the gap of the metering blade in the cartridge. This can be done faster and better when a printer is available for testing.

Fig. No. 60. An example of a print after a poor-quality refill. Due to a violation of the charging technology, the photodrum gear was torn off. The cartridge requires refurbishment.

Fig. No. 61. Another example of poor-quality refilling - when refilling, toner was simply poured in without cleaning the waste toner bin. The cartridge needs to be refilled.

Fig. No. 62. Fingerprint from a dusty printer laser scanner. In this example, the red color is partially missing. The printer requires maintenance.

Fig. No. 63. Color shift when printing, HP 2600 printer. This defect occurs when using non-original HP cartridges. If calibrating the printer does not help (it needs to be done several times), then the cartridges must be replaced with original or refilled ones, but of high quality and with high-quality chips.

Fig. No. 64. Enlarged fragment Fig. No. 63. The color shift is clearly visible. In this case, this is how counterfeit cartridges behaved.

It is very important to clean the magnetic roller when refilling a cartridge; even a small foreign object on the magnetic roller can cause a defect in the printout. Of course, these are truisms, but they still need to be remembered. The image below shows a print with just such a defect - a foreign object hitting the magnetic shaft.

Fig. No. 65. The defect in the printout is caused by a foreign object hitting the magnetic shaft of the cartridge, or the magnetic shaft was not cleaned when refilling.

Fig. No. 66. In this case, a “mark” of toner appears on the photodrum.

Fig. No. 67. It was because of such an object that fell on the magnetic shaft (less than a millimeter in diameter) that this strip appeared.

Laser printers (in particular, HP models) are very reliable and easy-to-use devices. Any printing defects on paper, as a rule, arise due to violation of operating rules or wear and tear of cartridge parts, which we easily replace with new ones, giving another life to your cartridge and saving you from spending big on a new cartridge.

The most common defect is damage to the surfaces by a metal clip from a stapler, which was forgotten to be removed from a sheet of paper before printing.

How can you determine, looking at the printed sheet, which element requires immediate replacement? This is quite easy to do.

To begin with, here are sample printouts that indicate a clear lack of toner:

Figure No. 1 shows a sample of the classic end of toner in a cartridge; the print shows that, apart from text spaces, no other defects are visible. This cartridge can only be refilled.

Figure 2 also shows a sample print from a cartridge that only needs refilling. Note that the number of white stripes, their location and their width can be completely different - these parameters depend
on the amount of toner remaining in the cartridge. The result is refueling.

Rice. #3 is another example of a cartridge that has run out of toner. Refueling will correct the situation.

As you can see in Fig. No. 4, the print was made using a cartridge in which the toner reached a critically low level. To make sure of this, just remove the cartridge from the printer and shake it several times, then install it back into the printer and make a print; if the printing returns to normal, then you can safely take the cartridge to the refill station.

Fig. No. 5 shows a sample print made by a cartridge, which will only be damaged by refilling, not only the cartridge, but mostly the printer. If you look closely at the print, you will notice a dark stripe on the right along the edge of the sheet. As a rule, cartridge defects begin to appear at the edges of the image. This is due to the fact that the photosensitive drum installed in the cartridge experiences wear to a greater extent from the edges of the sheet, which, passing along its surface, grind off a thin layer of photosensitive varnish. Refilling such a cartridge will cause the stripe to be visible even more clearly, toner consumption will increase many times over, and wear on printer parts will increase due to toner getting inside.

In this case, we can recommend replacing the photosensitive drum and related parts + refilling. This operation is called cartridge restoration.

Fig. No. 6 - The same print, only refueling was done, as we can see the stripe not only became more visible, but also the number of stripes increased. This is due to the fact that after refilling, the toner began to flow in sufficient quantities to the cartridge mechanisms, and began to reach those places where it had not previously been present when there was a small amount of it. Therefore, be careful before taking the cartridge to a refill - after it you may find defects that you had not previously noticed. Therefore, I strongly advise you to include a printed sample along with the cartridge that you take to the gas station - an experienced refiller will immediately identify the problem and offer you options for solving it.

