Printer Maintenance – How to Make Your Printer Last a Very Long Time
How to maximize the life of your printer
With financial reports, project submissions, school assignments and lecture notes hanging precariously over our heads, the last thing we need during these busy times is a printer failure. Most of the work today is done or transported through electronic media, only to be printed before their actual utilization. Hence, whenever the printer starts its work, you can safely say that it’s doing something important. While getting a good printer always has its dividends, printer maintenance is just as important. Proper printer maintenance can make your printer last for years, providing valuable service and not breaking down when you need it the most.
Printer maintenance is an often overlooked area. People tend to believe that printers will suffer from wear and tear and components will need replacement eventually. While this is true, it must also be noted that proper printer maintenance can substantially improve the life of most printer components, significantly reducing the cost of ownership.
Printers come in various forms and sizes. Naturally, printer maintenance varies according to the type of printer that you may have. While some, like the hardy dot matrix printers, require less printer maintenance, other types of printers are preferably handled with a bit of care to ensure a long operating life.
Printer maintenance for the hardy dot matrix printers is pretty simple. The guide plates which guide the printing pins in these printers can wear out due to the accumulation of ink and grit within the plate. Timely replacement of cartridges allows less dirt and grit to form on the ribbon and permeate into the guide plate, thus increasing its life. In case of inkjet printers, printer maintenance mainly involves the printing heads. The heads contain numerous miniscule pores through which the ink is sprayed on to the paper. With time, dry ink may accumulate on top of these pores and close them. Inkjet printer maintenance should be performed by taking out the cartridges and wiping the print head with a moist cloth. Once the head is dry, the cartridges can be placed back. Inferior quality ink resulting from cartridge refills may cause hazards like leakage into the various components of the printer. Hence proper printer maintenance also involves the timely replacement of cartridges and avoidance of faulty refills.
Laser printers are very common today and have quite a few components that need care. Printer maintenance firstly involves cleaning the rollers periodically. They have a soft rubber coating on them which can be cleaned by using a damp cotton cloth. Vacuuming the insides may also be necessary to remove resident toner particles within the printer. Special HEPA filter based vacuum cleaners may be required for proper laser printer maintenance. Furthermore, after about 100000 prints, the fuser which melts the toner on to the paper may need replacement. Timely replacement and printer maintenance keeps it running and your prints clean and smooth.
In order to avoid the consequences of an unforeseen breakdown of your printer, a printer maintenance kit might be kept handy. Available from manufacturers like HP and Canon, these kits contain parts that have the tendency to wear out over time, especially in case of laser printer maintenance. Collectively, they also cost less and save you the headache of waiting for the technician if your printer suddenly decides to die on you.
Proper printer maintenance, coupled to a handy maintenance kit when you need it ensures less stress when you have important work to do. Not only is a well maintained printer very reliable but also produces high quality prints for a long, long time.
Watch the video related to printer
Video to Mistabishi’s awesome track “Printer Jam” taken from his album “Drop” which is out now on Hospital Records…
Help answer the question about printer
What is a good color printer with a small footprint?I currently have a big HP printer that does not fit in the new cabinets we just installed. I'd like to be able to put a printer on the shelf so it's out of sight. The shelf is about 12" deep, 24" wide, and 8" tall. The printer I'd want would be a high quality photo printer, but doesn't need to be top of the line on the photo printing.
Thanks for the recommendations.
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Christophe Catesson -
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For similar articles visit: http://www.discountprinterinkreviews.com. Printer inks cartridges information, reviews, ratings advices and solutions for inkjet printer owners.
August 23rd, 2010 13:35
I never hit my keyboard, I just kick the printer.
August 23rd, 2010 14:03
Hi, I think there are still a number of printer driver errors where Vista is concerned. Perhaps you should contact Lexmark directly!
August 23rd, 2010 14:24
Safest way to find out is to go to the HP web site and look up the support for your model of printer. It will have a listing in there somewhere for the paper size range the printer and scanner will support – not always the same.
