Performing Printer Maintenance and Upgrades

Considering the amount of work they do, printers last a pretty long time. Some printers can handle over 100,000 pages per month, yet they’re usually pretty reliable devices. You can help your printers live a long and fulfilling life by performing the right maintenance, and smoothly running printers always makes your officemates happy. After all, going to get your print job from the printer and discovering that the printer is in the shop is a very frustrating experience! In addition, there may be ways you can upgrade a slower printer or add functionality without breaking the bank. In the following sections, we’ll look at performing printer maintenance and upgrading your printers.

Performing Printer Maintenance

Regardless of the type of printer you use, giving it a regular check-up is a good idea. You’re probably familiar with some of the activities that fall under maintenance, such as replacing paper, ink or toner cartridges, and ribbons. We’ll look at those as well as some additional, more involved maintenance procedures.

Replacing Consumables

To properly maintain a printer, you need to replace consumables such as toner or ink cartridges, assemblies, filters, and rollers on occasion. Trying to cut costs by buying cheaper supplies rarely pays off.

Whenever purchasing supplies for your printer, always get supplies from the manufacturer or from an authorized reseller. This way, you’ll be sure that the parts are of high quality. Using unauthorized parts can damage your printer and possibly void your warranty.

Printer Paper

Most people don’t give much thought to the kind of paper they use in their printers. It’s a factor that can have tremendous effect on the quality of the hard-copy printout, however, and the topic is more complex than people think. For example, if the wrong paper is used, it can cause frequent paper jams and possibly even damage components.

Several aspects of paper can be measured; each gives an indication as to the paper’s quality. The first factor is composition. Paper is made from a variety of substances. Paper used to be made from cotton and was called rag stock. It can also be made from wood pulp, which is cheaper. Most paper today is made from the latter or a combination of the two.

Another aspect of paper is the property known as basis weight (or simply weight for short). The weight of a particular type of paper is the actual weight, in pounds, of a ream (500 sheets) of the standard size of that paper made of that material. For regular bond paper, that size is 17×22.

The final paper property we’ll discuss is the caliper (or thickness) of an individual sheet of paper. If the paper is too thick, it may jam in feed mechanisms that have several curves in the paper path. (On the other hand, a paper that’s too thin may not feed at all.)

These are just three of the categories we use to judge the quality of paper. Because there are so many different types and brands of printers as well as paper, it would be impossible to give the specifications for the “perfect” paper. However, the documentation for any printer will give specifications for the paper that should be used in that printer.

For best results, store paper in an area where it will not get wet or be exposed to excessive humidity.

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Ink and Toner

The area in which using recommended supplies is the biggest concern is ink and toner cartridges. Using the wrong ink or toner supplies is the easiest way to ruin a perfectly good printer.

Dot-matrix printers use a cloth or polyester ribbon soaked in ink and coiled up inside a plastic case. This assembly is called a printer ribbon (or ribbon cartridge). It’s very similar to a typewriter ribbon, but instead of being coiled into the two rolls you’d see on a typewriter, the ribbon is continuously coiled inside the plastic case. Once the ribbon has run out of ink, it must be discarded and replaced. Ribbon cartridges are developed closely with their respective printers. For this reason, ribbons should be purchased from the same manufacturer as the printer. The wrong ribbon could jam in the printer as well as cause quality problems.

It is possible to re-ink a ribbon. Some vendors sell a bottle of ink solution that can be poured into the plastic casing, where the cloth ribbon will soak up the solution. This can be a messy process, and you should do this only if the manufacturer recommends it.

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Bubble-jet cartridges have a liquid ink reservoir. The ink in these cartridges is sealed inside. Once the ink runs out, the cartridge must be removed and discarded. A new, full one is installed in its place. Because the ink cartridge contains the printing mechanism as well as ink, it’s like getting a new printer every time you replace the ink cartridge.

In some bubble-jet printers, the ink cartridge and the print head are in separate assemblies. This way, the ink can be replaced when it runs out, and the print head can be used several times. This works fine if the printer is designed to work this way. However, some people think they can do this on their integrated cartridge/print head system, using special ink cartridge refill kits. These kits consist of a syringe filled with ink and a long needle. The needle is used to puncture the top of an empty ink cartridge, and the syringe is then used to refill the reservoir.

Do not use ink cartridge refill kits! There are several problems with these kits (the ones you see advertised with a syringe and a needle). First, the kits don’t use the same kind of ink that was originally in the ink cartridges. The new ink may be thinner, causing it to run out or not print properly. Also, the print head is oftentimes supposed to be replaced around this same time. Refilling the cartridge doesn’t replace the print head, so you’ll have print-quality problems. Finally, the hole the syringe leaves cannot be plugged and may allow ink to leak out. These problems can happen with do-it-yourself kits as well as with cartridges refilled by office supply stores or private printer supply sellers. Here’s the bottom line: Buy new ink cartridges from the printer manufacturer. Yes, they are a bit more expensive, but in the long run you will save money because you won’t have any of the problems described here.

