Remanufacturing the NEC Superscript 1400 Toner Cartridge
Editor's Note: There is another cartridge in the NEC Superscript 1400
family. It's the Xerox P1210, cartridge part number 106R442, but the cartridges
are NOT interchangeable. Next month we will highlight the differences between
these two cartridges.
The NEC Superscript 1400 series of printers are based on a Samsung 12 ppm,
1200 dpi engine. Although the exact engine number is unknown, these cartridges
from the outside seem to be a beefed-up version of the P8e. From the inside,
however, they are completely different. At the same time, they are deceptively
easy and deceptively difficult to remanufacture. I will explain more as we go
through the process.
The 1400 series consists of the Superscript 1400, 1450 and the 1450 N. All
are fairly standard except they have one unique feature. The software provided
with the printers includes a "Poster Printing" feature. This allows
you to take an image or document and break it into as many as 36 8 1/2 x 11"
pages (6 across, 6 high). It also allows you to set the overlap between pages
— a little extreme, but fun to do.
The standard cartridge (20-150) is rated for 3,000 pages at 5 percent coverage
and the high yield cartridge (20-152) is rated for 6,000 pages at 5 percent.
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Required Tools
1) Toner approved
vacuum
2) A small common screwdriver
3) #1 Phillips head screwdriver
4) Needle-nose pliers
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Required Supplies:
1) NEC 1400 toner,
190g (For 6k cartridge)
2) Wiper blade (Check for availability)
3) OPC drum (Check for availability)
4) Kynar padding powder
5) PCR cleaner
6) Conductive grease
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These cartridges are not interchangeable with any of the many Samsung versions
currently produced.
1) Clean the exterior of the cartridge.
2) Place the cartridge with the handle facing up. Remove the top two screws.
See Figure 1.
Figure 1
3) Tilt the hopper away from the screw holes and remove. Vacuum both the hopper
and cartridge clean. See Figure 2.
Figure 2
CAUTION: You are removing the upper half of the toner hopper. If there is a
lot of toner left in the hopper, it will dump out all over!
4) Locate both the drum cover arms and gently pry them off. Try to keep the
springs on the arms to make re-assembly easier later. See Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 4
Figure 4
5) Remove the two screws on the waste chamber. Lift the waste chamber off the
cartridge. See Figure 5 and 6.
Figure 5
Figure 6
6) On the waste chamber, remove the two screws on the PCR clips. Remove the
clips and the PCR. Make sure you note the orientation of the PCR as each side
is different. See Figure 7.
Figure 7
7) Remove the two screws on the wiper blade. Remove the blade. See Figure 8
and 9.
Figure 8
Figure 9
8) Clean out the waste chamber.
NOTE: Be very careful not to damage or distort the thin mylar recovery blade
next to the wiper blade. If this blade is bent or damaged in any way, you should
replace it.
9) Clean the PCR.
WARNING: Do not clean the OEM PCR with alcohol as this will remove the conductive
coating on the roller. If the PCR is from an aftermarket supplier, follow the
cleaning methods recommended by the manufacturer. If the PCR is from an OEM,
we recommended you clean it with your standard PCR cleaner.
10) Reinstall the wiper blade. New blades are, at the time of this writing,
not available, but the OEM will easily last another cycle.
11) Reinstall the PCR and clips. Put the entire assembly aside. See Figure
10.
Figure 10
Up to now this has been extremely easy, but the next part on removing the drum
had me going for a while. It's not that difficult; it is just very different.
NOTE: If you are not replacing the drum, there is no need to do this. Just
leave the old drum alone. Proceed to Step 16.
12) Remove the three screws on the left side end cap. Remove the end cap. See
Figure 11.
Figure 11
13) Remove the three screws on the right-side end cap. The fourth screw in the drum axle uses a left-hand thread. Make sure you turn that
screw to the right to remove it. Keep this screw separate so it doesn't
get mixed up. See Figure 12.
Figure 12
Although the drum axle pin looks like it should come out, it doesn't.
