5 Incredibly Helpful Tips To Maintain Your Laser Printer
If you are using your laser printer on a daily basis, it is deemed necessary to perform cleaning and maintenance periodically to extend its life and efficiency. Think of it as an engine that is well-maintained; With some knowledge on how to care your printer, it can lasts for years before replacing. It is not expensive to keep your machine in top condition. Let us give you some tips to keep your laser printer trouble-free. But first, be safe! Always turn the power off, let the machine cool down and keep your hands from hot and moving parts inside the printer.
Here are five ways you can do to maintain your printer:
1. Do regular cleaning on your printer. This is the very basic yet essential to keep your machine in its good shape as recommended by the manufacturer. This should be done at least once a week to prevent particles from entering the interior of your printer. Most of the printer surface if it's dusty, you can just wipe off with anti-static wipes or paper towel. For safety reasons, do not apply any liquid directly into the machine. You can also use compressed air to blow off the dust particles and debris that might be down in the toner tray. If there's also paper jam and you're seeing large part of the paper, you can just reach in and gently pull out whatever you can see. Additionally, you can remove the paper tray because sometimes paper do accumulate in this part. You can just wipe out the rollers and remove any bits of paper you see.
2. Invest in maintenance kit. Nothing lasts forever and so do printers. If you happened to own a LaserJet printer, the moving parts inside need replacing with use and time. (see pic below).
This kit usually consists of a fuser and various type of rollers:
A fuser, which is the heating assembly that bonds toner to the paper
A transfer roller, which helps transfer toner from the toner cartridge onto the paper
Pickup rollers, separation rollers and separation pads.
Maintenance kits are preventative maintenance kits. They are more likely act as spare parts that are designed to help make regular maintenance easier.
3. Use the recommended type of paper. You'll get the best results when you use the paper that is recommended by the printer manufacturer. Wrong kind of paper can cause paper jams and use up more toner than necessary.
4. Use the Printer Utilities. Printer manufacturers usually provide a free tool called Printer Utilities to diagnose and resolve printing problems. This tool allows you to check your printer's current status and to perform some printer maintenance from your computer.
5. Always have your backup of supplies ready. You should keep at least a set of toner cartridges on hand so that you can replace them immediately when toner runs out. If a toner cartridge is approaching its end, the toner may harden and become unusable. Always store new replacement toner cartridges on their side. Do not remove the cartridge from the printer until you are ready to replace it with the other one.