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The final type of consumable is toner. Each model of laser printer uses a specific toner cartridge. You should check the printer’s manual to see which toner cartridge your printer needs. Many businesses will recycle your toner or ink cartridges for you, refill them, and sell them back to you at a discount. Don’t buy them. While some businesses that perform this “service” are more legitimate than others, using recycled parts is more dangerous to your hardware than using new parts. The reason for this is that refilled cartridges are more likely to break or leak than new parts, and this leakage could cause extensive damage to the inside of your printer. And again, using secondhand parts can void your warranty, so you’re left with a broken printer that you have to pay for. Avoid problems like this by buying new parts.

Think Before You Refill

Just as with ink cartridges, you should always buy the exact model recommended by the manufacturer. The toner cartridges have been designed specifically for a particular model. Additionally, never refill toner cartridges, for most of the same reasons we don’t recommend refilling ink cartridges. The printout quality will be poor, and the fact that you’re just refilling the toner means you might not be replacing the photosensitive drum (which is usually inside the cartridge), and the drum might need to be replaced. Simply replacing refilled toner cartridges with proper, name-brand toner cartridges has solved most laser printer quality problems we have run across. We keep recommending the right ones, but clients keep coming back with the refilled ones. The result is that we take our clients’ money to solve their print-quality problems when all it involves is a toner cartridge, our (usually repeat) advice to buy the proper cartridge next time, and the obligatory minimum charge for a half hour of labor (even though the job of replacing the cartridge takes all of 5 minutes!).

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Always properly recycle your used ink and toner cartridges. Just don’t buy recycled cartridges!

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Performing Scheduled Maintenance

When shopping for a printer, one of the characteristics you should look for is the printer’s capacity, which is often quoted in monthly volume. This is particularly important if the printer will be serving in a high-load capacity. Every printer needs periodic maintenance, but printers that can handle a lot of traffic typically need it less frequently. Check the printer specifications to see how often scheduled maintenance is suggested. Never, ever fall behind on performing scheduled maintenance on a printer.

Many laser printers have LCD displays that provide useful information, such as error messages or notices that you need to replace a toner cartridge. The LCD display will also tell you when the printer needs scheduled maintenance. How does it know? Printers keep track of the number of pages they print, and when the page limit is reached, they display a message, usually something simple like Perform user maintenance. The printer will still print, but you should perform the maintenance.

Being the astute technician that you are, you clean the printer with the recommended cleaning kit or install the maintenance kit you purchased from the manufacturer. Now, how do you get the maintenance message to go away? Reset the page count using a menu option. For example, on many HP laser printers, you press the Menu button until you get to the Configuration menu. Once there, you press the Item key until the display shows Service Message = ON. Then press the plus key (+) to change the message to Service Message = OFF. Bring the printer back online, and you’re ready to go.

Using Cleaning Solutions

With all of the ink or toner they use, printers get dirty. If printers get too dirty or if the print heads get dirty, you’ll notice print problems. No one wants this to happen.

Most printers have a self-cleaning utility that is activated through a menu option or by pressing a combination of buttons on the printer itself. It’s recommended that you run the cleaning sequence every time you replace the toner or ink cartridges. If you experience print-quality problems, such as lines in the output, run the cleaning routine.

Sometimes the self-cleaning routines aren’t enough to clear up the problem. If you are having print-quality issues, you might want to consider purchasing a cleaning kit, which frequently comes with a cleaning solution.

Cleaning kits are often designed for one specific type of printer and should be used only on that type of printer. For example, don’t apply an inkjet cleaning solution to a laser printer.

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Each cleaning kit comes with its own instructions for use. Exercise 10.3 walks you through the steps of using an inkjet cleaning solution. Note that the steps for your printer might differ slightly; please consult your manual for specific instructions.

Thermal printers require special attention because they contain a heating element. Always unplug the device and ensure that it’s cooled off before trying to clean it. Thermal printer cleaning cards, cleaning pens, and kits are widely available in the marketplace. If you need to remove any debris (from any printer), use compressed air or a specialized computer vacuum.

Ensuring a Suitable Environment

Printers won’t complain if the weather outside is too hot or too cold, but they are susceptible to environmental issues. Here are some things to watch out for in your printer’s environment:

Installing Printer Upgrades

The printer market encompasses a dizzying array of products. You can find portable printers, photo printers, cheap black-and-white printers for under $30, high-end color laser printers for over $5,000, and everything in between. Most of the cheaper printers do not have upgrade options, but higher-end printers will have upgrade options, including the memory, network cards, and firmware.

