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November 2007: Selecting the Right Printer

Everyone is starting to print in color these days and there are a lot of choices in printers. When you are looking for a color printer, don't just look at the cost of the printer, but how much the supplies cost. You can get an inexpensive inkjet printer, but find you are changing the cartridges all the time as you don't get very many pages per cartridge.

When looking to replace a piece of equipment think about how you want to use the new equipment. If you are printing in color you need to look at the colors you are printing and whether it is better to get separate color cartridges or a tri-color cartridge. Some color lasers have the drum included in the toner cartridge or the drums are sold separately. Some color lasers use one drum and others one for each color. This makes all the color cartridges run out at the same time which can be costly.

If you can find someone who is using the printer you are thinking about buying, talk to them about the printer. They can let you know if they have run into any issues with the printer. Also, check out the cost of the supplies and what options you have for supplies. You can also talk to your supply vendor about your choices and find out if they have heard anything about the printer you want to purchase.

Sept. 2007: Cleaning Inkjet printers

It seems like whenever we want to print with our inkjet printers that we don't use very much, they don't want to print right. People will run the head cleaning on the cartridges and they still won't print right.

You can prime the cartridge by removing the cartridge from the printer and run the end under hot water. Blot the cartridge on a paper towel; you should see three dots on the paper towel. This tells you that the orifices are all cleared out. If you are cleaning a color cartridge, the dots should be cyan, magenta and yellow, one of each.

The ink will dry on the bottom of the cartridge and clog the orifices, but by printing the cartridge you are removing the dried ink. If you are using a tri-color cartridge, sometimes you will use up one of the colors before the others and this will result in the wrong colors printing. If you don't see a dot of each color when you prime the cartridge you can assume that you have used up that color and will have to replace the cartridge.

You can also clean off the wiper blade that cleans off the bottom of the cartridge in the printer. These are usually located on the right hand side where the cartridge goes into the home position. Open the lid, let the carriage move to the middle and use a q-tip to wipe off the blade.

July 2007 - Cleaning pin feed printers

There are still a lot of people out there that are printing with pin feed printers on multiple copies. That way they only have to print the invoice or purchase order once but have copies for everyone that needs them. I see a lot of paper lint in these printers. The easiest way to remove it is with a vacuum or a cloth. When wiping it out, be sure to do the rails that the print head rides on as it seems to collect on both end of this. Sometimes the printer lint has grease in it, so I usually have an extra rag to put the used ones in when I am finished. I find it is easier to clean these printers out if you roll the paper out of the printer and turn the power off. Sometimes the pins in the print head want to stick. If you use a Q-tip with alcohol or water on it this will usually clean off the excess ink, but check in your printer manual to make sure this won't hurt anything before you do it. Be sure to remove the ribbon before you clean the pins. It is always a good idea to check in the printer manual for cleaning tips. Sometimes they will tell you to clean out the printer after so many pages have printed off. It is always a good idea to do preventative maintenance to extend your printer's life.

 

May 2007 - Multifunction(MFP) & All in One(AiO)

With the manufacturers coming out with new equipment every week a lot of customers are going to multifunction printers (MFP) and all in one unit(AiO). The good news is you only have to buy one piece of equipment to make copies, fax and print documents. The bad news is a lot of these machines use more supplies then the individual models they replaced. Some of the inkjet models use up to six different cartridges in one piece of equipment . With only one piece of equpment people think they will stock less supplies, but this might not be the case. A lot of people like having individual machines, because if one goes down you can still use the other ones, however, if you have a MFP or AiO everything stops. When looking to replace a piece of equipment the price of the new equipment is only part of the cost of ownership. The amount of supplies and the cost are also things to be considered. Ask yourself how you want to use the piece of equipment. Do you need a document feeder on your new equipment or do you need your documents to be collated when they print out? Make sure to get what you need and not to pay for things you will never use.

 

March 2007 - Toner Scammer Alert

Lately I have been hearing from people that they are getting calls from toner scammers. If anyone calls your office asking for your printer, fax or copier model numbers without identifying themselves, don't give them any information. A legitimate business person will identify themselves and the company they work for before they ask you any questions. Sometimes these phone scammers will say they are from the dock and need the address to ship the order. Don't give them any information if they won't identify themselves. You will receive a box of supplies, but the price will be two to three times the regular list price. Most of the time if you question the toner scammers, they will just hang up. I would alert others at your location that this happened so that if they call back they won't get your information. These fraudulent companies make it hard for a legitimate business to do business over the phone as a lot of companies won't talk to sales people over the phone.

January 2007 - Happy New Year

I am hearing that a lot of people are having paper feed issues with their printers. Sometimes the rollers will wear out before the maintenance kit needs to be replaced. Here are a few tips to keep your printer printing: If you hear a groaning noise on your laser printer it is probably the feed rollers not being able to grab the paper out of the tray. You can take the roller out of the tray and swap it with the one inside the printer. This wilt give you a little more life but if the roller is totally smooth it won't work; you wit[ need to replace the roller. Sometimes paper lint will build up on the rollers and they won't be able to pick up the paper anymore. Use a damp cloth or q-tip to wipe the lint off the roller. Don't use alcohol as this will dry out the roller and cause it to glaze over, which makes the roller hard and it won't grip the paper anymore. Call me with any problems as I can help.

Becky: 651-776-3657/800-249-8576
fax 651-772-4574
or
beckyp@customofficeproducts.com

 

  

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