M453N indents

[Bruckner]

Our M453N machine produces two 1-2" parallel wrinkles starting on the bottom of pages when copying or printing. We had a technician who inspected the machine and after 30 seconds he said we'd be better off buying a new machine, which of course he was more than happy to offer (!). Tossing a machine this size isn't a decision made lightly, so is there something worth checking/cleaning on the machine before retiring it? Thanks,

[Phil B.]

Our M453N machine produces two 1-2" parallel wrinkles starting on the bottom of pages when copying or printing. We had a technician who inspected the machine and after 30 seconds he said we'd be better off buying a new machine, which of course he was more than happy to offer (!). Tossing a machine this size isn't a decision made lightly, so is there something worth checking/cleaning on the machine before retiring it? Thanks,

inspect the fuser and inlet plate

if the fuser is worn/torn/wrinkled it needs replacing ( whats the page count on it? )

inlet plate could have toner build up

is there any PQ issues? toner smears/rubbing off?

start a print job...
when you hear paper coming up into machine.. open door

is paper wrinkled before the fuser?
could be feed/reg/paper path

be nice to see print examples and pager counts on the machine and history of repairs.

[Bruckner]

inspect the fuser and inlet plate

if the fuser is worn/torn/wrinkled it needs replacing ( whats the page count on it? )

inlet plate could have toner build up

is there any PQ issues? toner smears/rubbing off?

start a print job...
when you hear paper coming up into machine.. open door

is paper wrinkled before the fuser?
could be feed/reg/paper path

be nice to see print examples and pager counts on the machine and history of repairs.

Thanks for taking the time to help out! Unfortunately I do not have the history of repairs.

Sharp wrinkles.pdf

I can't get the scanner to show the wrinkles, so I used a pen to highlight their location. Can you see pdf file?

Page count is 600,000 total.

[driving lots of miles]

Looks like a fuser issues as previously stated.

[xring1958]

If you paid for service call you have a right to know cause of lines.

I have a high opinion of these machines and have many with over double 600K

It is several generations old but we still have them under service contract.

As others have mentioned wrinkles and lines make me think fuser.

[Phil B.]

Thanks for taking the time to help out! Unfortunately I do not have the history of repairs.
Sharp wrinkles.pdf I can't get the scanner to show the wrinkles, so I used a pen to highlight their location. Can you see pdf file? Page count is 600,000 total.

no wrinkles don't show.... you made a blank copy

if you make a copy with lots of print/picture, is the toner INSIDE the wrinkle or not...

if inside you have a fuser wrinkle happening

if not then it is pre-fuser

look at feed/paper guides/registration for the wrinkle ..

a 'stop test' like I mentioned before, will help with that diag.

[guitar9199]

Our M453N machine produces two 1-2" parallel wrinkles starting on the bottom of pages when copying or printing. We had a technician who inspected the machine and after 30 seconds he said we'd be better off buying a new machine, which of course he was more than happy to offer (!). Tossing a machine this size isn't a decision made lightly, so is there something worth checking/cleaning on the machine before retiring it? Thanks,

Sounds to me like they sent a salesman rather than a repairman.

That said, that series of machine is almost 11 years old. If it's still under a service contract the technician needs to come back and repair the fusing unit (which would be my first guess, not having looked at the machine personally).

Considering the age of the machine however, at some point parts availability WILL become an issue... so in that sense the technician wasn't "WRONG", but he probably should have spent a little more time explaining your options to you.

Good luck.

[Bruckner]

Thanks to everyone sharing the science!

I will test with heavier print as suggested and report back.

The repairman who showed up apparently cleaned the machine, but I noticed that a removable device behind the front cover (behind the waste toner tank) was filled with paper dust, blowing off improved the print quality by a substantial margin. So much for the cleaning job...

[Hansen88]

Another problem I have seen a lot on those models-and It makes wrinkles or skewed copies or both is the registration roller pressure spring on rear side,the spring mount breaks. No spring tension or roller pressure on rear side,makes wrinkles or skews.

[Demon33]

Have you tried to change the pressure position on the fuser to "envelope" just to see if it change anything ? That would confirm a fuser related problem .

The registration spring is a good possibility but the copies/prints would be skewed .

Good luck