Up keeping and maintenance of a laser printer is just as important as maintaining a computer. A laser printer that is properly maintained will print better and provide many years of effective service. With the help of a couple of short procedures and a minimal amount of time, a clean and well-maintained printer is never far away.

Maintenance procedures for a laser printer should always be performed on a monthly basis. These procedures can also be used to correct printing problems such as streaking, gaps in printing, and toner smears on printouts.

NOTE: This article provides a general overview of basic cleaning and maintenance of a printer and recommendations for cleaning materials. For best results, please refer to your printer manufacturer’s user guide and manual for detailed printer maintenance instructions.

Printer Maintenance
1. Unplug the power plug of the printer. After that for safety reasons keep it idle for an hour. Doing this will help the printer to cool down after which the cleaning procedure can be initiated.
2. Remove the paper trays.
3. Open printer and remove toner cartridges. Place all cartridges on a piece of disposable paper or newspaper. Be careful while handling the toner cartridge as tipping or shaking the toner cartridge may lead to toner leakage.
4. Clean the interior part of the printer with a dry lint free cloth. Many models of laser printersprovide a brush inside the printer that can be used to gently remove the dirt from hard to reach areas. If no brush is provided, a clean and dry paintbrush can be used.
5. If the printer has corona wires gently wipe the wires with cottons swaps dipped in isopropyl alcohol – take care if a wire breaks can be expensive to fix!
6. Clean the rollers with a slightly damp cloth to remove dirt buildup.

General Cleaning
The outer covering of the printer should be always cleaned with a damp cloth. Care should be taken with toner cartridges when inserting or removing from printer to help prevent toner leakage. Toner can stain clothing, fabric and carpeting so care should be taken when handling a toner cartridge.

Toner/Paper Quality
Although purchasing cheap toner and paper for laser printer is always tempting but this is not always a good practice. Use of lower quality paper and toner can greatly reduce the printers functionality and can cause printing and hardware problems in future. That’s why to avoid it staying with the manufacturer’s recommendation for toner and paper is the best option. When using recycled toner cartridges make sure they are from a reliable and respected source as cheap cartridges can leak toner and cause damage.

Laser Printer Cleaning Sheets
Use these sheets to quickly clean the inside of a laser printer. Removes excess toner and dirt.

Laser Printer Cleaning Sheets

Printer Maintenance is an often overlooked area. People tend to believe that printers will suffer from wear and tear and components will need replacement eventually. While this is true, it must also be noted that proper maintenance can substantially improve the life of most components, significantly reducing the cost of ownership.

Printers come in various forms and sizes. Naturally, printer maintenance varies according to the type of machine that you may have. While some, like the hardy dot matrix printers, require less printer maintenance, other types of printing device are preferably handled with a bit of care to ensure a long operating life.

Printer maintenance for the dot matrix machines is pretty simple. The guide plates which guide the printing pins in these printers can wear out due to the accumulation of ink and grit within the plate. Timely replacement of cartridges allows less dirt and grit to form on the ribbon and permeate into the guide plate, thus increasing its life.

In case of inkjet printers, their maintenance mainly involves the printing head component. Their printing heads contain numerous miniscule pores through which the ink is sprayed on to the paper. With time, dry ink may accumulate on top of these pores and can close them. Inkjet printer maintenance should be performed by taking out the cartridges and wiping the print head with a moist cloth. Once the head is dry, the cartridges can be placed back. Inferior quality ink resulting from cartridge refills may cause hazards like leakage into the various components. Hence proper maintenance also involves the timely replacement of cartridges and avoidance of faulty refills.

Laser printers are very common today and have quite a few components that need proper and regular care. Maintenance of them firstly involves cleaning the rollers periodically. They have a soft rubber coating on them which can be cleaned by using a damp cotton cloth. Vacuuming the insides may also be necessary to remove resident toner particles within the printer. Special HEPA filter based vacuum cleaners may be required for proper cleaning of the printer. Furthermore, after about 100000 prints, the fuser which melts the toner on to the paper may also need replacement. Timely replacement and maintenance keeps the printer in running condition and your prints clean and smooth.

In order to avoid the consequences of an unforeseen breakdown of your printer, a printer maintenance kit should be kept handy. This printer maintenance kits cost very less and save the printer owner from the headache of waiting for the technician incase the printer suddenly stops working. Available from manufacturers like HP and Canon, these kits contain some tools that have the tendency to wear out with time, especially in case of regular usage. So all the tools of printer maintenance kit should be regularly checked, updated and replaced if needed. Having a well maintained printer is not only very reliable but it also produces high quality prints for a very long, long duration of time.