Installing Printer Memory

When purchasing a memory upgrade for your printer, you need to make sure of two things. First, buy only memory that is compatible with your printer model. Most printers today use a standard computer dual in-line memory module (DIMM), but check your manual or the manufacturer’s website to be sure. If you’re not sure, purchasing the memory through the manufacturer’s website (or an authorized reseller) is a good way to go. Second, be sure that your printer is capable of a memory upgrade. It’s possible that the amount of memory in your printer is the maximum that it can handle.

Once you have obtained the memory, it’s time to perform the upgrade. The specific steps required to install the memory will depend on your printer. Check with the manual or the manufacturer’s website for instructions tailored to your model.

Exercise 10.4 walks you through the general steps for installing memory into a laser printer.

Installing a Network Interface Card

Installing a NIC directly into a printer has become popular as more and more people need their printers to be on the network but don’t want to hassle with a host computer The NIC in a printer is similar to the NIC in a computer, with a couple of important differences. First, the NIC in a printer has a small processor on it to perform the management of the NIC interface (functions that the software on a host computer would do). This software is usually referred to as a print server, but be careful because that term can also refer to a physical computer that hosts many printers. Second, the NIC in a printer is proprietary, for the most part. It is made by the same manufacturer as the printer.

When a person on the network prints to a printer with a NIC, they are printing right to the printer and not going through any third-party device (although in some situations, that is desirable and possible with NICs). Because of its dedicated nature, the NIC option installed in a printer makes printing to that printer faster and more efficient—that NIC is dedicated to receiving print jobs and sending printer status to clients.

Most printer NICs come with management software installed that allows clients to check their print jobs’ status as well as toner levels from any computer on the network. You access the configuration options by typing the IP address of the printer into your web browser and generally entering an authorized username and password.

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Your manual is the best place to check to see if you can install a print server. Specific steps for installing the print server will also be in the manual or on the manufacturer’s website. Generally speaking, it’s very similar to installing a NIC into a computer.

Upgrading Printer Firmware

As with upgrading memory, methods to upgrade a printer’s firmware depend on the model of printer you have. Most of the time, upgrading a printer’s firmware is a matter of downloading and/or installing a free file from the manufacturer’s website. Printer firmware upgrades are generally done from the machine hosting the printer (usually called the print server).

Firmware is usually upgraded for one of two reasons. One, if you are having compatibility issues, a firmware upgrade might solve them. Two, firmware upgrades can offer newer features not available on previous versions.

Installing Other Upgrades

While we’ve covered some of the most important upgrades, most printers (especially laser printers) can be upgraded with additional capabilities as well. Each manufacturer, with the documentation for each printer, includes a list of all the accessories, options, and upgrades available. The following options can be included on that list:

• Hard drives
• Trays and feeders
• Finishers

Hard Drives

For a printer to print properly, the type style or font being printed must be downloaded to the printer along with the job being printed. Desktop publishing and graphic design businesses that print color pages on slower color printers are always looking for ways to speed up their print jobs. So they install multiple fonts into the onboard memory of the printer to make them printer-resident fonts.

But there’s a problem: Most printers have a limited amount of storage space for these fonts. To solve this problem, printer manufacturers made it possible for hard drives to be added to many printers. These hard drives can be used to store many fonts used during the print process and are also used to store the large document file while it is being processed for printing.

Trays and Feeders

One option that is popular in office environments is the addition of paper trays. Most laser and bubble-jet printers come with at least one paper tray (usually 500 sheets or less). The addition of a paper tray allows a printer to print more sheets between paper refills, thus reducing its operating cost. In addition, some printers can accommodate multiple paper trays, which can be loaded with different types of paper, stationery, and envelopes. The benefit is that you can print a letter and an envelope from the same printer without having to leave your desk or change the paper in the printer.

Related to trays is the option of feeders. Some types of paper products need to be watched as they are printed to make sure the printing happens properly. One example is envelopes: You usually can’t put a stack of envelopes in a printer because they won’t line up straight or they may get jammed. An accessory that you might add for this purpose is the envelope feeder. An envelope feeder typically attaches to the front of a laser printer and feeds in envelopes, one at a time. It can hold usually between 100 and 200 envelopes.

Finishers

A printer’s finisher does just what its name implies: It finishes the document being printed. It does this by folding, stapling, hole punching, sorting, or collating the sets of documents being printed into their final form. So rather than printing out a bunch of paper sheets and then having to collate and staple them, you can have the finisher do it. This particular option, while not cheap, is becoming more popular on laser printers to turn them into multifunction copiers. As a matter of fact, many copiers are now digital and can do all the same things a laser printer can but much faster and for a much cheaper cost per page.