CheapGeek- How to Clean a Dirty Old Printer

CheapGeek way to Clean a Printer. This Dirty Old Laser printer was the deal in 1996.
6 pages per minute of blazing fast monchrome printing. Document quality and the price was $350.00
I however, got the printer for $150.00 (in 1996 a deal for sure). This printer served us well and as time progressed, it sat neglected on the top the desk. A new color printer took over the job as print master.
Sad- to see this dirty old warrior silent, un-used. Every reboot, the printer would rachet to life, grinding, grunting and wheeze, then wait. Poor lonely printer waiting for a print job.
Print jobs that until recently, did not come.
It's time to resurrect you- Old Printer of the Monochrome, Grandpa Laser.
Some cleaning and maintenance should do it.
Here's how I cleaned the printer, to bring it back to life.....

Step 1 CheapGeek- Gather materials

1. General purpose cleaner.
2. Isopropyl Alcohol at least 70% by volume. <70% by volume will allow the alcohol and cleaner mix to evaporate quickly with very little residue.>
3. Small spray bottle. For the mix.
4. Paper towels.
5. 1 1/2 inch paintbrush.
6. Cotton tipped swabs.
7. Vacuum cleaner or canned air.
8. Dust mask- couldn't hurt, for safety.

Comments

[twocvbloke]

I used to have a HL-760, got it for free from a local skip, it worked mostly fine and I never needed to change the toner, but towards the end it just started throwing up errors, wouldn't fuse the toner to the paper and in the end wouldn't even do it's warm up cycle... :( But hey, for something I only spent money on paper for, it wasn't bad, lasted a good 2 years... :D

[loricollins]

If your pick up rollers are dirty or misfeeding, clean them with a clean, lint-free cloth, with a bit of windex. Other cleaners can dry out the rubber like material of the rollers and cause even more problems.

[nanosec]

Lol Grandpa Laser....

[lemonie]

I love the smell of IPA in the morning...

[dwarmstr]

Do not use Windex on or near a laser printer! Ammonia based cleaners will destroy the photosensitive drum in the toner cartridge.

[cheapgeek]

Duh- for some. Not everybody knows maintenance. The internals are covered by using the vacuum cleaner, and qtips. Granted I did'nt include a lot of cleaning steps for the inside. After all, what would be duh for you- may be a "How to Destroy your laser printer," instructable.

[Fake_Name]

Am I the only person wo thinks this is a ...Duh... instructable? How hard can it be to use windex and paper towels? Also, retitle it "How to clean the OUTSIDE of a printer". How to clean the internals would actually be usefull.

[cheapgeek]

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is awesome. Great for removing stains- add alcohol instead of water and you can remove ink. Good Stuff.

[SurferGeek]

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and a little water, all you need...