Tips & Tricks

Cover Open? An Okidata Printer Repair
Okidata 14ex Didn't Know If Its Cover Was Opened or Closed

She complained that it had been doing this for a few days - at seemingly random moments, the Okidata 14ex LED Page Printer would refuse to print, its display showing only a "Cover Open" warning. Sometimes opening and re-closing the top cover would clear the error; other times it would not. By yesterday morning it had had enough - no amount of fiddling would get it going again.

I examined the printer briefly, ruling out the simple stuff, then took it to my workbench for disassembly. I have seen many printer failures caused by bits of paper blocking the action of small switches or sensors and guessed that that would be the case this time as well.
Once fully exposed, I could see that the real problem was a broken cover open switch arm. This bit of black plastic is meant to actuate the cover open micro switch. In its current condition - broken in two - that was out of the question.

I ordered a replacement from Agson.com (my source for all Okidata parts) and installed it earlier today.

She's happy. I'm happy. Life is good.

Remove the OPC drum & toner unit and the top cover (two screws). The power supply shield comes off next, complete with face up stacker cover assembly and control panel still attached (one screw).

Remove six more screws and lift the lower base unit off the base.

The broken cover open switch arm. It's about 3-1/2 inches (89 MM) long.

The screwdriver points to the cover open micro switch. The tab at the left end of the arm (illustration above) is supposed to actuate this switch.

The new arm snaps into place in the left reset lever.

Hmm... Where did this come from??

Oh. It goes here (looking at the bottom of the lower base unit, near the hopping roller).

Note: The identical cover open switch arm is used in many Okidata printers, including the OL400e, OL810e, 14E, 14EX, 14I, 12I, 10I, and 10EX. In fact, I suspect it is used by all of the similar Oki printer models. Having at one time or another disassembled many of the above models, I can state that the process is essentially the same across the entire printer line.