Laser Printer Maintenance: 5 Important Tips to Extend Your Printer’s Life
Laser printers are an expensive purchase that should last for a long time. However, ensuring the best quality and longevity from your laser printers requires performing regular maintenance. With that in mind, here are five important tips for ensuring proper laser printer maintenance.
Use the Correct Paper Type
This may sound like common sense, but it is actually one of the most common mistakes that people make when using laser printers. Printers are designed to work with specific types of paper, which helps them to have optimal print quality. Using the wrong type can cause frequent jams, risking damage to internal components. It will also cause you to use toner much faster. Ensure that you carefully read the manufacturer’s manual for your laser printer in order to determine the right type of paper to use.
Clean Your Printer
When thinking about how to maintain a laser printer, the most important thing is to frequently clean it. When your laser printer accumulates lots of dust, your printing quality will suffer. Be sure to turn off the power before doing any cleaning. Next, use a lightly dampened cloth to wipe it down. Be sure to also remove paper trays and wipe them. Interior parts should be wiped very gently with either water or alcohol. A soft brush can be used to clean dirt from hard-to-reach areas.
Utilize the Utilities Menu
Many problems that occur can be detected by your laser printer’s internal utilities features. Most manufacturers have this option, which can be accessed through the menu. It does an assessment of the printer and can help detect potential problems with your printer. Be sure to run this tool every six months as part of your regular laser printer maintenance.
Remove Toner Particles
An important aspect of laser printer maintenance is cleaning out toner particles. These can quickly accumulate inside the printer and cause significant reductions in printing quality. A toner-activated cloth, which is very absorbent, is the best way to approach this. Additionally, a toner vacuum is an important tool that can suck up toner residue from different crevices. A secret tool here is a paintbrush, which can also help you wipe away toner particles from hard-to-reach places.
Change Toner When Indicated
It seems that many people milk as much as possible from their toner, ignoring messages that it needs to be changed until the last possible second. However, running a laser printer with low levels of toner can cause damage to the printer. Thus, be sure to change the toner when directed to avoid potential damage. Using your toner until the printer stops printing is not saving a ton of money but maybe taking time off the life of your laser printer.
When your laser printer is maintained properly, its life can be extended!