Faulty Belts on HP Z3100

[KristineProvenza]

z3100 faulty belts
Before considering buying an HP printer please be warned that the belts that they use are faulty.

Whether this is planned obsolescence or simply HP using junk parts, I have tried contacting HP to let them know about it and find out what they could do..... of course....nothing but ignore my correspondence.

It's very "curious" that the belt, although an inexpensive part, is the most difficult on the printer to replace. You literally have to take the entire printer apart to get at it. That the belt only lasts just over one year and is likely to disintegrate right after your warranty expires. You will first notice little black pieces appearing on your prints, which is the belt falling apart little by little.

You can attempt to replace the belt, but you will need approximately 8 to 12 hours and take the risk of breaking something else in the process.

My first belt "EXPIRED" one week after my warranty did. My business was down for two weeks while I found the belt and did the repair. Luckily everything went well.....for another year, and now the belt is disintegrating again. My friend also has the machine and exactly the same thing happened to his belt.

Please let me know if you've had the same experience and most importantly as I"m going to have to replace it again, does anyone know where I can get a belt for the Z3100 that won't DISINTEGRATE

[deanwork]

Well I've been using the same printer for 3.5 years everyday and never had an issue with belts.

My opinion with these new printers is to always have them in warranty. My extended 3 year warranty was very reasonable and they are required to fix anything within 48 hours, parts and labor. So far they have done just that. I wouldn't dream of using one of these without a warranty extension in a business environment. I learned my lesson with Epson.

j

[Colorwave]

Mine lasted for three years of heavy use, and was just replaced before the end of my three year warranty.  It took seven hours for the experienced tech to do the work I needed, but only about five or so were related to the belt.  I also had my service station and spittoon replaced, which were entirely full of ink.  The old service station weighed about five pounds more than the new one, and the technician said that it was the heaviest that he had ever replaced, all due to the ink inside.  My belt was separating lengthwise and throwing off small bits of rubber.  It sounds like a new printer now, and I no longer need to watch it print to blow off the black bits of rubber before the ink hits the paper or wipe down the service station to avoid random drops of ink falling on my prints.  

BTW:  The engineering behind the belt change process is as lame as it gets.  You can access both ends of the belt, but still need to tear down the whole printer to change it.  It is like needing to pull the engine of a car to change the oil filter.  There's a lot of great engineering in these printers, as well as some really silly details as well.

[Roscolo]

Well, this is good to know. I'm a few months over 3 years on my z. I hope there are some good instructions out there on how to replace the belt. Seems I downloaded the z3100 Service Manual some time ago. Hope it's in there.

[dandeliondigital]

Hi Ron,
I got the replacement drive belt and am planning to tackle doing that job soon.

I imagined there must be other things I could replace to "tune-up" my machine while it's in pieces. Get it back to a "refurbished" level of operation.

You mentioned...
 I also had my service station and spittoon replaced, which were entirely full of ink.

Care to elaborate? Like part numbers or details?

I am going to put up a separate thread to see if anyone else has a check list for repairs needed to fully refurb an HPZ 3100.

Thanks in advance, and so long for now, TOM

[Ernst Dinkla]

That the belt only lasts just over one year and is likely to disintegrate right after your warranty expires. You will first notice little black pieces appearing on your prints, which is the belt falling apart little by little.

More like 4.5 years in my case.

You can attempt to replace the belt, but you will need approximately 8 to 12 hours and take the risk of breaking something else in the process.

I did use about 8 hours to clean many parts and replace the belt, first time experience. An experienced serviceman should do that in 4 hours. DIY work goes along with taking risks.

My first belt "EXPIRED" one week after my warranty did. My business was down for two weeks while I found the belt and did the repair. Luckily everything went well.....for another year, and now the belt is disintegrating again. My friend also has the machine and exactly the same thing happened to his belt.

Strange, so when I count all you bought a Z3100 two years ago. A new one? That model was replaced by the Z3200 in the winter of 2008/9. If you bought it in the winter of 2010/11 you probably got a machine that was stuck in the pipeline for 2 years. That would explain the 4 years degrading of the first belt, they go used or not used. I would have bought a Z3200 at that time. When the belt is replaced it is a good thing to clean thoroughly the wheel that drives it so the tooth fit correctly in the belt. In regular maintenance clean + oil the bar well where the carriage runs on so not much strain is applied to the belt. I also cleaned and lubricated the knife and did the same with the profile it runs in, putting teflon fluid (with a cloth) on the profile parts that should guide the knife and keep the parts clean and dry that give the friction on the wheels so the rotary cutter knives rotate. A lot of tension is created on the belt if the wheels do not rotate while cutting paper.

Whether the two belts I replaced will last I do not know. Done it not so long ago and I ordered alternative  replacement belts from a HongKong source, not the genuine HP ones.

--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2012, 500+ inkjet media white spectral plots.

[Charles Gast]

I have a z3100 I started using in 2007. 10 days ago the belt came apart. Considering the belt lasted 6 years I'm not complaining. It took about 7 hours to replace using the PDF manual. I used a plastic spoon to scoop about 180 ml of ink glop out of the service station spittoon. The replacements were out of stock or I would have ordered one. It wasn't due for replacement anyway, but I couldn't resist scooping out the bulk of the ink.
 When the belt broke the head was in the middle and I did not at the time know that with power off you can manually park the carriage and manually use a torx in the back to cap the print heads. Since it would be 4 days at least waiting for the belt I took out each print head and carefully wrapped the ejection area with Saran Wrap. I also wrapped the area where the pins are all to stop drying. I put little patches of Saran Wrap on the ink sockets in the carriage too.
 I have done test prints and all is well!  Thats something I appreciate about this machine. I can service it myself. There isn't a wearable component I can't replace.

[dandeliondigital]

Hi Charles,
Thanks for sharing this about the Z.

I started a thread here earlier this week:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=75447.msg602430#msg602430

I am planning major maintenance, and was looking for pointers.

No comments yet. Maybe you and others could give my thread a look and comment.

Thanks, and so long for now, TOM