SAMSUNG CLP-365 printer power button [SOLVED
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OK, a combination of my own ham-fistedness in the first place and age-hardening plastics? However the power button on my printer popped through the top of the machine, so kaputt. From recent past experience (laptop hinge failure) local Currys charge min £60 for sending away to their repair centre + £££ parts (if not under warranty) so I reckoned a repair would be £100+. (Printer well beyond its warranty, ~10 years old).
Quick online perusal for new printers showed that colour laser printers are a lot more costly than I'd hoped, but B&W laser printers seemed tolerable ~£100 and I needed to be able to print off a Route Sheet PDQ (for the New Mere 200). So with not a lot more to lose, I invested in a new (Oh) Brother (Where Art Thou?) Wi-Fi Mono laser. Don't they do stereo?
Immediate problem now over, could I repair the Samsung myself, or at least try at my leisure, before sending it to the local recycling centre?
Youtu.be provided 2 vids how to dismantle. The first was a 20min exercise in taking all innards and plastic outer casings off, but I wasn't really interested about getting the paper feed rollers to bits. The second showed me how easy it was to take out the toner gubbins, the laser unit (keep it covered, away from direct light), unscrew the 2 fasteners holding the top plate to the front of the chassis, then using plastic tyre levers to ease the click-fix tabs off the other 3 edges of the top plate. Eureka! Plate loose, there's the PCB for the power/control buttons, undo that and there was the printer power problem exposed.
The actual switches are offset from the control buttons by ~15mm (rather than being directly over them) and has a little plastic frame incorporating cantilevering tabs which actuate the switches. One of these tabs has snapped off - hence my problem.
Solution: cannot expect to glue plastics back together, esp cantilevery bits. Don't have access to a 3D printer to make a new sub-frame. But, having been an engineer pre-retirement, solution was simples. Just needs a little plastic bridge under the push button to span onto the power switch. So, cut strip from old thermoplastic credit card, heat it (hot water) to kink it to desired profile to bridge onto the switch, chill it to set it, then fit in place under the push button. It is held in position by the sub-frame. Result.
A satisfactory "click" when the power button is pushed on/off.
An alternative solution might have been to drill the top plate directly above the switches, then cobble together a sort of sprung button, maybe from re-purposed pop-rivets or a cap-head screw and nut... Or use a cocktail stick !
So had I not been in such a rush to be able to print again, I could have saved the £100... Then again, I now have a new plasticky printer, a £2/month toner subscription (did I really want that?), and a wi-fi printer that all my devices can use. Although, like using Zwift, I am bemused by the need to use a mobile app to manage the damn thing, rather than t'interweb direct.
And it was an opportunity to take out the paper feed roller and clean it (white spirit) as there was a lot of waste toner dust inside the printer. Maybe that is why manufacturers don't want us emptying out and re-using the waste toner box?
BTW, I went for Brother as they at least recognize linux as a known OS in their specs, unlike HP, Epson or others... Installation was a doddle as the Brother website provided the .deb file for CUPS drivers for ubuntu/Mint systems and networking access was found by my Mint desktop, the ubuntu NUCie, even the Minted ASUS Eeepc (and the Windoze 11 laptop with the repaired hinge), despite the worst efforts of the mobile app !