In this case, we can recommend replacing the photosensitive drum and related parts + refilling.

Fig. No. 7 The same cartridge, but its operation continued... The stripes on the right were joined by image defects on the left, as already mentioned, defects in the image begin to appear from the edges of the sheet.

In principle, restoration will correct the situation, but you must understand that such severe wear of the photosensitive drum could lead to wear and tear of other parts of the cartridge, the replacement of which is not included in the standard cartridge RESTORATION procedure.

Recommendation: if the restoration procedure for this cartridge has been performed more than once, then the cartridge should be recycled.
Next, we will consider defects caused by foreign objects (paper clips, grains of sand, etc.) getting on the surface of the photosensitive drum, which lead to mechanical damage to the surface of the photosensitive drum.

Fig. No. 9 is an example of a foreign body hitting a photosensitive drum, as a result of which the surface of the varnish (and the thickness of this surface is only tens of microns) with which the drum is coated was damaged, chipped, etc. This defect appears on the printout in the form of repeating black dots, marks, etc. The distance between them is about 76 millimeters. And even if the cartridge is completely new, there is only one way out - restoration. Therefore, it is very important to print only on good paper, do not use paper with staples, and do not keep flowers near the printer, the soil from their pots often gets into the printer and leads to similar defects. As a rule, together with damage to the photosensitive drum, damage occurs to printer elements, which do not appear immediately, but after some time, for example, the so-called thermal film may become damaged, and this is the repair of the printer. These points on the prints can be in completely different places, and their number can vary.

Fig. No. 10 - this is multiple damage to the photosensitive drum - this also means wear ( left-hand side sheet), and scratches (on the right side of the print). There is only one way out - restoration. Moreover, the indication for restoration is any recurring defect with a frequency of 76 millimeters (valid only for this cartridge).

Fig. No. 11 If you continue to use a cartridge with a damaged photosensitive drum (for example, with dots), then after a while all the points located on the same straight line will be connected by a line... The exit is restoration. The line occurs because a silicone blade slides along the photosensitive drum, which scrapes off the remaining toner from the drum; damage to the drum correspondingly damages the blade, on the working edge of which a scuff appears, and the edge of the blade in this place cannot clear the toner from the surface of the drum. This also causes toner to spill inside the printer.

Fig. No. 12 is also a defect in the photosensitive drum, although it is rare, but it does occur. In this case, the surface of the drum was illuminated, which is “afraid” of light, so it is strictly recommended to carry and store cartridges in black bags. It is enough for a cartridge to lie in the sunlight for twenty minutes without a package to render it unusable. The solution is restoration.

Fig. No. 13 - Here, on the contrary, we see not gaps, but repetitions of the image, moreover, in the upper part of the print we can see a characteristic many small dots (shown by an arrow). In this case, the defect is caused by the so-called charge roller, which works in conjunction with the photosensitive drum. Sometimes such points appear immediately after the cartridge is restored, this means that talc, which is used to sprinkle the drum, has gotten on the charge shaft, sometimes this happens on compatible cartridges for the same reason. In this situation, everything depends on the company where the cartridge is restored, because replacing the charge shaft is not included in standard list restoration work. As a rule, the refiller has in his arsenal a lot of charge shafts removed from old cartridges, but he is not obliged to change them, especially since the old charge shaft may not give the desired effect; replacing the charge shaft with a new one increases the cost of restoration. If such a defect is found on an old cartridge that has been restored more than once, then it is better to replace the cartridge.

Fig. No. 14 - In this case, there is toner in the cartridge, you can check this yourself by taking out the cartridge and shaking it vigorously several times, install it back and make a printout. If the picture does not change, then the so-called magnetic shaft may be to blame in this case. Or, when refilling, the spacer (tension) springs in the cartridge were poorly placed. Replacing the magnetic shaft is also not included in the standard restoration procedure, much less refueling; here you must point out the problem to the refueling operator yourself, showing him a printed sheet and explaining the situation. Otherwise, they will simply refill the cartridge and the result will be the same. Of course, there are cartridge analyzers, but not all companies can afford them... It is better to replace the cartridge.

