Help! Loose spring in HP LJ III

I tried to print a couple of Usenet messages and the 'out of
paper' message came on in my HP LJ III. I pulled out the
paper drawer and I saw it had paper. A sheet remained in the
printer. I pulled it out from the rollers and it had heavy
toner in a diagonal streak about an inch in at the farthest
point on the left portion of the entering edge. Evidently it
had been trying to print there. And a coil sping rolled out, from
the right side if I remember shudder - heavy wire (about 20 or
18 AWG), 1/4" loop at each end, 1 " long coil, 1/4" in diameter.I
looked but don't see anything obvious, or any springs like it.
Any guesses to help me along? I've not pulled off the case - yet.
I've not been in this printer for years and can't remember what
springs I've seen where. I don't know anyone with one I can look
at.

This morning I tried the printer in test mode to print the font
list and it worked - all six or so pages with no problem! Now
what? That spring must go somewhere! What would you do? I'm
afraid I'll damage the printer running it without that spring.

I've gotten no response in the HP hardware newsgroup.

TIA

Ken

"Ken Knecht" wrote in message
.202...
I tried to print a couple of Usenet messages and the 'out of
paper' message came on in my HP LJ III. I pulled out the
paper drawer and I saw it had paper. A sheet remained in the
printer. I pulled it out from the rollers and it had heavy
toner in a diagonal streak about an inch in at the farthest
point on the left portion of the entering edge. Evidently it
had been trying to print there. And a coil sping rolled out, from
the right side if I remember shudder - heavy wire (about 20 or
18 AWG), 1/4" loop at each end, 1 " long coil, 1/4" in diameter.I
looked but don't see anything obvious, or any springs like it.
Any guesses to help me along? I've not pulled off the case - yet.
I've not been in this printer for years and can't remember what
springs I've seen where. I don't know anyone with one I can look
at.

This morning I tried the printer in test mode to print the font
list and it worked - all six or so pages with no problem! Now
what? That spring must go somewhere! What would you do? I'm
afraid I'll damage the printer running it without that spring.

Check out www.printerworks.com they have online drawings. The only thing I
can think of is the solinoid springs located on the right side mounted on
the powersupply. There's also a spring in the latch for the cover, that
could be it since the printer still seems to work, maybe the spring caused
the jam.

"Mike" wrote in
t:


"Ken Knecht" wrote in message
.202...
I tried to print a couple of Usenet messages and the 'out
of paper' message came on in my HP LJ III. I pulled out the
paper drawer and I saw it had paper. A sheet remained in
the printer. I pulled it out from the rollers and it had
heavy toner in a diagonal streak about an inch in at the
farthest point on the left portion of the entering edge.
Evidently it had been trying to print there. And a coil
sping rolled out, from the right side if I remember
shudder - heavy wire (about 20 or 18 AWG), 1/4" loop at
each end, 1 " long coil, 1/4" in diameter.I looked but
don't see anything obvious, or any springs like it. Any
guesses to help me along? I've not pulled off the case -
yet. I've not been in this printer for years and can't
remember what springs I've seen where. I don't know anyone
with one I can look at.

This morning I tried the printer in test mode to print the
font list and it worked - all six or so pages with no
problem! Now what? That spring must go somewhere! What
would you do? I'm afraid I'll damage the printer running it
without that spring.

Check out www.printerworks.com they have online drawings.
The only thing I can think of is the solinoid springs
located on the right side mounted on the powersupply.
There's also a spring in the latch for the cover, that could
be it since the printer still seems to work, maybe the
spring caused the jam.


Thanks for the URL.

I'm working my way through the drawings, but no luck yet. Not all
that many springs though.

It's a different kind of spring than the two on the latch. With
the 'hood' up, look at the right and left side at the bottom of
the hood and you'll see two really big coil springs. On the left
side, one of these springs has another coil spring in front of
it. The spring I found is about like this in shape, but maybe one
or two gauges thinner wire and the coil is about half the
diameter. It works by pulling, like a screen-door spring.

By the power supply solonoid springs do you mean the lever at the
right at the rear that gets pushed down when the hood is down?
That has a spring like mine on it but about a third the size and
much thinner wire. I don't see any other coil springs on the
right side. Nor any coil on the left for that matter, except
those three little upright coils grouped about a third of the way
back (I think the cartridge presses on them).

I was thinking, since the spring rolled out when I pulled out
that jammed sheet of paper, it has to come from somewhere either
in the front where the paper drawer plugs in or before the
cartridge. Unless it rolled in from the back somewhere, which
looks kind of unlikely.

I started to pull off the case and then remembered the problems I
had with the pushbuttons last time I did that. I think I'll hold
off for now.

