Displacement activity - fixing the printer

OK - this is not arty, its not speaking to anything, but it did give quiet satisfaction, so as its the most successful thing done today, its the subject of the blip.

Our colour laser printer has been doing sterling work for a few years, but recently the colours have faded considerably, noticeably in the magenta. We've just put in new cartridges at considerable cost, and its as bad as ever.

So - turning to google I found this is not an unknown problem. There are mirrors deep inside the machine that reflect the lasers onto the drum, and these can get covered in dust. As magenta is the lowest cartridge, near the paper tray, it tends to get dirty fastest.

So I found this article showing step by step how to try cleaning it. There are a huge number of screws to undo, lots of wires to unplug and label, and other hazards to get into the guts of it. It did look a daunting job, but with help I managed to complete all the steps, and although the mirrors did not look very dusty, when reassembled (and all 30 odd screws having been found a place to be put in, and all the carefully labelled cables put back in place) it not only worked, but the colours were much improved.

There is always a point half way into such a procedure, with bits lying all around you, where you wonder if this was really a good idea. In my experience too - you often reassemble, and find things much worse than before. So I was greatly heartened by what was achieved today.

So - one little success story. The fact I have revision to do probably also explains why I was keen to work on this!