The Madness of Prowler

I'm not unique in this. But every since I was a kid, I liked taking things apart. I'd get a new toy and first I'd do is take a screwdriver to it. Okay, maybe not first thing. I got a Millennium Falcon for my birthday or Hanukkah, I don't remember which, and the noises didn't work. So we were going to take it back to the store and exchange it. Not being as wise to such things as I am now, I took it apart... and fixed it. Pretty sure we still lived in Maryland so I couldn't have been older than 9 or 10 at the time. But my time line may be flawed.

Anyway, this has always been how I am. I build my own computers. Never got into this sort of thing with cars, although I have installed a few car stereos. I like doing electronic work myself, I wish I'd learned more about electronics when I was in college. Sometimes, I am very hands on.

On the flip side, I get frustrated when things don't go as planned. This printer is driving me slightly batty. I know I put some screws back in the wrong place, but I cannot find a reference to tell me which ones are wrong and that's very frustrating. It's minor. There are three types of self tapping screws. Black 8mm, black 10mm, and silver 12mm screws. Four of the silver 12mm screws are used on the plastic housing. And sometimes in the instructions, it refers to the black self tapping screws. There is only one black 8mm screw and I made careful not of where it goes. I made notes a few other places also. But I've clearly swapped some of the 10 amd 12mm screws, I don't think this is affecting functionality.

I've also now learned I didn't need to take nearly as much apart to get to the part I eventually needed to replace. I feel kind of stupid. And I figured out how to make the printer work without putting EVERYTHING back. Makes troubleshooting much easier. I'm very proud of myself... somewhat.

I failed to repair a printer today. But I do have 3 extra screws... can't figure out where they came from.

Sokay, tomorrow, I'll take it apart again and try again. I likely forgot to plug something in. It's telling me there's a paper jam.

EDIT: I fixed the problem that made the printer think there's a paper jam. Printer print and is nice and quiet. However it now claims there is a jam if I try to print from Tray 2. Tray 1 (Manual Feed) and Tray 3 work fine. Tray 2 would be where the part I replaced went. The upper paper pick up drive assembly. So I may take the thing apart again and make sure I've got that installed right. But it is nice and quiet.

Only other problem is the duplexer jams when I try to print on two sides. Could be a) problem where the printer feeds paper to the duplexer, b) problem with the duplexer, c) crap ass paper. I'm using some good paper I have so I doubt it's C. I'm wondering how they'd feel at work if I brought in my duplexer and plugged it into a printer there. :)

But now... sleep.

I recently acquired an HP LaserJet 4050 TN. The printer crinkles paper as it passes through. I believe it's the fuser as it appears there is something wrapped around the roller.

I'm looking for a used fuser from one of these printers or at least one that fits. One that needs to be replaced but still has one or two pages left in it. Just enough to check the paper path of the printer. If anyone has access to one or expects to in the near future, I'd appreciate having one that's about to go in the garbage. Will save me $200 if I don't need to spend it.

Thanks.


EDIT: Hah! I fixed it! And it was the fuser... but I got the crap off of it. :)