I have a Samsung CLP-620ND printer that has suddenly started making loud grinding noises every time it prints. It also blurs parts of the printouts most of the time as though something is smearing the toner prior to the paper reaching the fuser.
The service manual for this model of printer does not seem to cover noise, and the print quality troubleshooting in this manual does not seem to describe the problem. One review of the printer (that I can no longer find) suggested that the problem might be the paper transfer belt. Before I spend $130+ on a new paper transfer belt, I'd like to know if anyone agrees with this assessment.
What are the likely causes of this problem? How can I fix it? Are there parts I will need to replace?
14 Answers
This is going to be almost impossible for anyone else to diagnose. It might be the paper transfer roller (I saw one reference to 50,000 pages for it - how many does the printer have on it?). It might be a broken gear. It might be something else entirely.
I hate to say it, but with a replacement part that costs half as much as the printer, plus your time (or someone else's) for replacements if it requires any disassembly, is it worth repair? The printers appear to be available for $250-300 with shipping
2I understand from your post that the printer is out of warranty, or you wouldn't be posting this here.
While I agree with @fencepost that the printer might not be worth fixing, I would like to make one remark in the case that you decide to repair it.
Before committing yourself to buying a $130+ part, you should be very sure that this is the real problem. If you do not have the technical competence to analyze the problem, find someone who has. In the worse case, bring the printer to a repairshop - the additional cost will work in your favor as insurance upon the quality of the repair. You could also ask them for an estimate before doing the actual repair.
Last remark: Don't use the printer any more until it is fixed.
I have this printer and it has performed flawlessly for several years until I recently got this mysterious grinding noise from the paper tray. The answers above don't really explain what happens. I was able to fix it myself for about $20 and with a little investigative work. While it certainly could be other things, the first thing to look at is the lower tray paper roller in the middle of the lower tray. This can be easily seen when one opens the spring loaded paper feed door at the front of the tray. Looking inside you will see a yellowish rubber strip that is supposed to wrap around the feed roller. In my case, the rubber had become brittle and one side literally detached from the roller which caused the spindle to get wedged from the loose rubber, and unable to rotate as it is supposed to when paper is fed. The noise comes from the gears at the side of the paper tray and reflects the gears spinning but because the spindle is frozen, they have no choice but to skip, thus creating the noise. The part is readily available and takes about 30 minutes to replace. Beats throwing a perfectly good printer away!!!
I too had the same noisy issue when printing. By opening the front door of the printer, where you would normally insert the cartridges, I noticed that the thin sheet of black material on the unit that sits in the door, had a piece of what looked like rubber protruding from inside the unit. The side of it showed that it is a replaceable object. To be clear, this is the unit that sits in the door that faces the 4 cartridges.
Tony S.
