In 2015, I ended my bad relationship with inkjet printers and purchased a Samsung color laser printer. It was on sale at my local Staples for 50% off – only $199 – making it a no-brainer. This was a great decision as a technical purchase. Over the past eight years, that printer has put our two kids through high school, helped me print countless product return labels, and I’m pretty sure it has saved us hundreds of wasted ink cartridges between print jobs. Would dry up. This is not to mention the fact that it is also a multifunction printer that has a flatbed scanner with document feeder. I mean, seriously, how was I able to buy this thing for $200?
But six months ago, I could tell something was wrong. The printer would take several attempts to pull a sheet of paper from the tray, and even then, there was a good chance that the page would stop halfway inside the printer and I would get a paper jam error. This problem sent me down a circuitous path of disassembly to replace a small, seemingly insignificant piece of rubber.
As these things usually happen, the problem only increased in frequency. I found myself constantly pulling half-finished pages from the printer’s rollers, opening and closing the front access door, and generally driving myself crazy.
You’ll probably find some people arguing that with an initial investment of $200 and eight years of ownership, the printer cost me a total of 44 cents per week (including toner) and therefore I owed it nothing. Why not just buy a new one?
But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Laser printers are incredibly complex pieces of technology that used to cost thousands of dollars, and it bothered me that this 30-pound machine could end up in a landfill.
Naturally, I Googled the problem and tried some of the simplest solutions: cleaning the rollers and using compressed air to blow out any dirt or debris that had collected. After sitting in my office for eight years, it seemed like a reasonable concern. No possibility.
Then I called some local businesses that advertise Samsung printer repairs. Sure, they all said, no problem. Estimates ranged from $260 to $750. no, thanks. I bought this thing for $200. I’m not going to spend more than that on repairing it.
So, it was back to Google. This time, I found a promising-looking two-minute video from YouTuber, Teklectic, which offered an impossibly simple solution: Simply replace a small piece of compressed rubber and you’re back in business.
The best part? Almost any similarly sized piece of rubber will work – even a piece of eraser. Why did I need to put a piece of eraser in my laser printer? Something, some solenoid – I don’t know, but at the end of the video, the printer looked like it was working.
But then my heart sank when I realized that in order to access the unrolled piece of rubber, the Technic had to undertake an excruciating, multistep disassembly process that involved removing a circuit board and a bunch of other very delicate-looking parts. This would require a completely different 24-minute video to be directed by. I didn’t sign up for this.
I’m not shy when it comes to DIY repairs. I’ve replaced the 3G radio on our alarm system, replaced the main board and several sensors on our useless Electrolux fridge that I regret purchasing, and put new batteries and SSD drives in our laptop. Every time, with a YouTube video, a set of screwdrivers, and a little patience, I succeed. And yet, as the minutes passed by on the disassembly video, screws and parts piled up, and the printer started looking less like a printer and more like something you’d find in the Death Star’s trash compactor, my confidence waned. Went.
Still, the comments below the video were encouraging – although it took people an hour or more to complete the repair, many of them reported success – so I thought, why not try? In the worst case, I can still buy a new printer or do a more responsible job and get a professional to repair it.
Spoiler alert: It worked, and it wasn’t as hard as I feared. It didn’t cost a dime, and I’ve potentially added several more years of life to my printer. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I strongly recommend that you try this too, but here are some tips that may save you time and stress as you work your way through a DIY repair.
do research
Techlectic linked to a detailed repair video, but the Samsung model in question was not the same as mine. It probably would have worked anyway, but there’s an added level of confidence when the product in the video is identical to the product in front of you. I kept searching and found another video with almost identical Samsung multifunction printer and only a small difference in the steps.
Watch full video
Don’t cheat. This may take time, but watching the entire video and being completely familiar with the steps and any tools or spare parts required will allow you to go much faster when you actually begin the repair process. Some repair videos only show how to access the problematic area so you can fix your device – then you have to watch the video in reverse step by step to reassemble everything. If that’s the case, make sure you’re comfortable with it, otherwise, you should continue looking for another video.
Give yourself lots of time and lots of room
From the video I found, it only took 26 minutes to disassemble, repair, and reassemble the printer. It took me about three hours if you include the time it took for the glue to completely cure on the repaired area. Set aside enough time so you don’t feel rushed. Going too quickly will inevitably lead to time-consuming mistakes or, worse, a broken part that can’t be easily repaired.
As you can see in the video and photos, a laser printer has a lot of parts. You’ll need plenty of room to spread them out and still have room to work. I used the entire dining room table and I could still use some more space.
Speaking of tables, unless you have a work area you don’t care about, make sure to protect your surface. I used an old towel to protect the table and printer, and as a bonus, it allowed me to easily move the printer into different positions.
get organized
While you’re watching the video, see if you can break down the repair into steps. For each step, keep a separate small container or tray on hand for screws or other fasteners you’ll need to remove. Most products are assembled using a variety of screws for exterior panels and interior parts. My printer uses four different types. Keeping the screws required for each step separate from each other will save you a headache when it comes time to reassemble.
And while we’re on the subject of screws, do yourself a huge favor and buy a magnetic tipped screwdriver if you don’t already have one. Accidentally dropping a small screw into the open chassis of a laser printer can cause a problem worse than repair. A magnetic screwdriver will make it easier to avoid disaster.
be gentle
Sometimes, you’ll need to use some force to get the panel into place, but generally speaking, you’ll be dealing with delicate parts that won’t respond well to being tampered with. If any part is refusing to move, take a breath and step back. Watch the video again and see if the creator is doing anything different from what you are doing. If that fails, see if you can find your way on Google to a better technique by describing the problem (for example, how to remove a ribbon cable from a circuit board). Try not to get discouraged – it will work out eventually if you keep at it.
If the video shows a part being released from its position by gentle pulling and your part is not moving at all, recheck the previous step. Did you remove all the screws holding the part in place? It can be easy to miss when wires, cables and other parts are obscuring your view.
Note that some parts are connected in ways that are not visible in the video. There were two power leads attached to the bottom of the roller assembly, and I didn’t notice them until it was almost too late. If I had pulled the assemblies out all the way, they would have broken.
take pictures
Have your phone handy and take lots of photos before and after each step. You may not realize it when you’re watching the video, but sometimes you can’t see every single screw or part. This is especially annoying when it comes to reconnection. Having your own visual documentation will allow you to study what needs to be done at each location. This may also help you figure out why your gear assembly is missing a gear (see above).
