Printer tips: Use With Care

Like almost every other piece of machinery, computer printers also require proper care and maintenance. Ensuring that the printer is taken proper care of can increase its life and better its performance. Practicing the following tips while you’re using and cleaning your printer will make your printer a healthy accessory to your computer.

Practice Good Preventive Maintenance:

Using your printer frequently can help you prevent print–quality related problems, like streaking print or white lines through the print. The source of these problems is the drying up of ink in the print head or the nozzles, thus clogging them and stopping the ink from flowing to the paper. If you don’t actually need to use your printer much then you can print a test page now and then to keep it in working order. Alternatively, you can run a print head cleaning cycle every week.

Don't Let the Cartridge Dry Out:

One of the most common refilling problems is waiting too long before refilling your cartridge. When your printer runs out of ink it is better to leave your cartridge inside the printer itself. The sponge in the printer head may dry up and become hard if the cartridge is left out of the printer. Even if the sponge has not dried, the ink that has hardened inside the printer can clog the jets present inside the print head. Hence it is advisable to refill the cartridge prior to its drying. A good solution is to top the printer’s ink after every 200–300 sheets. This will not let the sponge dry off.

Power Down Properly:

Use the printer's power switch. Most of the ink jet printers comprise a print head parking function which is triggered by the power switch of the printer, which ensures that the cartridges are sealed properly and do not dry up.

Keep The Print Head Clean:

The print head of the printer should be kept clean to stop clogging of ink in it. This can be done by using a soft cotton cloth or a Q-tip dipped in water. This will result in maximum number of successful refills.

Prevent Color Mixing:

When refilling a colored printer cartridge, make sure that the cartridge is not turned the wrong way; this can get the colors on the ends in the wrong manner. Follow the instruction set provided with the refill kit while refilling it instead of only looking at those with the printer.

Apart from the above mentioned tips you should also remember that you should never run back to back cleaning cycles, should purge the cartridge regularly (purging is different from cleaning and involves heating the cartridge jets and cleaning them from inside out) and should prevent printer burnout by not letting it run completely out of ink.

Thus taking good care of your printer and practicing proper maintenance can add years to your computer printer’s life and will give you maximum value for the money that you spent it.

About the author:
DiamondSource Ltd. offer plotter repairs for all makes of plotter and printer servicing in and around the London area.

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