ACTION LASER BANDING

I would like to add a comment to my question about print banding.  Sometimes the banding is gross and sometimes it is minor.  The banding is horizontal if I am printing "portrait" and vertical if I am printing "landscape".

What do you mean by *banding*?

I need more of a discription,  Thanks.

Also, what kind of toner cartridge does it take?

jrhelgeson - Thanks for reply - I am getting skips / faint places - in the print / graphics - I do a lot of "reverse" printing in graphics - i.e. make the background black and the lettering white for emphasis - it is particularly noticible when you print large black areas.  Sometimes there will be a LOT of white bands sometimes a few - as you probably know, the toner for the Action Lasers comes with drum - the toner/drum combination makes the toner price much more expensive if you are buying new - I do use some re-fills.

Sounds like you might be either loosing your drum, or your Mag Roller.  Most likely the drum.

Make sure that your corona wire is clean.

Use canned air to blow out any toner & dust that may be inside your printer.

Give that a shot until I can get more info about your printer.

JR

I go along with that. This is reminiscent of a drum problem I had.

Where the bands are, do you get toner wiping off the paper? If you do you might be having fusing problems.

A fuser problem would be evident by the image "ghosting", where it writes the word once, then 3" down the page it print's it again but much lighter.

Sounds like you're out of toner, needs a good cleaning, or needs a new drum.

Try those three suggestions, in that order.  That should take care of it.

Thank you guys very much -  Jrhelgeson and tstaddon - I ordered another cartridge (toner/drum come together in the cartridge for the Action Laser printers)  It will be here this week (it is a re-fill but hopefully my problem will go away when I put in the new cartridge.  I may have a spent drum - regarding jrheleson's comments about dirty innards due to toner being scattered around in there - I found by wiping toner off the drum (very carefully) my prints were a lot better.  I really don't know the process but every time I run the printer the drum gets a coating of toner on it - in my ignorance of the way the thing works it seems to me like the drum is "attracting" which might indicate the drum is "spent"?  In any case I will know more this week.
and get back to you.  I wiped the lens but I haven't found the corona wire in there??  
Thank You - Tony.

Thanks a lot!!  Tony.

I would like to open question up for more comments while we're waiting for a new drum.

Thanks - Tony

Just a little info:
It also sounds like toner filming due to the wear and fatigue placed on the cartridge. Paper wear and electrical cycling fatigue I would say are the two harshest forces on a photoconductor drum. With paper wear, imagine that you're sanding the surface. This, over time will create defects in the drum where toner and other small particles can be trapped.  With cycling fatigue, the residual voltage remaining behind after each print gets higher. The charge then gets higher causing more and more toner to get "attracted" to the drum. Both of these adverse conditions will give you the problems you are mentioning.

 With a new cartridge, if your problem is due to electrical and physical fatigue like I describe, your problem will be fixed.

Tony,
Does it happen all the time, or occasionally?
How does it print with a page of normal text? (Without using the "reverse printing")
What software/printer driver are you using?
Ralph

Hi rmarotta and datn - thanks for your responses.

datn - since I am using RE-FILL cartridges I will never know until I buy a NEW toner cartridge if the problem could be related to drum wear.  However, your comment about losing the drum because of photoelectric fatigue and the inability of the drum to repel toner sounds like what I am experiencing since I seem to keep a layer of toner on the drum which I believe should not be happening.  I put a second re-fill on the printer and am still getting inconsistent results.  I blew out the toner that was really contaminating the cartridge so that is gone now.

rmarotta - I am not real sure if I am using the Microsoft printer driver or the driver that came with the Epson.  But I believe I am using the one that came with the printer using the thought process that that one might be more current.  As far as happening all the time or occasionally.  That is what is so maddening.  Sometime the print is perfect and sometimes the banding/skips happens.  I try to clean the contact points of the cartridge to printer, clean the drum, shake the cartridge but I don't know what is making any difference??!!  Epson doesn't make the Action Lasers anymore so they don't support them.

Hope this has been of some help.

Thank You Guys!!  ttoulis

Does the problem change if you change programs or documents to be printed?
Ralph

In response to sechell's answer - I get the banding in ALL applications - (Not just graphics/large text.

I would like to thank all the respondents for diligently working on my problem - the closest to the answer came from jrhelgeson and I would like to award the points to him with a grade of "B".
Thank you all very much!!  For a job WELL DONE!!

Tony

What was the answer?
Please reject the current answer so I can place one.

JRHelgeson

8·)

Tony,
Is your problem solved yet?
Ralph