Personal LaserWriter 12/640 phantom jam

[bengi3]

This PLW12/640 receives the print queue, green led blinks regularly, gets the sheet but then stalls as if a second series of rollers isn’t activated. The sheet is indeed only partially picked up from the tray.

Any suggestions ?

 

[danda]

My first guess would be that the pick-up rollers are worn and no longer have enough grip to fully pick up the paper and feed it to where it should be. I've had this problem on the original LaserWriter, the II and the 16/600. To test this, try using the manual feed - if that works fine, then it's something in the pickup area (likely the pickup rollers as mentioned) that needs attention.

If it is the pickup rollers, I've tried and had varying degrees of success with:

• lightly sanding the pickup roller to make it more "grippy"
• putting rubber band(s) around the pickup roller
• replacing the pickup roller with a better one (you ideally want a new, not NOS one, as the rubber degrades over time so NOS have issues)

 

[beachycove]

You could also try “Rubber Renue” or an automotive rubber reconditioner on the rollers. This has worked for me on old laser printers with paper feed trouble.

 

[bengi3]

unfortunately with manual feed the sheet stops a mere 1 inch after, basically the same thing. The pickup roller works, it stall afterwards, will post a video tomorrow

 

[beachycove]

I would try to be quite sure that there isn’t a small scrap of paper, like a corner of a page, stuck somewhere in the mechanism. What you describe is how the LaserWriters of my acquaintance, like the 4/600, are apt to behave when a little piece of torn paper gets left behind after a paper jam. At this stage, paper in the works from time to time is more or less to be expected, given the age of belts, rollers and such in the machine.

A little disassembly could be needed to get at it. Just follow the steps in the Service Manual.

I don’t think I ever disassembled the 16/640 I still have here somewhere, but I did go through a 630 Pro, a 4/600, and an 8500.

 

[bengi3]

I am taking it apart, but to get into the rollers system is a nightmare