Each office space is complete without printed or copy office equipment. And not only in the office - a reliable assistant printer regularly performs its duties in the household. Especially if you are a student or freelancer, it will be very difficult to do without a printing device. Today, these devices are used everywhere - it is difficult to find an organization where hand-written documents are still used. But what to do if suddenly printing defects occur in laser printers?
To talk about laser printing and its defects during printer operation, you need to know all the nuances of refueling components, namely cartridges. To do this, it is advisable to understand as many details as possible about these accessories and how to refuel them. Knowing the correct way to carry out this process will help you avoid troubles such as printing defects in laser printers.
What is this technique?
A laser printer has been actively used since the beginning of the 90s in various companies and offices, since it can work in private local networks of one company and can be used to transfer documents from one employee to another. It is he who possesses the functions necessary for the office, namely noiselessness and speed of work.
From the outside it may seem that a laser printer is a very simple mechanism, but this is only at first glance. His work uses high-tech methods, as well as thermal and electrical components. If we consider only the main parts of a laser printer, then for the most part it consists of a mechanism that feeds paper and a cartridge. The quality of the future document or future printed image will depend on the cartridge. Moreover, possible printing defects in laser printers are most often the result of incorrect refills.
Recovery or regeneration?
As already mentioned above, if you know well how the cartridge works and what parts you need to change for it to work correctly, you can get a good picture and document quality at the output. In many cases, for this accessory to work properly, it is enough to clean it and replace worn parts. But sometimes printing defects in color laser printers are not resolved by simply replacing the toner and cleaning the cartridge. In such cases, the issue of replacing certain parts becomes relevant. The cartridge that has been cleaned and gone through the replacement of components and toner will be called regenerated. If he suffered only a toner replacement and full cleaning, it will be called restored.
Replacing a toner is a simple task, but it requires attention. For example, you can’t fill in a new one on top of the old one - before doing this, completely wash the tank and remove small parts of the old settled toner.
It is also worth remembering that the cartridge may not work well if you bought parts from different brands. For example, defects in the printing of HP laser printers can occur if accessories from a different brand are used during the repair.
Also, the quality of work depends on the price of consumables - they should not cost a penny. The electronics market is full of goods of different price categories, but choose wisely, do not look only at the cheapness of the goods!
When replacing parts, do not forget about the compatibility mentioned above. If you use parts of different brands in the printer, either printing defects in Samsung, HP, Xerox, etc. laser printers will occur, or simply incompatibility of components will lead to an even greater malfunction. Typically, manufacturers produce pairwise products, for example: drum-toner, because, as mentioned above, parts must work together.
Most often, after the regeneration or restoration procedure, you can observe that the resulting image is oversaturated with colors or, conversely, too black. Why are there such print defects for HP and other brands of laser printers? This may be the fault of a non-tuned drum. To make it work properly, try adjusting its saturation level.
An example of "harmful" drums is the LongLife accessory - it is very sensitive to regeneration procedures and at first can produce oversaturated photos. However, it is able to withstand a large number of recovery procedures.
Is it always expensive - is it good?
Do not look at expensive companies as an example of quality products - any company has a marriage. Samsung laser printer printing defects are just as likely as low-cost Chinese devices of unknown brands.
Therefore, monitor not only the purchased toner, but also all the equipment at once. However, as practice shows, good printer performance by 70% is a correctly purchased cartridge. Choose it wisely and pay attention to its technical characteristics.
Why gas station?
As already noted, the main device of the printer for trouble-free and high-quality printing is a cartridge. Prices for the purchase and replacement of a new component can sometimes amount to almost 50% of the cost of the entire device. It will be much cheaper to refill or reload the cartridge again.
Previously, manufacturers arranged various obstacles for the implementation of refillable refills. The result is often printing defects of laser printers (Canon, Xerox, and so on). However, now the situation has changed. One has only to think about the fact that if each user of printing equipment buys a new cartridge and discards the old one, then what a huge amount of polluting elements will fall into city landfills.
