M607 streaks

[JimSchuuz]

I have a couple of M607 printers that are leaving streaks down the right side of the page.  I know for certain that it is not the fuser.  Normally, I would think that it's the drum for 2 reasons:

1. There's an obvious roller mark every 27 mm, spaced evenly, and

2. It goes away when I replace the toner cartridge.

However, there are several reasons why I do NOT think it's the drum:

1. The spacing on the roller mark is 27 mm (1 1/32" apart).  That makes it too small to be the drum, as the drum's circumference is greater than that.

2. I have stopped the printer midway through the transfer process and verified that there is nothing on the drum in that location.

3. It only happens on 2 printers.  I have a dozen of these, and it does not happen on the other 10.

4. It returns after 4000-6000 pages into a new toner cartridge (roughly 50-60% used), and has done so about 15 times out of 17 cartridges now.

5. It's always in the same position - the right side of the page, with a hard edge 4 mm from the edge of the paper.  The drum is wider than the paper, and there is nothing visible at that position on the drum.

Rollers I've replaced:
Transfer roller

Pickup/feed roller

Separation roller

Other information of note:

I don't see any other rollers visible in the printer that would align with the streak.

I'm 100% positive that it isn't the fuser because I have gone through 5 fusers now with no change - 3 in one printer, and 2 in the other - all brand new HP OEM fusers.

The toner cartridges are non-HP branded, but allegedly "new" and not reman/refilled.  However, there is never a way of knowing this for certain.

I did try an HP OEM cartridge and it did not occur on that one cartridge.  However, the HP branded cartridges are 4-5x the  price of the off-brand toner cartridges, and even with the non-HP branded cartridge it didn't happen every time, just most of the time.

A cleaning page doesn't get rid of the streak, and doesn't appear to even visibly lighten it at all.

The transfer roller is 47 mm in circumference, so it would have to be an even smaller roller than that.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Valsimot · Accepted solution]

The 26,7mm is the circumference of the primary charging roller inside the toner cartridge, can't be seen or accessed.

Replace the toner cartridge.

[JimSchuuz]

Thank you so much, I'm sure you are correct!  The odds of it just being a coincidence that the measurements are the same between the spacing and the charging roller circumference are just way too high.

My only other question is this: 

Do you have a guess about why it happens on just 2 printers vs. the other 10?  Could it be an issue with the voltage going into the charging roller, and maybe these 2 printers are giving just a few volts less, and that is causing an uneven distribution of toner on the drum?

[Valsimot]

It's hard to be sure. It is possible that this is caused by dirt or dust that came from the drum of the printer passed to the charging roller. If the cleaning blade of the drum roller doesn't function correctly it can happen that some amount of dirt or even toner dust is collected on a charging roller making it leave marks. This is most common on sides ( left or right) because the cleaning blade is "weakest" on the end sides.

[JimSchuuz]

This information has been very helpful.  These 2 particular printers are the heaviest volume and during some periods of the year they are pushed to their maximum duty limits, so I suspect that maybe the cleaning blade is wearing out faster because of that very heavy volume.  I'm going to look at a higher volume printer to replace these with, and maybe, if it can use a high yield toner cartridge, the cleaning blade will be stronger as well.  The M607 can't use an X cartridge, just a standard A cartridge.

Thank you, sir.  You are a gentleman and a scholar.