Fig. No. 15 - This is a sample of printing on a printer in which the so-called thermal film is torn. This printing defect does not depend on the cartridge at all. The defect manifests itself as follows: part of the image is blurred throughout the entire sheet and often, if you run your finger over the blurred image, traces of toner remain on your finger. A blurred image can occur in any part of the sheet and depends on where the thermal film is torn. In this situation, you must stop printing immediately! The result is to call service or take the printer yourself for repair.

Fig. No. 16 - If we continue printing on a printer with such a malfunction, then we will see that the sheet will be damaged during printing. Moreover, the price of printer repair may increase if the user does not stop printing. The way out is to repair the printer.

Fig. No. 17 - If you continue to operate the printer with such a malfunction, the printer will no longer be able to ensure the passage of paper through its paths. The result is frequent paper jams inside the printer. The printer needs repair.

A jam can also occur due to a build-up of toner along the paper path, which prevents its smooth movement.

Fig. No. 17.1 Toner build-up. The printer needs maintenance.

Fig. No. 18 - The same thermal film that is damaged. On the left, the arrows show damage to the film due to the presence of staples on the paper, which happens very often when printing on drafts. On the right there is an oval circle around the area of the thermal film, which was “pierced” so many times with paper clips that it came off and it is the missing part that “smudges” the image.

Fig. No. 19 - Often the film breaks in the most bizarre way and the user can often notice that pieces of this film come out of the printer along with the paper.

Fig. No. 20 - The same piece of film that the user can notice.
Consider the following sample - such a defect is caused by a part of the cartridge called the charge shaft. If you find such a defect, be sure to attach a printed sample to it when taking the cartridge to the refill station so that the refiller can understand the problem. Otherwise, you may just end up with a refilled cartridge with the same problem.

Fig. No. 21 Malfunction of the charge shaft. The charge shaft needs to be replaced.
The following print defect is caused by a foreign object getting inside the cartridge. It is also advisable to attach a fingerprint to the cartridge.

Fig. No. 22 - particles of dirt (paper dust, various crumbs) getting under the cleaning mechanism of the photosensitive drum. Pay attention to the dots located on the left side of the print - this is toner spilling out of the waste toner bin. Usually the defect disappears when you clean the cartridge. If you continue to use such a cartridge (Fig. No. 22), the defect will intensify.

Fig. No. 23 The dots are already merging into a wide line; as a rule, with such a malfunction, the photosensitive drum is already damaged and must be replaced

The following malfunction is present on Q2612 cartridges (HP 1010-1012-1015-1018-1020 printers) and MFPs that use such a cartridge. It should be noted that the defect can also occur on other types of cartridges.

Fig. No. 24 - The photosensitive drum needs to be replaced. If the cartridge has been refilled several times, it is better to replace it, because such a defect may be caused by wear of the cartridge body. (The socket for the photodrum axis is broken)
The following malfunction shown in Fig. No. 24.1 also often appears on the Q2612 cartridge and is caused by damage to the contact on the photodrum (wide dark stripes on the right) and on the primary charge roller (narrow black stripes), plus a continuous black stripe on the right is damage to the photodrum.

Below in Fig. No. 24.2 is a print of a printer test page made on this cartridge:

In Fig. No. 24.3 there is a print of the same cartridge with restored contact on the primary charge roller:

Fig. No. 24.3 The contact on the primary charge roller has been restored, but the defect of the photodrum remains.

Fig. No. 24.4 shows a print of the same cartridge after restoration. Those. after replacing the photodrum and squeegee.

Fig. No. 24.4, to summarize, if black transverse stripes appear on the print due to poor contact on the primary charge roller (Fig. No. 24.1), then most likely the cartridge was refilled poorly, namely, the inside of the cartridge body was not cleaned of toner.
Fig. No. 24.5 Poor cartridge refilling - the waste hopper is not cleaned.

