Laser printer restorations can be challenging. See some of the challenges you might face, and solutions for them, as we restore this HP LaserJet II.
I tucked this Vintage HP LaserJet II away about 15 years ago and have not touched it since. Now that it has passed its 30th birthday I thought it would be fun to get her up and running again.
Since I don’t see a lot of retro computing videos that feature printers, I thought this would be a good subject for our first RavenWolf Retro Tech project.
I saved an oddball collection of NoS parts and a couple toner cartridges so it should be doable (Although a 20-year-old old toner cartridge is likely to have issues). The video above shows the process in fixing the feeding issues. and getting a test page to print.
Fixing the Print Quality
Another common issue, if not the most common, is the toner cartridge. This cartridge contains a huge part of the imaging system. In the Canon SX engine the cartridge contains most of the charge, development & cleaning systems.
Fixing the toner cartridge ended up being a greater challenge than the printer. It took a couple weeks of searching to find a donor cartridge for parts to fix the original HP one I had on hand. This short video documents the process.
Fixing the Noisy Bits
The prints were great but the squeaks and groans had to go!
After fixing the print quality issues I am turning my sights on the noisy fan and printer mechanisms. I need to clean and lubricate the lower case fan along with numerous gears in the printers feed systems.
Testing
Finding Parts
Finding parts for old printers can be a challenge. I can suggest a few places to look:
- Picking up extra machines for parts is often the least expensive
- eBay can have some parts, depending on the model
- I see some websites selling parts but have yet to try them
- Try calling smaller, local, service companies as they often have old parts
It is often easier to find parts by the part number. As I restore old printers I will add lists of common parts, such as this post of common HP LaserJet II, IID, III, IIID & Apple LaserWriter II parts.
Error Codes
Error codes on early printers are just a cryptic number. Solving these issues can be tough without the error information so we have created a list of common error codes for you to use.
