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Whatever printer type you have there are some basic rules you can follow
to get better print quality and longer life out of your printer.
Pick Your Environment
Printers are particular about their environment—any
one or combination of the following environments will reduce print quality,
increase mechanical wear, reduce reliability and decrease length of
life.
Printers do not like:
- being too hot or too cold or in direct sunshine
- being in dirty environments or smothered
- variable power environments
- dust
TIP: Regularly wipe down the case
panels with a soft dry cloth to remove the dust. For more stubborn marks
use a cloth dampened with water—don’t use any chemicals
or household cleaners on your printer.
Pick Your Paper
Paper comes in all shapes, colours, sizes, textures
and makeups, and are often designed specifically for
use in particular printers.
Labels for lasers must butt up to
each other, and have special glues to withstand the temperature and
the pressure of the laser printing process. (TIP: Don’t put window
envelopes through a laser - the window will not withstand the temperature,
and will melt, often damaging your machine).
OHP films for lasers must also be
capable of withstanding the temperature and pressure. OHP films come
in 2 varieties: laser and inkjet. Choose carefully—the wrong type
and the film may melt in your laser or the ink may not dry from your
inkjet.
Some printers need the exact size of paper
in the input tray to agree with what they are expecting.
Paper weight and fibre direction
are also significant:
- Normal paper for photocopiers, inkjets and lasers is 80 grams
per square metre
- 75 grams is generally too light and too flimsy for the
paper pickup mechanism
- Some printers can take papers up to 200 grams. Use the
manual feed, and select a thicker paper setting, to increase the
temperature of the printing process to ensure the toner bonds to
the paper.
- Use paper that has the fibres in the paper at right angles
to the heater rollers to reduce paper curl and paper jams.
Also important is where your paper is manufactured.
- New Zealand paper is extremely consistent.
- South American paper has good fibre but may have been
bleached to get it white—this may leave contaminants in the
printer and produce a ‘smell’.
- European paper can be laced with chalk to improve whiteness
and compensate for a lowered fibre ratio—it may leave chalk
residue in your printer.
Pick Your Ink/Toner
The economics of using remanufactured, refurbished
or refilled inks and toners just doesn’t stack up. Recycled cartridges
often:
- have reduced print quality because of reduced
product precision
- have lower quality toner, resulting in reduced colour
quality
- have ink/toner that doesn’t adhere to the
page so well and is less water resistant
- leak ink/toner throughout the printer
TIP: If you spill toner on your clothes,
wash them in cold water only. If you spill ink on your
hands try scrubbing, but ink probably won’t come out of your clothes.
Pick Your Printer Type
Impact printers like dot matrix and
line printers are cheap to run and survive better than most in dirty
environments. But protect them from dust and dirt and check for mechanical
wear regularly.
Inkjet printers need protection from
dirt and dust, and the waste ink reservoir (from cleaning and priming
the jets) usually needs to be emptied by a technician.
Laser printers need to have the build
up of paper fibre dust removed, to reduce paper jams.
In electrostatic printers like EFTPOS
and ATMs, replacing the printhead is the major cost.
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