Maintaining Printer

A printer should have all consumables for operation which include paper, ink ribbons, color sticks, toner cartridges, and ink cartridges. Every printer’s needs are different, so refer to the printer documentation to know about it. Purchase the products in advance and as per consumption, as printer may be of no use due to some consumable being unavailable. Maintenance procedures are different for different printer and their manufacturer so it should be as per the printer documentation or as per manufacturer’s web site and usually it involves using maintenance kits, printer cleaning and updating firmware and are discussed

Maintenance Kit – High performance and high-end printer have maintenance kits from manufacturer, which includes printer components, maintenance instruction, and tools for maintenance. Maintenance is usually done as per pages printed by printer so; page count is to be reset after maintenance. Printer displays or prints status report from its menu or by utility software of printer.

Cleaning Printer – Printer gathers dust on inside and outside parts. Cleaning schedule depends on the usage of printer, for heavy usage daily or bi-weekly cleaning should be done. Use damp cloth to clean the outside parts of the printer and for inside parts clean them with a dry cloth but do not blow air. In laser printer, wipe roller from side to side with dry cloth. In inkjet printers, software can also clean the inkjet nozzles or align the cartridges like in HP printers. Manually clean the cartridge nozzles by using clean, distilled water and cotton to clean face of ink cartridge, but not to touch nozzle plate. Further cleaning instructions are also at the printer manufacturer’s web site.

Firmware Update – Printer firmware is updated by changing the printer memory with updated ones or by downloading the update from the manufacturer’s web site. Firmware update is usually accessed by utility software of the printer so refer to the printer documentation for the steps to be followed. It is done usually for high-end or network printers.

Change Toner or Fuser in Laser printer – A toner cartridge is replaced usually after 1500 pages and the fuser after 45000 pages. Steps to replace a toner cartridge: or fuser is

• Turn off and unplug the printer. Let the printer to cool and then open the printer cover.
• Look inside the printer for toner cartridges or the fuser assembly.
• Pull the release button for toner cartridge or levers for fuser assembly, to release them
• Lift the cartridge or fuser assembly out of the printer.
• Unpack the new fuser or cartridge and remove any packaging.
• Place the part in the printer and lock them with lever or button.
• Close the printer cover.

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