I tried the printer again and it printed fonts fine, If I can't
find anything pictured in the drawings I'm very very tempted to
run it without the spring. But I'm pretty sure I'll regret it.

Ken

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 17:06:49 GMT, Ken Knecht
wrote:

I tried to print a couple of Usenet messages and the 'out of
paper' message came on in my HP LJ III. I pulled out the
paper drawer and I saw it had paper. A sheet remained in the
printer. I pulled it out from the rollers and it had heavy
toner in a diagonal streak about an inch in at the farthest
point on the left portion of the entering edge. Evidently it
had been trying to print there. And a coil sping rolled out, from
the right side if I remember shudder - heavy wire (about 20 or
18 AWG), 1/4" loop at each end, 1 " long coil, 1/4" in diameter.I
looked but don't see anything obvious, or any springs like it.
Any guesses to help me along? I've not pulled off the case - yet.
I've not been in this printer for years and can't remember what
springs I've seen where. I don't know anyone with one I can look
at.

This morning I tried the printer in test mode to print the font
list and it worked - all six or so pages with no problem! Now
what? That spring must go somewhere! What would you do? I'm
afraid I'll damage the printer running it without that spring.

I've gotten no response in the HP hardware newsgroup.

TIA

Ken

Almost sounds as if it's one of the springs holding the rollers on the
registration assembly. Easy to check this. Open your cover, and if you
look straight down, you'll see the registration assembly (long silver
roller on bottom and a long rubber roller on top as well as a long and
thinner rubber roller ahead of it. There are 4 black screws holding
this assembly in place, 2 on each side. Remove them and pull the
assembly out. Check both sides. If one has a spring wrapped around one
end of the assembly and the other doesn't, there is the problem. The
spring could laso have come out of the cartridge perhaps. Good luck.

Frank

On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 06:41:26 GMT, hath writ:
On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 17:06:49 GMT, Ken Knecht
wrote:

I tried to print a couple of Usenet messages and the 'out of
paper' message came on in my HP LJ III. I pulled out the
paper drawer and I saw it had paper. A sheet remained in the
printer. I pulled it out from the rollers and it had heavy
toner in a diagonal streak about an inch in at the farthest
point on the left portion of the entering edge. Evidently it
had been trying to print there. And a coil sping rolled out, from
the right side if I remember shudder - heavy wire (about 20 or
18 AWG), 1/4" loop at each end, 1 " long coil, 1/4" in diameter.I
looked but don't see anything obvious, or any springs like it.
Any guesses to help me along? I've not pulled off the case - yet.
I've not been in this printer for years and can't remember what
springs I've seen where. I don't know anyone with one I can look
at.

This morning I tried the printer in test mode to print the font
list and it worked - all six or so pages with no problem! Now
what? That spring must go somewhere! What would you do? I'm
afraid I'll damage the printer running it without that spring.

Almost sounds as if it's one of the springs holding the rollers on the
registration assembly. Easy to check this. Open your cover, and if you
look straight down, you'll see the registration assembly (long silver
roller on bottom and a long rubber roller on top as well as a long and
thinner rubber roller ahead of it. There are 4 black screws holding
this assembly in place, 2 on each side. Remove them and pull the
assembly out. Check both sides. If one has a spring wrapped around one
end of the assembly and the other doesn't, there is the problem.

The spring could laso have come out of the cartridge perhaps. Good luck.

And, it could be a Spring From Nowhere. :-) It could simply be
a loose part that fell into the machine during assembly, or during
a previous repair. Murphy's Law dictates that those "things" do
not manifest themselves until such time as NO ONE would consider
it a possibility. :-)

GL
Jonesy
--
| Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | OS/2
| Gunnison, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | linux __
| 7,703' -- 2,345m | config.com | DM68mn SK

Allodoxaphobia wrote in
:

And, it could be a Spring From Nowhere. :-) It could
simply be a loose part that fell into the machine during
assembly, or during a previous repair. Murphy's Law
dictates that those "things" do not manifest themselves
until such time as NO ONE would consider it a possibility.
:-)



I like the way you think!

Ken

wrote in
:

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 17:06:49 GMT, Ken Knecht
wrote:

I tried to print a couple of Usenet messages and the 'out of
paper' message came on in my HP LJ III. I pulled out the
paper drawer and I saw it had paper. A sheet remained in the
printer. I pulled it out from the rollers and it had heavy
toner in a diagonal streak about an inch in at the farthest
point on the left portion of the entering edge. Evidently it
had been trying to print there. And a coil sping rolled out,
from the right side if I remember shudder - heavy wire
(about 20 or 18 AWG), 1/4" loop at each end, 1 " long coil,
1/4" in diameter.I looked but don't see anything obvious, or
any springs like it. Any guesses to help me along? I've not
pulled off the case - yet. I've not been in this printer for
years and can't remember what springs I've seen where. I
don't know anyone with one I can look at.

