Black pages from fax.

Broken corona wire?, this is the wire that runs parallel to the drum unit and charges the drum with static electricity. Also look for broken sprint contacts on the drum/developer assembly.

Thanks for the reply Mark. I will check the corona wire, but I do remember looking at it when I cleaned the machine, and it seemed o.k.

I am unsure what the sprint contacts look like, but I will try to figure that out when I look in the machine again. Can you give me any more info.?

You sound like you have some experience with these machines.

Thanks, Russell Griffiths.

Sorry I meant "Spring" contacts, usually at either end of the drum assembly or toner cartridge assembly.

Just general servicing of Canon, Ricoh, Nashua, Gestetner, Panasonic, Kyocera, IBM and Lexmark lasers and copiers.

Did you refill the machine with a no-name toner recently ? or one meant for another machine?: some toners are "negative" and will cause that problem.

For something that drastic, there must be a contact failing to make somewhere of a failure of one of the HV power supplies.

Regards Mark

I don't suppose it could be anything as easy as contrast turned all of the way down? Can you reset the settings to factory defaults?

Cheers, Nicholas Sherlock

Thanks Mark. Do these spring contacts connect the power to the corona wire?

The machine was given to me. It has not been used for quite some time, but it was working when it was last used. It still has the same toner as when it was last used.

Now that you mention the HV power supply, I have just remembered I heard a click soon after I turned it on. It may have been a spark or a part failing. I am sure the click was not the sound of a relay.

Thanks, Russell Griffiths

assuming the scanning neon is working then I expect the corona charge is down / not working . either a broken wire or connector faulty , worst case is the charge device is down . Try the drum in another machine to eliminate the corona .

It could be at least any one of about ten faults I can think of. Can you borrow a cartridge from another machine for substitution?. How is the machine laid out? is there an all in one cartridge for the drum/developer unit?. Do the coronas and lamps slide out from the front: they could be incorrectly plugged in. How does the machine open? from a front door or like a clamshell?.

Regards Mark

Thanks for the reply Mark. No I can't borrow another cartridge. Not sure about an "all in one cartridge". I am not sure if the coronas and lamps slide out, I may have to remove a panel to find out.

The machine is like a clamshell.

As you can tell, I don't know a great deal about fax machines. I mostly do domestic electronic repairs (tv/stereo etc.).

I had a look at the howstuffworks web site, but they didn't explain fax machines in much detail.

Do you know of a web site that may be helpful? Or if you have the time, could you please give myself and others a brief explanation of how fax machines work, especially the type I have here that uses a toner cartridge.

Also, what voltage is the HV power supply?

Thanks, Russell Griffiths.

Hi Russell, All I can suggest is that you slide out the various lamps, coronas, drum unit etc and slide them back home so that the connectors will reconnect.

Apart from that you may be able to sweet talk the local tech and see if he's encountered anything the same. Usually if you call the dealer and ask for the "service" dept under the pretense of buying a spare part, you'll get to speak to a tech who is familiar with that model.

Hi Russell

Found this for you..............

The OF150 uses the same drum unit, hence is probably built around, the OL400 printer. Remove the reader unit and you should have something that resembles the layout in this service manual. As has been mentioned the spring contacts for the high voltage can cause some weird faults and it isn't only the contacts at the drum end. I am unsure in this model but in a lot OKI like to have spring style contacts on the HV PCB end as well. Strip the thing down & have a good look. These connections aren't as well insulated as you might expect and build up of toner & shit dropping onto the board can cause arcing & loss of HV.

Have fun James