I just bought the TR4520. It seems like it's the cheapest office-style printer since it has that document feeder at the top (which for me is necessary since I use it a lot). But because of the coronavirus the sellers aren't responding nor shipping..... Which did you end up getting? More on reddit.com

That piece of clear plastic tape you're describing is called the encoder strip. The printhead has a sensor in it which reads and counts the number of lines on the strip, which lets the printer keep track on the position and travel speed of the printhead. Normally, the strip is hooked onto the printer on one side, and the other side has a tension spring which then gets hooked onto the other side of the printer. Any bends, smudges, scratches etc. can damage this encoder strip, rendering it useless. A misaligned or unhooked encoder strip will also cause this issue. Check your work again, the super high speed at which the printer smashes the carriage to the side suggests an issue with the printer not being able to determine the position of the carriage correctly. More on reddit.com

@ original poster ramboton Google have made many changes to Chrome OS native (built-in) printing (also known as Chrome OS CUPS) since Dec 2020 and ever since then IPP printing (which your TR-4520 is dependant upon) has been suffering a variety of automatic address related problems. Unfortunately the fixes that Google have been releasing to resolve the latest reported problem symptom merely seem to reveal another (up to now at least). IMO although Chrome OS CUPS is discovering your printer correctly, past experience (a lot of it) suggests that it is almost certainly handling the automatic alphanumeric address string incorrectly somwhere in the print preview code. If my hypothesis is correct then this simple workaround should fix the problem: Edit the Saved CUPS configuration and replace the contents of the Address field with the IPv4 address of your printer. Note that this workaround will only provide a stable solution if you use a true static IPv4 address (make sure that you know what you are doing) or a reserved IPv4 address (static and reserved adressses represent the alternative methods of fixing the IP address of your printer). Of course, there are other possibilties but they are only worth exploring if my hypothesis doesn't resolve your problems. If you have any questions feel free to ask. More on reddit.com

Try reinstalling the driver. But that is a cheap printer. You might just want to buy a better one. More on reddit.com