Kodak 8500 giving problems on printing

[AlanBryan]

I posted this on the Event forum, but it was recommended that I post it here.

My 8500 started jamming on the third past though. The printer just stops with the print in the back cover. It works find until that point and then just stops. The prints comes out with ease with no evidence of sticking. Seems like a control problem. Any ideals as what to do.

I ordered a 1400 because I needed a backup imediately, but still would like to get this one back to working.

Thanks
alan [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[BobCollette]

Alan,

I can't say that I've heard of this specific problem before. On Monday, I can run it by our service people and see if they have any ideas. I suspect that whatever it is, you probably won't be able to repair it yourself.

Bob Collette
Eastman Kodak Co.

[BobCollette]

Alan,

In thinking more about your problem, I thought of one thing that it could be. There is an optical sensor that looks at the color of the ribbon patch to get the color patches aligned correctly. It's possible that the sensor is dirty and isn't reading the colors correctly. This would cause the printer to "stage" the paper, but not start printing because it can't find the correct ribbon color patch.

Unfortunately, I don't have an 8500 in front of me (I'm at home), but I'll try to explain how to find the emitter and detector. If you open the top cover, near the printhead, you'll see the emitter. As I recall, there's a little plastic cover with a hole for the emitter to "shine" through. The detector is located in the curved plastic part that the ribbon carrier fits into. It aligns with the emitter, os if you find the emitter, the detector will be aligned with it (left/right direction).

Take a cotton swab (Q-Tip) dampened with water, and clean the surface of the emitter and detector. If this doesn't fix it, you'll likely have to send the printer in for repair.

Bob

I had a somewhat similar problem, but more extreme, and cleaning that sensor helped: see Link to 8500 printing problem

Another thing that causes sheet feed problems is if the spindle-ends that press into the ribbon rollers become unseated from the ribbon rollers (i.e, since they press-fit it, they must be press-fit in at the outset of installing, since they sometimes come loose when unpacking).

[AlanBryan]

Thanks for the replys. I have been out of town so am doing catch up today. Still have not resolved the problem but have not yet tried the sensor recommendation. Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks
Alan