Printer Faults - Faded Page with Murky Margins

Faded printing with marks in the margins are generally a sign of an exhausted photoconductor drum.

Photoconductors don't have an indefinite life; it varies with the materials and diameter of the drum from about

• 5000 pages on a small printer
• 30,000 pages on a big printer

Even if this were not so the thin coat of material wears away and gets scratched in use. Scratching tends to be pronounced at the sides of the drum, perhaps because the paper edge is passing there - the drum is effectively getting thousands of miniscule paper cuts.

Properties of the materials tend to decay with exposure to light and the pattern suggested here can be worn out OPC but that might more likely just give a grey background.

Tractor Tyres" also occur in the margins but have more of a pattern to them - as though a rubber tread had passed or perhaps like the ripples left by the action on waves on sand.

A similar pattern is called edgewear in a fuser

If this fault occurs immediately after changing the cartridge it suggests either:

• Voltage fault - clean the contacts.
• Possibly a poorly refurbished print cartridge.

If a cartridge is left on the shelf without adequate protection against light, this type of fault is the common result. Light penetrating the edge of the shutter has degraded the OPC. The cure is a new OPC but unless you are a refurbisher, they are not obtainable so the answer is a new cartridge.