Fig. No. 24.5 The waste hopper was not cleaned during refueling. Toner spills not only inside the printer, which will lead to printer failure, but also inside the cartridge, gets on the high-voltage contacts, “saws through” the photoconductor and the primary charge roller. If we continue to print on such a cartridge, we will see the picture shown in Fig. No. 24.6 (if the printer does not fail first)

Fig. No. 24.6 Cuts on the photodrum and the primary charge roller. If you replace only the photoconductor, the defect will remain. It is necessary to replace the primary charge roller along with the photodrum.
Fig. No. 24.7 enlarged fragment Fig. No. 24.6

Fig. No. 24.7 Horizontal stripes - there is no contact on the primary charge roller, vertical stripes - “cuts” of the photodrum.

Fig. No. 24.8 Contamination of the contact on the charge shaft in the cartridge. To get rid of horizontal stripes, you need to clean the conductive bushing of the charge shaft, for example, with a cotton swab, as shown below:

Fig. No. 24.9. It is enough to wipe the conductive bushing and the horizontal stripes will disappear.

Fig. No. 24.9. In this case, the contact to the photodrum is lost. There are possible solutions to the problem, from restoring contact to replacing the photodrum and cartridge.
It happens that when a cartridge is taken to/from a refill station, it is dropped, and we see the following picture when printing:

Fig. No. 25 Imprint of a cartridge after it was dropped or hit hard. When dropped, the seals are damaged, which prevent the toner from spilling out of the cartridge. Depending on the location of damage to the seals, toner may spill out in different places of the cartridge, leaving wide stripes of varying thickness and location on the print. This cartridge can be repaired. In Fig. No. 25, the toner spills out on the right.

Fig. No. 25.1 Same as Fig. No. 25 - print of the cartridge after a fall.

On the next print we see two defects at once - lack of toner in the cartridge and damage to the thermal film in the printer.

Fig. No. 26 A wide white stripe in the center of the print is a lack of toner in the cartridge, a thin gray stripe on the right is a defect in the thermal film. Summary: the printer needs repair, and the cartridge only needs refilling.

Another example of a print from a cartridge in which the photosensitive drum has reached its maximum wear. Let us remind you once again that printing with such a cartridge leads to maximum toner consumption and subsequently leads to printer failure.

Fig. No. 27 Maximum wear of the photosensitive drum. The cartridge requires restoration. The following print shows damage to the photosensitive drum around the entire circumference. All the dots that are visible on the print are defects in the photosensitive drum.

Fig. No. 28 The photosensitive drum is damaged. Please note that all the dots on the print are repeated and not randomly located; this indicates a defect in the photosensitive drum, and not the toner compaction system. The cartridge needs to be restored.

Fig. No. 28.1 Same as Fig. No. 28, all dots on the print indicate damage to the photosensitive drum. In this case, the repeat between all points is 76 mm.
If your laser printer has not been serviced for a long time, then a print like the one shown in Figure No. 29 may appear.

Fig. No. 29 The appearance of such a print indicates that the printer needs urgent repair. On the print we see that the text seems to be smeared downwards as the print moves in the printer. If you continue to print on a printer with such a malfunction, then after a while the thermal film in the printer breaks and the cost of repairs increases by the cost of the thermal film. Below in Fig. No. 30 an enlarged fragment of Fig. No. 29 is shown

Fig. No. 30 is an enlarged fragment of Fig. No. 29, it is clear that the letters are smeared. This is due to the fact that the missing lubricant under the thermal film slows down its rotation and the text and image are blurred. The result is that the printer needs urgent repair.

Fig. No. 31 This defect occurs when the laser diode current in the laser-scanner unit of the printer drops. The print appears uniformly faded.

