Personal LaserWriter NT

[3583Bytes]

I have a Personal LaserWriter NT with an old Toner Cartridge.  It seems to print however it made the paper all dirty and the print was faint.  So I figured the toner is old.  I bought a new toner Cartridge, it was still sealed made by Apple.  However its even worse toner is coming off lose from the drum and there is nothing printed.  I am guessing even though it was sealed the toner went bad.

So my question is what can I do with this printer, is there any hope to get good toner for this thing or should I just abandon it.   I would really like a printer for my vintage Macs but maybe there is a better printer to get (one I can still get toner for) or is there a way to get the toner going for it.  What are you guys doing with your old LaserWriters?

 

[CC_333]

I don't know much about laser printers, but it sounds like maybe there's an issue with the internal mechanism. The toner could have something to do with it as well, but NOS toner probably shouldn't do what you describe, I'm guessing.

Maybe the fuser (the thing that melts the toner onto the paper) is broken? That *could* explain the fact that toner is falling off the page after printing.

c

 

[lopaka1998]

You could try to restore it.  First thing - replace all of the caps on the board and the power supply.  Then go from there.  Maybe the laser isn't working at full power because of bad caps?  That might explain the light printing.  It also might explain dark toner on the paper.  toner goes onto the drum to rub off on the paper and the fuser then melts it.  The laser makes the drum more magnetized - so that's where it picks up the toner.  If the laser wasn't working, you might see uniform black on the page.  If the fuser wasn't working,, you would see "loose" toner on the paper.

So replace caps first, then see if the fuser is working.  If you get solid print on the paper, but it's nor printing what you say then you've got a laser problem.  Good luck.

So my question is what can I do with this printer, is there any hope to get good toner for this thing or should I just abandon it.   I would really like a printer for my vintage Macs but maybe there is a better printer to get (one I can still get toner for) or is there a way to get the toner going for it.  What are you guys doing with your old LaserWriters?

 

[3583Bytes]

Sounds like I am out of luck.  Maybe I will sell this one off and look for an ImageWriter II or something.

 

[NJRoadfan]

These units use the HP 92295A toner (same as the Laserjet II and III). Its discontinued from HP, but there are plenty of cheap clones out there. Parts are readily available for the printers as well. The two weak areas are the fuser and AC power supply. Both can be sourced cheaply online.

Info here: https://www.rheinfeld.de/andreas/laserjet50.htm

The only real difference between the HPs and the Laserwriters is the case plastics and the formatted board. the HPs have LCD displays too. Both printers use the Canon SX engine.