Got a printer at the warehouse where they sell used hotel equipment. They told that it has a defect in a way that it "prints with a line across". All cartridges were full and working. And it seems that they can be refilled judging by the area around the caps.

It did work but the "line" was a bend, not a print. Found out that heating roller in a fuser was the culprit. Was about to get a new fuser off Alibaba for a 100 but my wife gave me a better option. She suggested to get a used one off local marketplace. We found same lineup smiplier model with empty cartridges. After a quick swap, this little boy now gives out sharp and plain prints. 30 euro for defective office one, 40 euro off marketplace.

This pic is from a marketplace printer with a swapped in defective fuser.

P.S. Apparently, this brand has an extensive servicing manual for this lineup printers. It has all instructions for servicing pretty much any part with pictures and videos. Major props for Lexmark. Never heard of this brand before.

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[–] 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Lexmark was originally spun off of IBM's printer and keyboard division in Lexington, Kentucky. You saw a lot of their printers sold with cheap home computers around the turn of the century; they leaned heavily into the "$39 inkjet printer with $75 cartridges that used all three colours to make black" business model, and were largely squeezed out of the home market by customers who didn't buy their second printer from them. It feels a bit of a throwback to see the name now, but they retreated to the commercial market.

The keyboard division was further spun off into a firm called Unicomp, who still builds derivatives of the quality "Model M" keyboards they sold on the old PS/2 machines.

Most full-range manufacturers make servicable printers, as long as you go high up enough in the product line that they're selling to businesses that care about duty cycles and maintenence costs, although I think at some point you reach units that are sold as an ongoing service arrangement with on-call staff instead.

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  • [–] [S] 13 points 10 months ago

    Woah! The more you know! I am not super technician, but after disassembling and reassembling this printer compared to some hp ink printer my parents have I got a feeling that this Lexmark is built like a tank.

    I was a bit skeptical before buying it. Brand I never heard about before that might have issues with finding parts. But price was right. Glad I didn't pass on it.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I have a Unicomp Model M! All black with blank keys too. Feels great to type on, but it is a bit loud, and I can't find my ps2 to usb adapter to try it out again (been sitting in storage for years)

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I will happily take it off your hands!

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    You're good with blank keycaps and ps2 connector? If you're in the US, I may be interested!

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Is it a true mechanical board?

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    It's the buckling spring mechanism, same one used in IBM's Model M, since Unicomp holds the patent or something

    I think Unicomp is still in business if you wanna order a new one: https://www.pckeyboard.com/

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I am very interested. I am in the US.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Well I can't find my ancient PS/2 to USB adapter so I can't verify it still actually works, but I'd be surprised if it didn't. Still though, I want to try to find an adapter and test it out, both to make sure I don't sell some broken shit, but also to see if I actually want to start daily driving it again or if I truly do just wanna sell it.

    You don't happen to be near Seattle, by any chance? 'cuz that'd definitely make things easier!

    Anyways, some quick photos of it:

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    I’m in Northern Maine, almost as far as you can get lol. It looks awesome. Are the keycaps removable?

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Yup! Just popped one off with a modern keycap remover, came off and went back in just fine

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)