Any sane person will conclude that it is not worth throwing out a completely working part if it is to be restored. Inkjet gadgets replace ink; for laser cartridges use toner refill with powder.
It is believed that subsequent refills affect print quality, but this is not entirely true. Probably, earlier, when reloading cartridges was carried out in a handicraft way, such possible printing defects of laser printers took place, but now more and more organizations are starting to produce high-quality and professional equipment for subsequent refueling. Goes to a new level and the release of components and replacement parts for updating them.
Today, when economy and respect for natural resources comes first, the market for cartridge refueling services will develop and gain momentum. And the organization of a small business for the maintenance of printed office equipment will be a very reasonable and right decision. In addition, having extensive experience, a competent specialist will be able to qualitatively recharge even a little-known device.
How does the printer work?
The work of a modern laser printer is based on the principle of xerography. This method has three main structural components, without which the device cannot function.
It:
- Laser scanning unit.
- Image Transfer Node.
- Image pin node.
In simple words, the image transfer unit is a laser printer cartridge and a “Transfer roller” or charge transfer roller located inside the printer.
It is also necessary to know the fact that not all printers use the laser scanning method, there are "lasers" (mainly from OKI) that use LED scanning technology. In this technology, the laser function is performed by LEDs. As an example, we can take the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1200 “laser” model, which is quite high-quality and has a long life-span.
If we are talking about printing on paper (and mostly users print on it), the paper feed unit is responsible for its getting into the printer’s “mouth”. Basically, there are two types of such nodes with structurally different features. Tray 1 - this is the name of the sending device from the lower tray, and accordingly Tray 2 - from the upper (bypass). Both of these trays, despite the difference in design, have similar nodes:
- Paper pickup roller - pulls paper into the printer.
- Separator and brake pad block - performs the function of capturing only one sheet of paper (separating sheets from a stack).
- The cartridge and laser scanning unit directly create an image.
A laser printer cartridge device has three main components:
- Photocylinder.
- Precharge shaft.
- Magnetic shaft with internal elements and metal pads that the cartridge case is equipped with.
Toner
It is also important to understand what toner is. This is a fine dispersed powder, which consists of polymer grains coated with a layer of magnetic substance.
If we are talking about color toner, then its composition also includes coloring materials. Each manufacturer uses its own unique toner, which is different in composition, dispersion, magnetic and physical characteristics.
You cannot fill one printer with dye from another - this is a direct way to damage the device and then send it to the trash, which has been repeatedly verified by the bitter experience of many users.
Immediately after the paper passes through the laser scanning unit, an image is formed, and if you touch it with your hand at this stage, it crumbles into dust.
“Stove”, or image fixing unit
The “stove” is needed in order to fix the image (so that it does not crumble and become durable). Thanks to the special components that make up the toner, which have a certain melting point, the molten toner is “pressed” into the paper, solidifies and fixes. After that, the image becomes reliable, durable and not subject to external influences.
How does printing work?
After you turn on the printer, the components of the cartridge begin to work - this is the preparation. This process is similar to printing, except that the laser is not aimed at the drum and image formation does not occur. Upon completion of preparation, the printer enters Ready mode, that is, it is ready for operation. Further, when the user sends the image for printing, the following actions occur in the printer:
The first step is to charge the drum using the Charge roller - passing through it, it evenly covers it with a negative charge. Negatively charged surface of the drum passes through the laser beam (this process is called exposure). The laser focuses on those places where toner should subsequently be applied. Under its influence, the photosensitive part of the drum begins to lose a negative charge. This is how the prototype of the image is created using the attenuated charge.
At the stage of creating a “layout” of the ink composition, the toner image is applied over the one formed on the drum, and subsequently the toner layer will be transferred to the paper. Near the magnetic shaft, the colored powder begins to be attracted to the surface of the shaft due to the magnet of which its core consists.
