Bernie, thanks for responding! Page count is just under 19,000 pages. Good advice, but do you still service these printers? I did find one repair place in Philadelphia, Printer Repair Service in center city (17th & Market) but I haven’t yet called them to get an estimate or anything. I have a bunch of projects to finish before I can proceed in any case, and getting this very heavy printer down there will not be fun. Still looking… - Bob Shuster
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:56:34 -0500 From: Bob Shuster <bob@theshusters.com> To: vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: Looking for reputable repair place for laser printer
I have an HP Laserjet 5200tn (close to 20 years old) that is starting to have issues with paper jams, and it seems it?s a common issue with the buffers on the pickup solenoids. They are however difficult to access so I?m going to turn to a professional if possible, and have a good cleaning done at the same time. I know there are faster, quieter, and more capable laser printers out there now, but this one works perfectly for me, and a new 11x17 printer is expensive in any case.
I need a quick turnaround, but I need reliable and reputable service. Any recommendations in the Philadelphia, lower Bucks/Montgomery County areas?
Bob, having serviced hundreds of HP LaserJet printers (including many original LaserJet 500 aka 2686D which came out in 1984) I strongly recommend that when you get your LJ5200TN serviced you have *all* the rollers (including the fusing assy) and pads replaced, and well as *all* the parts recommended in the HP Service Manual for PM (preventive maintenance). https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6015518 What is the page count on your HPLJ 5200?
This will cost much more than having only the failed parts replaced, you'll basically have a new printer and will save money on future repairs long-term. The older HP LaserJets with Canon engines are reliable workhorses (I worked on some that had a page count of over one million pages!) _IF_ you do the HP recommended PM.
You could save money on the service job if you buy genuine HP/Canon replacement parts yourself, IF the servicer is okay with that. Some servicers (who would mark up the price of parts) won't allow this because they don't want to be on the hook if a customer-supplied parts fails.
-bernieS