this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025
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Fixed up a nice printer (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 months ago by imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
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Got a printer at the warehouse where they sell used hotel equipment. They told that it has a defect in a way that it "prints with a line across". All cartridges were full and working. And it seems that they can be refilled judging by the area around the caps.

It did work but the "line" was a bend, not a print. Found out that heating roller in a fuser was the culprit. Was about to get a new fuser off Alibaba for a 100 but my wife gave me a better option. She suggested to get a used one off local marketplace. We found same lineup smiplier model with empty cartridges. After a quick swap, this little boy now gives out sharp and plain prints. 30 euro for defective office one, 40 euro off marketplace.

This pic is from a marketplace printer with a swapped in defective fuser.

P.S. Apparently, this brand has an extensive servicing manual for this lineup printers. It has all instructions for servicing pretty much any part with pictures and videos. Major props for Lexmark. Never heard of this brand before.

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[–] HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Lexmark was originally spun off of IBM's printer and keyboard division in Lexington, Kentucky. You saw a lot of their printers sold with cheap home computers around the turn of the century; they leaned heavily into the "$39 inkjet printer with $75 cartridges that used all three colours to make black" business model, and were largely squeezed out of the home market by customers who didn't buy their second printer from them. It feels a bit of a throwback to see the name now, but they retreated to the commercial market.

The keyboard division was further spun off into a firm called Unicomp, who still builds derivatives of the quality "Model M" keyboards they sold on the old PS/2 machines.

Most full-range manufacturers make servicable printers, as long as you go high up enough in the product line that they're selling to businesses that care about duty cycles and maintenence costs, although I think at some point you reach units that are sold as an ongoing service arrangement with on-call staff instead.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 months ago

Woah! The more you know! I am not super technician, but after disassembling and reassembling this printer compared to some hp ink printer my parents have I got a feeling that this Lexmark is built like a tank.

I was a bit skeptical before buying it. Brand I never heard about before that might have issues with finding parts. But price was right. Glad I didn't pass on it.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have a Unicomp Model M! All black with blank keys too. Feels great to type on, but it is a bit loud, and I can't find my ps2 to usb adapter to try it out again (been sitting in storage for years)

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I will happily take it off your hands!

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You're good with blank keycaps and ps2 connector? If you're in the US, I may be interested!

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is it a true mechanical board?

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's the buckling spring mechanism, same one used in IBM's Model M, since Unicomp holds the patent or something

I think Unicomp is still in business if you wanna order a new one: https://www.pckeyboard.com/

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I am very interested. I am in the US.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well I can't find my ancient PS/2 to USB adapter so I can't verify it still actually works, but I'd be surprised if it didn't. Still though, I want to try to find an adapter and test it out, both to make sure I don't sell some broken shit, but also to see if I actually want to start daily driving it again or if I truly do just wanna sell it.

You don't happen to be near Seattle, by any chance? 'cuz that'd definitely make things easier!

Anyways, some quick photos of it:

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I’m in Northern Maine, almost as far as you can get lol. It looks awesome. Are the keycaps removable?

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yup! Just popped one off with a modern keycap remover, came off and went back in just fine

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Amazing!

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I just ordered a ps/2 adapter so I can test it out, hopefully here by Wednesday. If you don't hear back from me by Thursday of next week and if you're still interested, shoot me a message and I'll get back to you

[–] Libb@piefed.social 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Way to go!

I'm more of a laser guy myself (Brother) but it's nice to see you got a good deal while helping reduce the amount of electronics we trash :)

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Judging by the size and style I think it’s a laser printer

[–] Libb@piefed.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You may be right and that is something I certainly would not be able to tell, i may just have misread the OP and imagined they mentioned it being inkjet. It would be even better if it was laser :)

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Color laser.

https://www.lexmark.com/en_us/printers/printer/16319/Lexmark-MC3426adw

(I had to know - you can see the model number in the first pic on the top left above the screen)

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Yup. The one I took fuser off was MC3224, same but simpler model.

[–] TheTurner@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 months ago

That's super cool. I am coincidentally going to Lexmark today. Lol

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'm an IT guy and Lexmark has come a long way.

Brother too.

HP has devolved into madness and Xerox seems to be giving up on the mid markets. They've just priced themselves out of that space.

HP used to be a sure fire go-to, for the industry, then Xerox, and now it's Lexmark's turn I guess.

At least, those are the trends I've been seeing from the industry...

[–] BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My current printer is a pre-madness HP color laser that I'm holding on to for as long as possible. HP used to be so good, it's a real shame what happened to them.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

I agree. They enshittified themselves out of the market with their subscription service for ink.

They took on more consumer hostile practices over time, but that was a big one.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago

In my teens my parents used to have ink printers. I remember EPSON big, gray and heavy printer/scanner combo that always had issues with either USB or ink. I hated to use that one.

A recent one is a HP (I think) ink printer at my moms. Her's had an issue where ink cartridge would be new but it would print empty pages. Turns out ink in tubes dried up and clogged everything. I told her to get new one but she said she already had a stock of ink for this one and it would be shame to lose all that money. This shit ink is the most expensive liquid on earth after all. I tried to fix her's but it deemed to be impossible so we talked and she got same but used one. She will use up all her ink and I'll get her a good one after.

I will not buy her HP or EPSON in my life!

[–] BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nice! My favorite printer was similar, a LaserJet 4 with the ethernet module that I bought at auction for $5. It had paper feed issues, which was a known issue caused by the rubber rollers drying out and getting brittle. I bought a new set of better materials for $10 and spent 15 minutes to install them. It ran great for the next 10 years until it was lost in a move.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 months ago

Yeah! These kind of deals are epic! Sad that you've lost yours.

[–] Copythis@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

They usually de-laminate causing a repeating pattern, usually of the previous print.

I repair copiers for a living and love them, except for HP.