Homebrew PCBs

I picked up an old HP LJ-III that the owner didn't
care to get fixed. Understandably, since it had toner
encrusted everywhere inside and giving error messages.
After cleaning it up and replacing the fuser from a
junked unit it still had issues with the pickup
roller. It was worn down and dried out with lots of
little cracks and a glassy appearance. On a lucky day
it might move one sheet in ten a cm or two, not enough
to get it into the printer. The one in the junk unit
was in an equally sorry state.

Washing and treating with glycerine didn't do any
good. It seems to have lost a bit of diameter due to
wear and drying out. By the look of the cracks the
drying out is quite deep so sanding down to fresh
rubber would probably have made things worse. Anyway,
I hate doing irreversible mods to hard-to-replace
parts unless I'm sure it's needed and will work.

After a bit of brain-storming I cut off a piece of
bicycle inner tubing slightly longer than the roller.
The tubing is a bit narrower than the roller so it
gives a nice tight fit. Turning the mouth of the tube
inside out makes it easier to thread it over the
roller. It helps that it's covered with talcum making
it slick and and easy to push on. Wipe off as much of
the talcum from the outside as possible, it will
become the inside, the talcum on the inside (shortly
outside) helps slipping it over. Carefully trim the
edges with a sharp knife.

Even after wiping off the talcum it's still kind of
slick but now I have no compunction giving it a good
going over with sand paper rubbing off the slippery
parts. If something goes wrong I still have the intact
part and can try it over again.

The result? Perfect! The roller has a nice rough
rubber surface at what seems to be the original
diameter. It's picked up every single sheet for months
now without failure. Even better, when and if needed I
can do it again and still have the cake, er, the
original part.

- YD.


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