HP F2G73A 1500 Sheet Feeder

For Laserjet M604, M605, M606 Series Printers

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At the moment in June 2015 this is the universal image of the F2G73A - it is wrong because it has the black strip that fits the P4015 and M601 - not the M604 series.

The 1500 sheet high capacity feeder provides a big paper capacity for the LaserJet M604, M605 and M606 printers. The device is a cabinet containing a paper-lift and is loaded through a door on the front. Since the M606 can print at 62 pages per minute paper loaded into the cassette could be used in 8 minutes. With this feeder unit the printer can operate for longer - at least it can run for double the time if the F2G71A output stacker is added. The high capacity feeder rather shifts the problem to the output side, but paired with the stacker the machine could run continually for 20 minutes.

The primary use of the F2G73A is usually to reduce the interruption of routine caused by re-loading paper. Those times when the printer runs out of paper and everyone hopes someone else will fix the problem.

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What HP Say

Support productivity with this robust paper input tray that enables media versatility and allows longer printing (up to 1500 sheets) without re-loading paper.

The printer accommodates up to four additional trays and can handle many types and sizes of paper and up to three reams of plain paper in the high-capacity input tray.

Save trips to load paper in the printer with this paper input accessory.

Simple to install, featuring unique sensors that automatically detect paper size, easy-to-use paper guides, and a paper level indicator that lets users know how much paper is in the tray without opening the tray.

HP_LJ-M604_tower

The 1500 sheet feeder is typically combined with two or three of the smaller F2G68A 500 sheet feeders. In this configuration the cassettes hold letterhead, coloured paper and forms whilst the high capacity feeder holds a bullk or standard office paper. With a 5 bin mailbox F2G81A the printer can produce a complete billing, legal or financial document ready for collection in one action.  

The F2G73A is successor to the CE398A (for the M601) and CB523A (for P4014). Usually these things are not forwards compatible - an M601 feeder (CE398A) won't work with an M604 printer - although the primary difference is usually firmware in the accessory microprocessor.

Weight

13 Kilogrammes.

Dimensions

Minimum dimensions (W x D x H) 415 x 448 x 264 mm

Paper Handling

Media sizes from 210 x 279 to 216 x 356 mm

Whats in the box

HP LaserJet 1500-sheet Input Tray; Install Guide; WEEE Errata sheet

Guarantee

HP keep saying "90-day parts only" on the web - but that would be an unfair limitation in Europe and the UK.

A sheet feeder like this is a fairly complex mechanism. Reliably taking one sheet from a stack of 1500 is difficult. The paper stack is positioned by a servo-motor and a three-roller pickup and feed mechanism takes the top sheet and pushes it up into the printer. The rollers are the same three-roller pickup feed and separation set used in the 500 sheet cassettes. HP have assigned a new number to the roller kit E6B67-67905. (Its likely to be identical to CB506-67904 and CE988-67904).


Web Research

HP Partsurfer recognises the code F2G73-67901 which will be the service exchange number:

F2G73-67901   1,500-sheet high-capacity paper input tray feeder assembly and lists

HP LaserJet Enterprise M604dn Prntr
HP LaserJet Enterprise M604n Prntr
HP LaserJet Enterprise M605dn Printer
HP LaserJet Enterprise M605n Printer
HP LaserJet Enterprise M605x Printer
HP LaserJet Enterprise M606dn Printer
HP LaserJet Enterprise M606x Printer
HP LaserJet Managed M605dnm Prntr
HP LaserJet Managed M605xm Prntr

Icecat gives the EAN/UPC code as 0888182490129 and gives the data from the HP brochure systematically.

There does appear to be an alternate EAN because geizhals.at gives 0888182490129, 8881824901290.

A google Query on F2G73A in June 2015 gave About 1,890 results (0.26 seconds) with the first in organic search being as follows:

www8.hp.com/emea_africa no price, www.cdw.com $519.99, provantage.com$404.54 (list $555.01), www.zones.com $561.99, geizhals.at (comparison list) €494.96, www.hardware.com $465.52, bluedogink.com $426.99, icecat.biz - information only.

The list is in Google order. This is a relatively new product launched in spring 2015 and US sites seem better at picking up on new products. Non of the sites seen offers anything beyond a rearrangement of the icecat/HP data feed. We did a bit more research on the predecessors CE398A (M601) and CB523A (P4014) and could find very little beyond the phrase "Support productivity with this robust paper input tray that enables media versatility from Letter, A4 to Legal size and allows longer printing".

One of these 1500 sheet feeders and up to three of the 500 sheet additional cassette feeders can be used per printer. With more than two or three accessories the F2G70A printer stand will be needed - the stack of devices needs the wider locking base.

Web research gave very little indication that this class of feed unit gives much trouble. They won't sell in huge numbers and will tend to belong to government and corporates, so perhaps they are replaced rather than repaired or problems are dealt with under a print management contract.

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Faults & Fixes

The feeder is a box with a liftable floor kept level by a rope drive and pulleys. It is powered and controlled by the printer (over an I2C bus) - it does have the intelligence of a local microprocessor but there are no public diagnostics for this. The motor driving the pulleys forms a servo-system with the top of stack sensor in the top of the box.

There are a list of error messages and meanings in the service manual.

By far the most likely problem is misfeeding. Check the separation roller in the door and the pickup and feed rollers up inside the front top of the feeder unit and replace them with a E6B67-67905 kit if they seem worn.  

The feed roller set on top of the box are not soft rubber so they don't normally wear out in the service life of the machine.

Odd behaviours are more likely to relate to computer drivers (Windows) than to the printer and accessory stack. Anything stranger will need the feeder to be taken out of the stack and used with a printer on its own to isolate the problem.


F2G73A

Buying the High Capacity feeder

The high capacity feeder is comparable in price with the printer. It isn't a simple device and doesn't have the mass market that printers enjoy. Manufacturers are reputed to keep the price of printers down to maximise their share of the cartridge market. It is arguable that someone buying the feeder intends to use a lot of cartridges - non of the print brands seems to accept that. Accessories are not usually very cheap.

Arguably, this kind of printer is leased more than sold and with it's accessory stack that is particularly likely. Printers of this kind are also the basis of "Managed Print" contracts and again the price of parts are somewhat disguised in the overall contract.

If you want the F2G73A then you probably need the F2G70A floorstand and several F2G68A 500 sheet feeders as well - but they aren't compulsory.

HP_F2G73A parts explosion

All the accessories are listed on the accessories page .

Supply Situation

The 1,500 sheet feeder is less common than the 500 sheet F2G68A 500 sheet feeders.

In June 2015 one UK distributor had four in stock for next day shipment.

These devices are usually available for next day delivery - our catalogue pages will reflect the situation.