Below in Fig. No. 32 an enlarged fragment of Fig. No. 31 is shown

Fig. No. 32 We see on the print that there is no uniform black fill. The lines of the laser diode beam on a black background are also clearly visible. The printer needs repair. However, it happens that a refilled or remanufactured cartridge, as well as a compatible cartridge, produces a similar defect.
After the operation to raise the laser diode beam, the same print looks like this:

Fig. No. 33 The laser diode current is adjusted. Below in Fig. No. 34 an enlarged fragment of Fig. No. 33 is shown

The next print shown in Fig. No. 35 shows us contamination - dust on the laser scanner unit. The print becomes pale and lacks contrast. In some ways it is similar to the print in Fig. No. 31

Fig. No. 35 The laser scanner unit is dusty. The printer requires maintenance. Below in Fig. No. 36 an enlarged fragment of Fig. No. 35 is shown

Fig. No. 36 Dusty laser scanner unit. Unlike the drop in current of the laser diode beam (Fig. No. 31), there are no clear lines of the laser line against a dark background.
The following print, Fig. No. 37, shows a defect in the thermal film. The defect is similar to a cartridge malfunction, but by measuring the repetition between the defects (9.42 cm, valid only for this thermal film!), it turns out that this defect is caused by the thermal film (the diameter of the thermal film of the HP 4250 printer is 3 centimeters).

Fig. No. 37. Thermal film defect. The printer needs repair.

The following print shows both a cartridge and printer defect:

Fig. No. 38. Dark background, horizontal black lines - this is how the periodically missing contact on the photosensitive drum manifests itself. Depending on the type of damage, it is necessary to replace the photosensitive drum or the entire cartridge. The vertical light “lines” on the left are caused by a defect in the thermal film. Bottom line: the printer needs repair, and the cartridge needs to be restored or replaced.

Fig. No. 39. Another example of a photosensitive drum malfunction.

Fig. No. 39. The photosensitive drum is worn out or exposed to light. On the print we observe repetitions of the image with the repetition period of the photosensitive drum. The cartridge needs to be restored.

The following print shows us that the cartridge was not refilled correctly.

Fig. No. 40. During refilling, the waste toner bin was not cleaned and toner begins to spill out of it. In addition to a dirty print, this leads to excessive wear on the photosensitive drum. The cartridge needs to be refilled.

Fig. No. 41. The following defect:

Fig. No. 41. Lost contact on the charge shaft. General “looseness” of cartridge elements, bushings, contacts, etc. It is advisable to replace the cartridge.

Fig. No. 42. Sometimes the printer prints “abracadabra” instead of text.

Fig. No. 42. In this case, the printer driver has failed. If turning the printer off and on does not help, then try setting the downloadable fonts option in the print settings - Control Panel - Printers and Faxes - Printer Properties - Advanced tab - Defaults button - Location tab - Advanced button - Graphics section - parameter TrueType font— change the value to Loaded font, if this does not help, then you need to reinstall the printer driver. You can also try changing the driver to PCL 5e

Figures No. 43-No. 44 show prints made with cartridges that were mistakenly filled with the wrong toner:

Fig. No. 43-44. The HP cartridge contained toner for cartridges from other printer manufacturers. The cartridge needs to be refilled.

The material was prepared by “colleagues in the shop” from http://www.testcopy.ru/ For which we thank them very much.

Has your laser printer (MFP) cartridge begun to print poorly or faded, and this has not been fixed?

Did the service center advise you to change the photodrum? Is it worth changing it? And what is this anyway?

We will try to help you understand this issue.

The photodrum part itself is an aluminum tube coated with a glossy photoconductive material that serves as a photoconductor. The sides of the drum are equipped with plastic gears.

Speaking in simple language, the photodrum is perhaps one of the most important elements that make up a laser cartridge, on which the quality and brightness of text or pictures directly depends. Its function is to receive an image (or text) sent for printing from toner on its surface and transfer this image to a sheet of paper.

The image drum is not always located directly in the cartridge. There are also printer models whose drums are located in a separate module - a drum unit (or, in other words, a photodrum module).

The service life of a photodrum cannot be calculated in advance based on a certain number of refills or printed sheets. Because The photoconductor is a consumable item, no one can give you a guarantee that the cartridge will print perfectly all the time. service center. The fact is that drum wear directly depends not only on the frequent use of the cartridge, but also on the quality of the paper and toner passing through it. It often turns out that the cartridge is not used so often, but after the first refill of the cartridge you are recommended to replace the photoconductor. The fact is that manufacturers are trying to reduce the use of the cartridge to a “one-time cycle”. This was done so that the client would buy a new cartridge each time rather than refill it. Accordingly, manufacturers do not supply the highest quality consumables... Especially if the cartridge is compatible and not original.

