[PLUG] HP Color LaserJet 2500L: no color printing

Keith Lofstrom keithl at kl-ic.com
Fri Aug 3 05:14:08 UTC 2018


On Wed, Aug 01, 2018 at 02:37:37PM -0700, Rich Shepard wrote:
>   My 2500L worked well but I've not used it for many months. Two color
> cartridges (black and yellow) needed replacing so when a color page printed
> in greyscale yesterday I wasn't surprised. Today I changed both cartridges
> and discovered that I still cannot get it to print in color.

If your HP2500L is like my HP2605, there is a fan that goes
between the laser compartment and the compartment holding
the four toner cartridges.  Black cartridge on top, yes?

If you move the printer around with toner cartridges still
installed, the toner cartridges may leak.  Through the fan
holes, onto the mirrors in the laser compartment.  This
scatters the laser light rather than focusing it through
the windows onto the toner drums.  This happened to three
of my 2605s.  I haven't had time to open them up and
clean them yet - a multihour process, because the laser
compartment is buried under MANY circuit boards and cables.

The black laser window is on top, and gets opaqued last.
Toner leaks also happen with old cartridges with old
rubber and leaky seals.

UGLY, UGLY mechanical design.  Makes British sports cars
look repairable by comparison.

I am contemplating a hack; rather than removing a zillion
boards every time I fix, I open it up once and cut a BIG
hole through the aluminum bottom of the printer, so I can
reach in through the hole to clean the mirrors, or just
drop the whole laser and mirror assembly.  I haven't had
time to explore this yet.  I imagine this requires making
an aluminum gasket ring with PEM nuts and countersunk screw
holes through the the original bottom. 

An enormous waste of time, but a cool hack.

Also a filter over the fan.  What the HELL was HP thinking?


Realistically, I must abandon all my HP2605s and buy a new
printer.  Duplexing and Postscript 3 and ethernet required,
big cheap toner cartridges with third-party knockoffs also.
I hope to find something 10-year durable; it may take that
long to recover from a trade war with China.  Sadly, most
new printers are designed for a three year mechanical life.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com



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