Sharp AL-1340 has black spot repeating 3 times on each copy.

The problem was indeed caused by a defect in the drum. The drum surface had a small spot where the coating was missing. The drum makes three revolutions during the copying of an 8 X 11 sheet and the defect is seen on the paper as three distinct black spots. The drum had been poorly packaged for shipment by the supplier. A piece of lightproof black plastic was wrapped around the drum to shield it from any light during transiting from the shipping box to the copier. This piece of black plastic was poorly positioned and wrinkled. Additionally, as received, the drum - sealed in a light-proof bag was jammed into the shipping box and I have no doubt that the defect in the drum surface was caused by this poorly packaged shipment. I reinstalled the old drum and hopefully I can finish the current job before the drum counter times-out and shuts down before I can obtain another new drum from that company.