I am new to copier maintenance. I bought a KM BizHub 423 about 10 years ago, gently used. It was regularly serviced by a professional, but during COVID my business sector went mostly digital, and the copier ended up getting little to no use. The copier has not been professionally serviced since about 2021. It has about 300000 "miles" on it.
About two years ago, it started saying that I needed to replace the drum and developer. I used Youtube videos to figure out what to do, bought the parts, and replaced the developer unit, developer, and drum. After that, ran fine-albeit with light use-from about late 2022 or early 2023 to now.
I recently had a couple of now-rare, and unusually large (probably close to 10000 pages each), copy jobs. About two months later the copier started making a grinding noise when it is printing. It does this both when making copies and when printing documents, so I am sure it does not have anything to do with the ADF or the copier parts.
It did this for about a week. I poked around it, and started directing even small print jobs to another printer in the office. About four days ago, the printer control panel started saying something like "replenishing toner" while making that same grinding noise. It will do this for a minute or two and eventually shut off its own power.
The noise sounds like it is coming from directly above the top paper tray. When I imagine it in my head, it sounds like something fell into some set of gears.
I opened up plastic cover where the copies are accumulated to see whether I could narrow that down some. Nothing seemed out of place, hot, broken. There were no shavings, lubricant, or anything that I would consider were signs of improper mechanical wear.
I pulled the toner drawer out to see whether that was the part grinding. The exact same sound remained. It appears to be coming from under the area where the toner drawer slides into place.
What should I look at next? Also, is this copier worthy of rescue if it needs repairs? It has been very good to me over the years.
About two years ago, it started saying that I needed to replace the drum and developer. I used Youtube videos to figure out what to do, bought the parts, and replaced the developer unit, developer, and drum. After that, ran fine-albeit with light use-from about late 2022 or early 2023 to now.
I recently had a couple of now-rare, and unusually large (probably close to 10000 pages each), copy jobs. About two months later the copier started making a grinding noise when it is printing. It does this both when making copies and when printing documents, so I am sure it does not have anything to do with the ADF or the copier parts.
It did this for about a week. I poked around it, and started directing even small print jobs to another printer in the office. About four days ago, the printer control panel started saying something like "replenishing toner" while making that same grinding noise. It will do this for a minute or two and eventually shut off its own power.
The noise sounds like it is coming from directly above the top paper tray. When I imagine it in my head, it sounds like something fell into some set of gears.
I opened up plastic cover where the copies are accumulated to see whether I could narrow that down some. Nothing seemed out of place, hot, broken. There were no shavings, lubricant, or anything that I would consider were signs of improper mechanical wear.
I pulled the toner drawer out to see whether that was the part grinding. The exact same sound remained. It appears to be coming from under the area where the toner drawer slides into place.
What should I look at next? Also, is this copier worthy of rescue if it needs repairs? It has been very good to me over the years.
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