[tlug] on 'Mechanics...' and selecting printers

["Micheal E Cooper" <network-admin@example.com>]

Our General Affairs was using a Canon laser that prints fine, but the
rubber roller has tiny cracks in the surface and feels dry and hard. It
just wouldn't feed anymore, so we replaced it with a cheaper model. Five
years old.

Around the same time, one of our oldest printers, an HP LJ5M, finally gave
up the ghost. It just won't feed paper anymore. Same thing. Funny roller.
Maybe 8 years old, if not 10.

It seems like the rubber just dries up and hardens with time. They should
be replaceable. Do you think there is some way to maintain their
elasticity?

I write because I am also replacing 5 crucial HP LaserJet printers in the
school, and I have decided to go with the successor models to these
machines, but at 160,000 yen for an LJ4250, the bean-counters point to the
replacement Canon for General Affairs that only cost 70,000.

I told the budgeteers that those HPs lasted a good long time, and the
cheaper printers don't. After reading your post, I was thinking that one
of the reasons for this longevity might be the roller quality. The HP
LJ5000N units I am replacing still print after 4 years of constant use and
NO REGULAR MAINTENANCE (no HP guy coming once a month).

Oh, and by the way, the air here is relatively clean... rural Miyazaki.

> Back to the cause of the paper feed going bad... the only thing that
> comes to mind is the air... I once bought some old enlarging equipment
> from a guy who used to live in Los Angeles, California, and he claimed
> that the rubber parts were in bad condition due to the polluted air in
> LA (we were up in Northern California at the time of the conversation).
> Since the rubber feed rollers on the old machines that I've broken down
> have had a damaged surface (hard to explain exactly, the surface looks
> slightly different and isn't as smooth as it was when the machines were
> new), I have to wonder if that could be cause rubber degenerating faster
> than it should.