This morning I tried the printer in test mode to print the
font list and it worked - all six or so pages with no
problem! Now what? That spring must go somewhere! What would
you do? I'm afraid I'll damage the printer running it
without that spring.

I've gotten no response in the HP hardware newsgroup.

TIA

Ken

Almost sounds as if it's one of the springs holding the
rollers on the registration assembly. Easy to check this.
Open your cover, and if you look straight down, you'll see
the registration assembly (long silver roller on bottom and
a long rubber roller on top as well as a long and thinner
rubber roller ahead of it. There are 4 black screws holding
this assembly in place, 2 on each side. Remove them and pull
the assembly out. Check both sides. If one has a spring
wrapped around one end of the assembly and the other
doesn't, there is the problem.

Thanks.

Before I disassemble, I gather these are springs wound around a
shaft? If so, that's not it. The spring I found is the kind like
a screen-door spring - it works by resisting something pulling to
elongate it. If that is the type I'll pull the unit and look.

The spring could laso have
come out of the cartridge perhaps.

Nope. Unless it's out of sight. I looked at another cartridge and
don't see it. Too bad.

BTW, this is a rather large spring. The only ones I see that are
larger are those at the hinges of the 'hood'.

Also, can anyone tell me if the exploded drawings of the LJ III
at www.printerworks.com are correct for all LJ IIIs? Some of the
assemblies don't seem to match my printer. Or I'm misreading the
drawings (entirely possible).

Good luck.

Thanks. I'll evidently need it.

Frank



Ken

On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 16:33:06 GMT, Ken Knecht
wrote:


Before I disassemble, I gather these are springs wound around a
shaft? If so, that's not it. The spring I found is the kind like
a screen-door spring - it works by resisting something pulling to
elongate it. If that is the type I'll pull the unit and look.


Yup. thats exactly the type you'd find wound around the shaft. But it
is a "pull" type spring with both ends having a loop. There is yet
another spring of that type located on the fuser. It is the spring
that puts tension on the little black arm that sticks up on the right
side of the fuser. Easy to check visually. If it's there, you'll see
it. I doubt that this is the spring though.

The spring could laso have
come out of the cartridge perhaps.

Nope. Unless it's out of sight. I looked at another cartridge and
don't see it. Too bad.

Oh well, it was just a thought.

BTW, this is a rather large spring. The only ones I see that are
larger are those at the hinges of the 'hood'.

Also, can anyone tell me if the exploded drawings of the LJ III
at www.printerworks.com are correct for all LJ IIIs? Some of the
assemblies don't seem to match my printer. Or I'm misreading the
drawings (entirely possible).


What is the particular model number of your printer? The classic
HP-III is model 33449, the HP-IIID (A totally different animal) is
33459 and the HP-IIIP is 33481. The model numbers are located
somewhere on the back panel of the printer, usually around the AC
power socket.

Frank

Good luck.

Thanks. I'll evidently need it.

Frank



Ken

On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 16:14:55 GMT, Ken Knecht hath writ:
Allodoxaphobia wrote in
:

And, it could be a Spring From Nowhere. :-) It could
simply be a loose part that fell into the machine during
assembly, or during a previous repair. Murphy's Law
dictates that those "things" do not manifest themselves
until such time as NO ONE would consider it a possibility.
:-)

I like the way you think!

I do not often hear that! g Thanks!

Jonesy
--
| Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | OS/2
| Gunnison, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | linux __
| 7,703' -- 2,345m | config.com | DM68mn SK

wrote in
:

Yup. thats exactly the type you'd find wound around the
shaft. But it is a "pull" type spring with both ends having
a loop.

Given the physical size of the spring I found (see my next
response) could it still be one of the registration assembly
springs? I keep harping on this because the printer does seem to
work (for the moment at least) without the spring. I am a klutz.
I hesitate to disassemble anything I don't have to and risk
damaging something.

There is yet another spring of that type located on
the fuser. It is the spring that puts tension on the little
black arm that sticks up on the right side of the fuser.
Easy to check visually. If it's there, you'll see it. I
doubt that this is the spring though.

Nope, that one's still there. And it's the same type as the
spring I found. BTW, the spring I found is much larger, about 2
1/2 times larger, and much much heavier wire. It measures 1 3/4
inches including the end loops.


What is the particular model number of your printer? The
classic HP-III is model 33449, the HP-IIID (A totally
different animal) is 33459 and the HP-IIIP is 33481. The
model numbers are located somewhere on the back panel of the
printer, usually around the AC power socket.

33449A.

Ken