When the shaft rotates the toner on its surface, it passes through a narrow hole formed by the blade (the so-called “doctor”) and himself. The result is electrification and subsequently the acquisition of a negative charge. Since the toner is now negatively charged, it begins to adhere to the highlighted areas of the drum. Thanks to the "doctor" uniform application of paint is ensured.
Continuing the rotation, the drum with the toner layer is in contact with the paper - this is the transfer. Parallel to the drum behind the sheet is a shaft (Transfer Roller), which is positively charged. Further, everything happens according to the laws of physics - a positively charged shaft attracts negatively charged toner particles, and so it gets on the paper.
When the paint has already been applied, it is necessary to fix the image - for this the sheet passes through the fixing mechanism. It consists of two shafts arranged parallel to each other. The shaft located below is called the pinch - it presses the paper to the top, heating. The heater, in contact with the toner particles, finally fixes them on paper, since it has a high temperature and simply melts them.
Since some toner remains on the drum after applying the image, it must be cleaned. The cycle is complete and the printer is now starting to clean. To do this, there is a special tool - a blade (Wiper blade), which removes the remaining toner and sends them to the bin for recycling. Between the hopper and the drum is the so-called recovery blade, which does not allow the dye powder to accidentally wake up on paper.
Now the last step remains - erasing the image. It occurs as follows: the charging shaft evenly passes through the drum, thereby restoring the charge in those places where it was lowered when printing occurred. So the image is erased from the drum.
Laser printer: print defects (photos and reasons)
After you learn about the principle of laser printing, you can analyze the remaining unresolved issues. For example, what causes problems occurring during printer printing that affect image quality. The article below lists the most common problems and printing defects of laser printers (Canon and other manufacturers), as well as factors affecting their appearance and possible solutions.
For example, it is important to know that the cause of too faded or contrasting images can be understood only by disassembling the cartridge and checking how much toner it has already run out. So, what are the main print defects of laser printers you may encounter?
Output a blank sheet during printing
Most likely, the connection between the internal mechanisms of the cartridge and the metal bases on its body is broken. Eliminate this problem will help its full analysis and cleaning. In addition, you should use an ohmmeter to check the contact circuits.
Still such printing defects of HP laser printers after refueling can occur if bad toner has been loaded into the cartridge. In this case, it must be disassembled and all the powder cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. After that, it is refilled with high quality toner from a trusted manufacturer.
Such printing defects of Kyocera laser printers are possible and due to exposure to direct sunlight - the sensitivity of the drum from them decreases. This is also evidenced by the darkening of the surface of the part. It is best to install a new drum. In addition, it is recommended to check whether the gear is correctly attached to the shaft of the mechanism.
Black sheet output during printing
Most likely, such printing defects in Xerox laser printers are caused by a violation of the interaction between the metal shaft of the PCR shaft and the contact area of ​​the cartridge. Most often, after working with him, they forget to install the shaft back.
Image sparse with dark vertical stripes
Incorrect refill of the cartridge causes the toner waste bin to overflow. Printing defects in HP “wave” laser printers can also occur due to the drum coating being unusable. A new part must be installed.
Another possible reason is the malfunction of the cleaning scraper, which causes foreign objects to get on the printer’s internal parts. To fix the problem, remove all excess rubbish from the scraper.
Image sparse with light empty stripes
Such printing defects in Brother laser printers may cause a small amount of remaining toner in the filling hopper. To test the performance, it is recommended to shake the cartridge well and test print. If the quality is the same, then the ink is low. Refill new toner.
Another likely cause is that the cylinder of the magnetic drum and its scraper were damaged. In the event of such a defect, it is necessary to clean these parts from toner and litter. If this does not help, new elements are installed.
This may also occur because the internal mechanisms of the drum have been damaged. Sometimes due to this problem, repeated unprinted gaps appear in the image. To get rid of this, the drum is cleaned with a solution of ethyl alcohol and pure water with a 10% concentration. If the problem persists, the part is replaced with a new one.
Dark spots and horizontal stripes are visible in the image.
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