Maintaining consistent darkness levels produced by a photoconductive drum during the life of the photoconductive drum

In an imaging device having a photoconductive drum including a surface that is selectively discharged by a laser beam to form a latent electrostatic image for attracting toner for transfer to a media, a method comprising:

• storing in a memory of the imaging device energy density values for the laser beam according to a coating thickness of the photoconductive drum that can be accessed by a controller to control the laser beam;
• and
• controlling by the controller the laser beam based on the stored energy density values by increasing or decreasing energy density of the laser beam when the laser beam is scanned along the photoconductive drum, wherein the controlling further includes increasing the energy density of the laser beam as the laser beam is scanned at end portions of the photoconductive drum and wherein the increasing the energy density of the laser beam when the laser beam is scanned at the end portions is performed when the photoconductive drum has imaged less than a predetermined number of media.