Cartridge wear depends on many factors. The fault may be the paper you use, the printing mode installed on your printer, as well as the influence of external factors (exposure to direct sunlight on the photodrum, which leads to its exposure, ingress of foreign objects leading to scratches and dents, impacts, leading to chips on the surface of the photobranch). For the sake of experiment, you can “print” several thousand clean sheets paper containing no filling! As a result, the photodrum will wear out (its coating layer will be erased), and the cartridge itself will remain full of toner. For example, the HP 505A cartridge requires replacement of the photodrum approximately once every 2-3 refills, and for the increased volume of the HP 505X cartridge - every time the cartridge is refilled. The fact is that the wear of consumables in a cartridge of increased volume is approximately 2 times greater (due to big amount printed sheets per refill) than usual, therefore, their replacement is required almost every time it is refueled.

- How do you understand that it’s time to change the drum (photodrum), and is it worth changing it at all?

If the print becomes faded, longitudinal black stripes or dots appear along the edges, or other defects appear, in most cases it is the photodrum.

- Is it worth changing it? Or is it easier to buy a new cartridge?

Definitely worth it If only the drum is worn out, then the cost of replacing it is much cheaper than buying a new cartridge. But,if other components of the cartridge are worn out, then restoring it is not always cost-effective, and it will be easier and cheaper to buy, for example, a new compatible cartridge, because A compatible cartridge is significantly cheaper than the original cartridge.

Also, it is not always recommended to replace the photodrum, together with other elements, on compatible cartridges, since replacing these parts with refills (the work done) may cost more than buying the same new compatible cartridge.

Will it be cost-effective for you to restore and refill the cartridge, or should you think about buying a new one? We will do everything possible to ensure that your cartridges last as long as possible. - this is our main profile!

Always in stock most cartridge models! HP, Samsung, Xerox, Kyocera, Brother, Panasonic, Ricoh and other models.

The photodrum has the form of a metal cylinder, on the surface of which there is a special photoconductive material. The photodrum is one of the main and most important elements of the printer. The image drum can be located in the printer, or it can be on the cartridge itself. From time to time it may become unusable, and for the continued operation of the printer it is necessary to replace it.

The photodrum is available for sale in specialized stores, but you need to know the exact model of the printer so as not to make the wrong choice or waste money. Issued universal models photoconductors, which are manufactured third party companies, as well as certain models for certain types of printer. However, in order to protect the printer from breakage or damage to other parts, it is recommended to purchase an original model of the photoconductor. If you use a drum model from another manufacturer, this may leave a mark on the operation of the printer, print quality and the life of the equipment.

If the photodrum is installed in the cartridge itself, refilling laser cartridges is recommended within 4 times, after which it is recommended to use a new cartridge where the new photodrum will be installed.

You can also buy a photocoupler separately for further installation in an old cartridge, and then you can refill the printer several more times. The photosensitive layer of the photodrum can be restored, but this is done under special conditions.

Causes of photodrum failure

When the printer operates for a long time, the photo roll begins to wear out and it begins to perform its main functions incorrectly. All this is reflected in the print. Replacement of the photoconductor is necessary if its defects become noticeable during printing. If nothing is done, these defects will become distinct and cyclical. These may be darker stripes. Print quality may noticeably deteriorate. You can replace the photoconductor yourself, but there is a high probability of damage during installation; then a faulty photoconductor will work in the printer, which can lead to incorrect operation other printer components.

The image drum can wear out due to several factors:

the quality of the paper and its type do not correspond to the recommended;
laser printers were refilled with the wrong toner;
the device has a malfunction;
there were problems with the operation of the cartridge;
The cleaning blade has become unusable.

These factors can affect how quickly the image drum wears out. It is necessary to try to figure out what caused such wear and tear on the photodrum, since replacing it with a new one will only be a waste. since this element will also very quickly become unusable.

