10 Helpful Printer Maintenance Tips

Never attempt to dismantle your printer unless you have had adequate training. At times it may look simple, but this almost always turns into an expensive task. When experiencing printer malfunctions, try to troubleshoot the issue or read about it in the manufacturer’s user instructions manual.

Make sure you stay away from cheap dusty paper. Dusty and cheaply manufactured paper can damage your pick up rollers, and create unnecessary paper dust throughout your machine. You will end up spending more money servicing the equipment than you what you had saved on paper. Make sure you also check your paper for humidity, which impacts the quality of the impressions. You can protect your paper by placing it in plastic containers.

Make sure you keep your printer in the right location; never leave printers in direct sunlight or sitting on the floor. Don’t forget – always leave a space of approximately 12 cm around the machine to allow air to flow through the cooling and exhaust fans. Make sure your device does not heat up too much. Just like computers, over-heating printers lead to slower output and malfunctions.

Never use any sharp or pointy utensils to remove or displace anything from a machine – nine times out of ten, this will be very costly, and cause further damage to your equipment. If you must dismantle your printer, ask a professional. The cost of a technical fix will be much lower than that of replacing your machine altogether.

OHP Film Transparency paper is a type of thin film used mostly for presentation booklets or transparencies for projectors. Firstly, you need to make sure that you use the correct transparency paper that is designed for your printer model. Transparency paper that is designed for inkjet machines will melt in the fuser and damage the equipment of a laser printer. Second, clean your printer with the cleaning sheet inside the transparencies’ container to remove any ink that could damage the impression quality.

Only use an inkjet or a flat pass printer to print on labels that have been used before. Laser printers have a tendency to rip off labels when travelling through the machine, which could cause some nasty jams that will be difficult to remove.

Most ink jet machines have service stations where they park the carriage in. Under-used inkjet printers tend to become dry and do not print efficiently. However, it is recommended that you print at least once every 2 weeks to make sure the nozzles don’t block and the ink still flows.

When loading paper, make sure your guides are set correctly to eliminate paper skews while printing; this will also prevent paper jams. If your printer displays an error message, it could be that your tray is over-stacked with paper or that it is not properly aligned. Remove the paper from the tray and tap the edges on a hard surface to ensure it is properly aligned. If you still cannot print, clean your printer’s rollers to get rid of the accumulated dust and fibers.

If you are experiencing regular paper jams, it is best that you attempt to remove the paper the same way it went in. If the paper tears while removing the jam, place the ripped bits of paper on a table and place them together to ensure that you have all the pieces and nothing is left in the machine.

When using the latest software or firmware designed for your printer, you will ensure that communication between your computer and printer will be at its best. This will usually eliminate most software issues. If you are experiencing communication issues, make sure your driver is updated and check the user instructions’ manual for solutions.