Printer Maintenance Information

Beginning with the Hewlett Packard Laserjet IIIsi, the higher volume HP monochrome printers have had maintenance schedules. At a Predetermined page count, a message will appear on the LCD display which says something like "Perform Printer Maintenance".

What does this mean? Is my printer about to stop? What should I do?
Don't panic, this message indicates that installation of a maintenance kit is recommended. Based on usage patterns and extensive testing, it has been determined that at the present page count for your machine, a maintenance kit should be installed. This will insure optimum performance of your printer. It does not mean that your printer is going to stop after you print the next page! This can be a user installable item and our instructions can help you save on a service call.

What is a maintenance kit?
A typical laser printer maintenance kit contains paper pickup rollers, paper feed/separation rollers, a transfer roller, and the fuser assembly.

Paper Pickup or feed/separation roller:
Used to pickup and feed the paper and subject to mechanical wear and oxidation. The rubber compound used to manufacture these critical parts is important and the result of extensive research so we suggest the use of original equipment parts here since the manufacturer has invested heavily in determining the best material to use. Our kits contain only original equipment feed and separation rollers.

Transfer Roller:
The black/gray sponge like roller which runs the width of the paper path and is positioned just below the toner cartridge. During the printing process, this roller is electrically charged and as the paper passes between this roller and the drum in the toner cartridge, the toner from the drum is transferred to the paper. It is subject to mechanical wear and degradation of it's ability to hold a uniform charge. It also accumulates paper dust and can be contaminated with finger oils if touched.

Fuser Assembly:
This is the assembly which uses heat and pressure to "fuse" or melt the toner into the fibers of the paper or media. Because of the heat and pressure this assembly is subject to mechanical wear. The heating element is also subject to electrical failure. Plastic gears can degrade over time and continuous exposure to the high temperatures and eventually fail.

Installation of a maintenance kit involves replacement of the parts listed above and any needed cleanup of toner and paper dust as well as inspection of other high wear items.

These kits are designed to be user replaceable, and many users choose to replace their own maintenance kits and save the expense of a service call. We offer maintenance kits for Hewlett Packard and Lexmark printers with installation instructions.

Exchange kits contain a remanufactured fuser assembly, transfer roller, pickup rollers, separation pad and parts needed to perform the printer maintenance function on the selected printer. On exchange kits, the fuser assembly must be returned within 15 days to avoid being charged for the core. Our kits include a pre paid return label.

* Interval is the number of pages between installation of the maintenance kit parts. This is based on the manufacturers recommendation. On some machines, a message appears on the display to indicate that maintenance is required. You can continue to use the printer, but for optimum performance it is recommenced that the maintenance kit be installed. Once the maintenance kit is installed you can reset the display message with the instructions included. On printers with intervals marked N/A, the manufacturer does not provide a recommended page count between maintenance kits.