The operating time of the photoconductor depends on the operating temperature of the printer. On average, an image drum should be enough to print approximately 25 thousand pages. The number of pages printed may be less than this value due to the effects of the above factors on the drum unit and other critical printer components.

I am glad to welcome you to the site site. In this article I will show how to change the drum with a chip on the CE314A unit, and also describe the process of removing or replacing cartridges from HP CLJ Pro M176/M177 printers. By the way, if you need instructions for refilling these cartridges, click.

How to get or change HP M176 cartridges

Replacing cartridges.

You can always see the level of toner remaining on the chip on the screen of the M176 and by clicking the “Toner” icon on the M177.

If you need to remove a cartridge, you need to press the button for changing cartridge positions.

On the screen you will see the message “Moving ..... cartridge.” The cartridges move in order, so if you see the wrong color on the screen, then press the cartridge change button again, or several times, until you get the desired result.

If you need to get several cartridges, or all cartridges. Then your actions will be in the following order:

We chose to move the desired cartridge, opened the lid, and took out the cartridge.
Close the lid and press the cartridge movement button one or more times. Open the lid and take out the cartridge.
Repeat procedure No. 2 once or twice.

Insert the cartridges in the same way, but to be completely sure, when you insert the cartridges, pay attention to the color of the sticker on the right side so as not to confuse the colors.

The HP CLJ Pro M177 printer has a slightly simpler process. Here you need to click on the toner icon (on the touch panel).

To remove the cartridge you need, simply click on the appropriate icon and the printer will move the cartridge to allow removal.

Replacing the drum and chip in the CE314A unit.

To remove DRUM from the MFP, lift the scanner unit and the cartridge compartment cover. The drum unit is located at the front, hook the front cover on the left side of the paper tray and lift it up.

Pull the DRUM CE314A towards you by the handle. If you are changing the entire unit, then simply replace the old one with a new one, having first removed all the protective packaging tapes from it. In this case, we will change the photo roller and chip, since this is much cheaper and without loss of print quality.

Removing the drum is very simple, unscrew two bolts on both sides, remove both side covers, and the drum will roll out on its own.

But simply changing the photo shaft is not enough; here we still have to clean the parts and the waste bin. If you do not do this, in the future you will have dirty printing, since the waste toner, due to the overfilling of the hopper, will appear on the image transfer belt and, accordingly, on the paper.

Remove the charge roller and clean it with a dry cloth.

Next we need to remove the squeegee, but the orange tape prevents us from unscrewing the bolts (I honestly don’t know what role it plays here, perhaps the tape cleans the charge roller). We carefully peel it off, trying not to stain the gluing area (in order to glue it back later).

Unscrew the two bolts and remove the squeegee. As you can see in the photo, I have practically no waste, but this is only because I changed the drum three weeks ago (then the waste bin was almost full), and today I just took it apart for the article.

We pour out the waste toner and clean all the parts. Wipe only the metal part of the squeegee; toner should remain on the rubber edge for normal sliding of the photo roller on the squeegee.

We put all the parts back together. Twist the squeegee and stick the orange tape in place. We install the charge roller, lubricate it on the white bushing side with regular grease, and on the black side with conductive lubricant.

In the next photo we see a new drum and chip, which is designed for 14,000 prints. We install the new drum and secure it with the side covers, tighten the bolts.

All we have to do is change the chip. It is as easy to change as when refilling cartridges. Pry it from above with a screwdriver (your fingernail) and push it out. Insert the new chip into the slots. If it's loose in the grooves, I usually put a piece of paper underneath.

We put DRUM in place in the printer and continue to enjoy color printing!!!

Updated: January 11, 2018 by: admin

The disassembled Brother DR2275 drum unit will look like this. How to understand when it's time to change the photoconductor When you need to change the drum in the printer

Has your laser printer (MFP) cartridge begun to print poorly or faded, and this has not been fixed?

Always in stock most cartridge models! HP, Samsung, Xerox, Kyocera, Brother, Panasonic, Ricoh and other models.

Causes of photodrum failure

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