They will also have info on any special method of loading the paper to make sure it feed right.
Keep in mind it is the same width as an envelope, and nearly all printers will do envelopes.
August 23rd, 2010 15:12
@aslestat meh the got better i love mine
August 24th, 2010 08:44
After watching this video I just glared at my printer absent minded. Now it knows what’s up lol
August 24th, 2010 10:58
so true
August 24th, 2010 11:19
Same terminology as many Government Agencies and Corporate Businesses will buy and equip their commercial grade HP Laserjet Printers like HP 4000 with supplemental "HP JET DIRECT CARD" so it can be used on their NETWORK and shared among authorized users.
Then again sometimes same HP Laserjet can be set as LPT1 standalone printer for one particular user/employee or workstation where other coworkers have no access and this HP Laserjet printer is running strictly on LPT1 parallel cable
Hope the Above Info Helps!
August 25th, 2010 05:29
You will need a large format printer but they do not come cheap. This is link to some Canon ones.
http://www.canon.co.uk/for_work/products/professional_print/Large_Format/index.asp
August 25th, 2010 10:31
from now on i blame my printer
August 25th, 2010 15:21
that is a HP printer,…i kno cause i had one…and it sucked balls
then i got a new one and now that one sucks too…i hate printers
August 25th, 2010 15:52
This video is awesome
August 25th, 2010 23:18
if you don't wane use LAN then you have to but the printer which has WIFI or bluetooth connection , then you can easily use it or else another way is to but wireless printer router which is specially made for prints , all you have to do is just to connect your printer with its cable to that router and then the router is sending wireless signal that could be detect by your laptop WIFI .
thats it and no other choice
August 26th, 2010 00:04
HP
August 26th, 2010 00:30
A Wi-Fi card or a wireless router!
August 26th, 2010 02:09
The product you want is the Netgear WGPS606 wireless USB print server with 4-port switch. It allows you to connect one or two printers to your existing wireless network using USB cables. You can place the printers anywhere you want, and you can connect up to 4 computers using Ethernet cable to this as it acts as a wireless bridge. Cost is about $80
August 26th, 2010 09:14
Windows XP FTW
August 26th, 2010 09:49
Typically laser printers are best/most cost effective if you expect to have a high volume of printing.
—> What are you looking to do on your printer and how often would you use it? <—
Those things would determine the best type of printer for your scenario.
Below are a few consumer product review sites that might help you in your search —-
The consumer website below (Consumer Search) collects and consolidates reviews for all types of products and makes recommendations based on their analysis of various reviews.
Here is a link to their overall printer review page..you can check reviews and their "best picks" by clicking on the type of printer in the 'Consumer Search Product Guides' or 'Reviews' boxes on this page:
http://www.consumersearch.com/printers
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You may also want to look into Consumer Reports…the last time they reviewed a wide spectrum of printers was in their December 2009 issue. They also publish a yearly "Electronics Buying Guide" which includes printers. —–> Both of these (the magazine and the Electronics Buying Guide) should be available at your local public library. <—–
Or, for $5.95/month (auto-renewing, but you can cancel at any time), you can subscribe to their online version, which offers a full ratings/report on many types of printers (with many search filter options).
Overall Printer Guide (again, you can filter by printer type)
(After you get to the page, you'll need the subscription to see the full reports)
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/computers-internet/printers/index.htm
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CNET is another good source for reviews. They, too, have a number of ways to find/filter the type of printer you are looking for. Here is their main page for printer reviews :
http://reviews.cnet.com/printers/?tag=TOCleftColumn.0
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Lastly, the company I work for (Castle Ink Cartridges) has published a guide to common printer types and their functions, which may help you determine the best printer suited to your needs:
http://www.castleink.com/_a-common-printer-types-functions.html
Hope this helps,
Kerry
Castle Ink Cartridges
August 26th, 2010 20:38
I’m sorry keyboard, forgive me..