[DNeurococo]

I once saved the life of the Dalai Lama. He was so grateful, he taught me an ancient trick about printers.

To maintain the life of the rubber rollers that feed the paper in, clean them with acetone, not alcohol. Alcohol will dry out the rollers, while acetone keeps them supple. Acetone will even help revive the rubber rollers in old printers that have trouble feeding the paper properly. You can get acetone in any hardware store.

CAUTION: the fumes from acetone are bad for the toner cartridge and for people too! Use acetone in a well ventilated area, and put the printer cartridge in some other place while you're working. Wait until the fumes have gone away before re-installing the cartridge.

[MacFromOK]

Another word of caution with pure acetone.
It's as explosive as gasoline. I've used it to
prime carburetors when starting older engines.

[Dark Star]

The wife has a small bottle of fingernail polish remover (also known as acetone)..............but do not even think of using it because it most likely has a fragrance added in and it is pricey because it says Revlon on it.
Just go to your local friendly hardware store and get your own quart or pint of acetone.

Cheers,
DS

[Dark Star]

MacfromOK,

"I've used it to prime carburetors when starting older engines."

That is a good tip also, I've noticed the Starting Fluid that used to have ether is not easy to find and I think they are now using a different ingredient other than ether and it does not pack the same punch as does the ether.
It is the vapor fumes that are highly explosive and not the liquid.

One last word of caution: Acetone has the potential of melting some types of plastics, and it will surely turn a clear plastic into a milky white plastic so just because it cleans the rubber rollers well, do not try to clean other printer parts with it.

DS

[mole]

I thought acetone was tightly controlled by the CA air quality management districts?


mole

[DNeurococo]

Not to my knowledge. I live in CA and you can buy acetone in the local hardware stores.

[Mulderator]

. . . DN, that you would use such an environmentally unsafe product--shame on you. Shouldn't you be cleaning those rollers with something you get only at a Green supported store?

[DNeurococo]

Busted! O.K., you got me!

[GoneForNow]

DN-----Here is the perfect chance to put your brand of socialism to work!!!!! Lets get a petition together and have the good citizens of LaLa Land vote on whether acetone can be sold at the local hardware store. We could add other "harmful" products made by these "foreign" corporations ("foreign" meaning outside of LaLa Land). Like benzines or thorazine (or is that the pill I pop twice a day (mole will get that one)). If the the good citizens pass our mandate then we can stop the shipments at the border (much easier than "illegals"). Oh wait a minute I forgot about the U.S. Constitution and the Commerce Clause. Who cares were talking socialism here we don't need a Constitution we have utopia (which I hope isn't one of those "bad" chemicals).

[mole]

Reminds me of this:

A few years ago I was testing beer bottle cap gaskets in the lab and had several 6 packs purchased at local package stores to dispose of. The DC government considers the alcohol content of the beer makes it hazardous waste if disposed of from a lab, so some faithful government employees volunteered to perform a kidney filtration (off duty) so the tax payers could be spared the expense of disposing of beer as hazardous waste.

We need to find a green alternative for acetone in this situation because there are too many VOC (volatile organic chemicals) released into the sensitive atmosphere. Trouble is we have got to stop CN/DN from drinking the blasted acetone.

mole

[DNeurococo]

Hey! I want a lawyer! ! !

[GoneForNow]

DN---It would have to be Mulder as I'm not licensed in LaLa Land (thank God!)

[MacFromOK]

Hehe, only you guys could turn a "printer trick"
into a random discussion...

[GoneForNow]

There is nothing "random" about it. We see DN and we go for the throat. Not really. We're just having a little fun. We take ourselves a little to seriously sometimes in this Forum. I'd rather poke fun at myself (and Mulder too!) Life is to short and there are so many socialist to harpoon. Beats watching re-runs or reading Chomsky (a thousand deaths is not as painful as reading Chomsky).

[DNeurococo]

I have another tip for cleaning toner smudges off the surface of printers.

I searched the forums, and I couldn't find any discussion of cleaning the printer surface per se. So, I figured this place is as good as any.

Anyways, I had some stubborn smudges. I tried various cleaners: alcohol, ammonia, spray cleaners, bleach, etc. - - all dilligently applied with a toothbrush, scrubbing hard. Didn't work too well.

What worked like a charm is one of those "Mr. Clean" Magic Erasers, and a solution of Oxy-Clean. Took it right off with ease!

The only cautions I would mention is to be sure that you wring it out well (should be damp, not wet) so it doesn't drip into the machinery. Also, be careful of things (such as logos, identifiers for the buttons) that are printed onto the surface. The "Mr. Clean" Eraser is like an abrasive sponge and it might take a logo right off.

As with many experiments I do, I don't know WHICH is the critical ingredient! Was it the "Mr. Clean" eraser, or was it the Oxy-Clean? I already cleaned the whole thing before I thought to experiment with one item seperately!

But, the combo works VERY good. Made the thing look brand new.

Try it yourself!

P.S. "Mr. Clean" did NOT pay me to make this post!