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Understanding the basic mechanics of a printer is the very first step toward successful troubleshooting. The following is designed to give a basic understanding of each assembly and its primary functions — to save you a lot of time and money troubleshooting and ordering parts. Remember: while not every printer is the same, each machine has the same basic assemblies in some way, shape, or form.
The cassette pickup assembly
Depending on the model of the machine, the “pickup assembly” could just be a pickup roller with a metal shaft and clutch, or a series of clutches, gears, and rollers. Regardless of how different they look, they all perform the same basic function. They pick paper up from the tray and transport it to the registration assembly through a series of clutches, gears, and rollers. Printers have been getting much faster and more complex throughout the years. The HP II/III series pickup assembly consisted of a clutch, shaft and gear. The HP 4000 series has a pickup assembly and a feeder assembly, and the HP 5si and HP 8000 models have the pickup and feeder assemblies integrated into the Paper Input Unit, or PIU. Paper Input Units usually have their own motor within the unit to drive the assembly. The rest are driven off the printer's main drive assembly.
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This article will be available online on 03/01/2009
