in the device and method of the present invention , a stripping roller is positioned a short distance from an electrostatically charged photoconductor surface in an electrophotocopy machine . the roller is supplied with a bias voltage which has a polarity the same as that of the charge on the photoconductor surface and a magnitude which is equal to or higher than that of the photoconductor surface charge , but greater than 1 kv . the photoconductor surface is moved past the stripping roller to remove excess developer liquid .