The drum axle has a slug/silencer attached to it inside the drum. To remove
the drum, do the following:
14) Remove the metal plate and gear assembly. Make sure to note the orientation
of the remaining gears as they are now loose. See Figure 13.
Figure 13
15) From the large gear side, push the axle in as far as it will go. From the
outside of the cartridge, press the axle in and up. Remove the drum. See Figure
14.
Figure 14
We have removed the gear from an OEM drum to show the axle/silencer combo.
New replacement drums once available will either come with one gear installed
or no gears at all. See Figure 15.
Figure 15
16) Install a new drum axle and new gears. Make sure you glue in the gears.
The screw hole side of the axle is on the large gear side. See Figure 16.
Figure 16
17) Re-install the gear assembly, the right-end cap and all the screws.
18) Re-install the waste chamber and screws. See Figure 17.
Figure 17
19) Install the seal on the toner hopper. See Figure 18.
Figure 18
20) Remove the fill plug on the toner hopper and fill the hopper with the correct
toner. Re-install the fill plug. This plug is made with a hard plastic. If it
gets damaged, put a small bead of silicon around the lip to seal the cavity.
See Figures 19 and 20.
Figure 19
Figure 20
21) Slide the seal pull tab under the foam seal and out the cartridge wall.
See Figure 21.
Figure 21
22) Clean the contacts on the left end cap. Re-install the conductive grease.
Install the end cap making sure the seal tab is inserted through the slot. See
Figure 22.
Figure 22
23) Install the drum cover. Press the spring tab into the slot in the end cap
to set the spring tension. See Figure 23.
Figure 23
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Common Cartridge
Problems
A Dirty or Bad Primary
Charge Roller (PCR): Located inside the cartridge, this shows on the test
print as vertical gray streaks down the page, as a gray background throughout
the page or as ghosting where part of a previously printed area is repeated.
Dirty PCR Connection:
This shows as horizontal dark black bars across the page, or as shading
throughout the page.
Scratched Drum: This
shows as a very thin, perfectly straight line that runs from the top to
the bottom of the test page.
Chipped Drum: This
shows as a dot or series of dots that repeat three times per page. Any
drum defects repeat three times per page.
Light Damaged Drum:
This shows up as a shaded area on the test print that should be white.
Again this repeats three times per page.
Bad Wiper Blade: This
shows as either a gray line approximately 1/8" thick, or as shading
across the entire page. In either case there will be a film of toner on
the drum surface.
Light Print Overall:
Check to see if the toner save mode is on.
Printing Test Pages:
Make sure the computer
is turned off. When the Ready light is on steady, press and hold the GO/CONTINUE
button until the LED lights cycle two times. This takes about four seconds.
When you release the GO button, the configuration page will print.
Contact Mike Josiah
and the technical staff of Summit Laser Products at (613) 218-8376, fax
(613) 218-3285, or visit www.summitlaser.com.
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Printing a Cleaning
Page: Press
and hold the GO/CONTINUE and CANCEL buttons simultaneously. All four lights
will blink and the internal cleaning sheet will print. According to NEC
you should do this once a month or whenever toner marks appear on the
BACK side of the pages.
Cleaning the Printer:
Not much of the machine is accessible. All that you can do easily is to
vacuum the interior and wipe the lens down with a clean, lint-free cloth.
The lens is located on the bottom of the top cover directly below the
cartridge cover.
Common Error Codes
(Light patterns): The error light patterns are not very helpful for anything
besides a paper jam, but here they are:
Paper Jam: Paper LED
is on, Error LED is blinking.
Cover Open/No Cartridge:
The error LED is on steady.
Internal error: All
four LEDs blink in sequence, at a high rate of speed. See next error.
Engine error: Same
as above, all four LEDs blink in sequence, at a high rate of speed. This
can be caused by a memory crash, main board or fuser error.
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Contact Mike Josiah and the technical staff of Summit Laser Products at (613)
218-8376, fax (613) 218-3285, or visit www.summitlaser.com.
This article originally appeared in the January 2002 issue of Recharger.