Z3100: Long shaft that raises pinch rollers

[walter.sk]

Jumping in over my head I tried replacing the belt on my Z3100gp PS 24" printer.  Reaching a frozen pair of screws that would have allowed me to remove the part that attaches to the media lever, I let my frustration take over, and I tried to remove the left side plate.  A shaft that ran to the right side of the printer slid out with the side plate, and I figured that since it was still attached to the bracket for the media lever, it would fit back in in the correct position.

I cleaned the printer and got the new belt installed, and threaded that shaft back through the several brackets that held it.  Operating the media lever raised and lowered the pinch roller assemblies, apparently the way they worked before my bumbling attempt at repairs.

When I started the printer, during the initialization I got Error 21:13, and the Service Station appeared jammed.

Does anybody here know if the Service Station problem is related to the shaft (which functions as a cam to raise the pinch rollers) that I should not have removed? Or could that have been cause by too-vigorous cleaning of the Service Station?

Also, a local HP repair person said he (and other HP people) would not service a printer that I had worked on.  Has anybody here any experience with 3rd party printer people who might know how to work on the Z3100, and is in the NYC or Westchester County area?

I now own the largest and most expensive doorstop I have ever had.  Since I am retired, I thought I would save what seemed like a lot of money by trying the repair myself.  Now, it seems that I can't even get the printer repaired at all.

[walter.sk]

Through a phone call to HP tech support I found out that the shaft I removed simply raises and lowers the pinch rollers when the media lever is moved.  I was encouraged to order a new Service Station assembly.  By now it is easy for me to remove the old one and replace it with the new; I was told that the problem is in all likelihood going to be solved this way.

I ordered the Service Station today, and will post the results when it gets reinstalled.

[namartinnz]

Fingers crossed its the problem. What sort of cost was it?

[walter.sk]

Fingers crossed its the problem. What sort of cost was it?

I got the part through Spare Parts Warehouse, on line.  I called them and they said the part was new and factory direct from HP.  They charged $339 plus shipping ($12).  This was about $50 less than the HP Store.

[mcbroomf]

Any update Walter?

[walter.sk]

Not yet.  The replacement Service Station is supposed to be delivered on Friday, 4/29.  I will probably get to it this weekend.  I'm not letting myself get too hopeful, because I don't want to be disappointed if it doesn't fix the problem.

[walter.sk]

Well, I replaced the service station.  The only glitch happened on the last screw, when the Allen wrench slipped out of my hand and disappeared into the guts of the service station!  Fixing stuff really is not for me!

I uninstalled the SS, inverted it over a table and after some twisting and shaking, the wrench popped out.  Whew!  I reinstalled the SS and low and behold, the printer actually booted up without stopping half way with the Error 21:13.  At his point, I had a glimmer of hope.

Looking at the table of diagnostic tests I did the first ones, for the service station.  I assume I was correct in entering the correct test menu by shutting the printer down with the power button, and rebooting with the Up Arrow, OK button and Power button simultaneously for 5 seconds.  The tests said the SS was OK.

I rebooted and ran the Carriage Assembly tests (Service Station, Primer Motor and Aerosol Fan tests) all OK.

I then started the Scan Axis tests.  The Starwheel Lifter test at one point said Warning! Fail.  Length is 3626 EU, Outside Limits (3000, 36000).  However, at the end of the Starwheel Lifter test it said OK.

The PRS subtest said OK.

The Scan Axis test said FAIL, LED not on, and Error 02.1:10, Fail Carriage Supply, and Check also 11:10 TC and 07:10 (not even found in the service manual).

I am going to disassemble the left side of the printer enough to reseat all of the cables that lead to the carriage assembly, and possibly that will fix some of these things.

I also ran a cutter diagnostic (the cutter seemed to work just fine) that hung at the second step, measuring nv voltage.

For the hell of it I tested the Electronics Module (OK) and the Sensors (OK).

I'm taking a day or two away from the printer to see if any ideas come to me, or if anyone here has some thoughts on how to proceed.  Right now I have a very expensive door stop.

Please don't tell me I got in over my head!  I know I did.

[walter.sk]

While I am still having problems going through the matrix of diagnostic tests and still get "failure" messages on
some of them, I decided to see what happens if I did as much as possible to calibrate the heads, color, etc through the service utilities menus. Here is what I found:

Despite a test error that said the ESP (color sensor) could not be turned on and off, I was able to clean the heads to remove banding.  I was able to print and use the head alignment pattern, the color calibration chart, and the APS large target for paper profiling.  There were marks on the forward edge of the paper for the first inch or so, that looked like dragging of the edge of the carriage across the paper, leaving horizontal white lines that resemble those from clogged print nozzles.  I can't tell if they are from the carriage edge or from something else.  However, when I made a test print and left an extra inch in the margin on the leading edge of the paper, the print came out fine.  The lines, which on closer examination included a few horizontal lines of faint black ink, look again as if something is pressing down on the paper.  But the print itself was perfect.  I used one of these test prints that includes 2 photos, a Macbeth color checker, a sharpness scale, grayscale steps and a color strip.

I compared the print made with on old profile to the print made with the new profile, and the differences ere very minor but the new profile was actually better.

I'm not sure what is causing the horizontal lines across the leading edge of the paper, but as of now I can work around that when I print.  I assume that the color sensor is working fine despite the failure I mentioned above during diagnostic tests, and alignment is otherwise accurate, since my calibration print and profiling target appear sharp and accurate (except, of course, for the few white lines across the first inch of paper).

I know stuff is still in need of fixing.  I may even have caused the problem with the lines at one point when I tried rewinding the paper while the printer was off and got it to move a couple of inches before I realized I should have lifted the media lever.  That was also late at night and the brain was not in gear.