Yonathan Ayalew
ENGL 2116-007
March 23, 2011
Printer Set Up / Maintenance
In today’s society computers play a large role in our lives. More important than computers are printers for some people, especially students. We are expected to write papers and have a copy to turn in once class starts. It is very important to maintain printers especially when we want then to last long and perform to higher standards. If printers are not maintained properly they are very easy to break. On top of maintaining the printers we have to worry about ink and changing it out when the printer runs out.
In a society where it is sometime cheaper to buy a new printer than it is ink we should definitely keep up with out printers.
List of parts: Printer
Printer Paper
Ink
Small Tool Kit
USB Cable
Power Cable
A printer similar to a car in terms of the operating parts being under a “hood”. In specific case we will me performing simple maintenance on a printer that also has a scanner / copier. Once you get your printer the first thing you will do is open the box. After taking out all the packaging read any warnings the printer might have such as compatibility with you computer and etcetera. After you take everything out of packaging connect the printer to a computer and install the appropriate software.
Most printers are “plug and play”; everything is usually in the printer and all you have to worry about is the software, but after a while you will need to perform certain maintenance on the printer to assure it works as well as it did the day you bought it.
First Step:
Open all aspects of the printer. This is a quick test to make sure all things work properly as well as make it easier to access all parts of the printer. When doing this make sure nothing is in the paper tray, the print tray or inside the scanner part of the printer.
Second Step:
Lift the top part of the tray not to be mistake with the scanner part. If you open the scanner part, close it and lift the whole top part of the printer (#1). This may be different on some printers. On some printers it stays up and on others there is a latch that makes sure it is securely held up. This latch is #2 in the image below.
Step Three:
After the top part of the printer is open wait a few seconds. When changing in you want to make sure that the printer is on. After waiting a few seconds, the printer will move the ink tray to the middle where you can access it. Once it stops reach in and pull out the ink cartridge. This too is different on several printers but to remove ink you need to pull up the cartridge then tilt it down then pull it out. Insert the new ink in a similar manner and wait for the printer to move the ink tray to a safe location before closing the top part.
Step Four:
The three above steps gave maintenance information on changing ink. Step four deals with paper jams. When there is a paper jam you can safely remove the paper without harming your printer by using the jam door. This door is either on the front or in the back. Open this door and you can pull the sheet of paper out with ease.
Step Five:
After you have changed the ink and dealt with any paper jams, insert the paper back into the printer. Before you can use the printer, align the printer (follow software instructions).
The printer will work, but it is only as good as how well you maintain it. If you are running low on ink, you need to replace it immediately. If not, then when you do replace it, the ink will not work as well. It will not be as dark and will not print evenly. Also make sure you take care of paper jams properly. If paper is stuck in the printer don’t just pull it out; use caution. Most printers have a door on the back to deal with jams. Look on the back of your printer and you should see a “jam door”. This door will allow you to access the back of the printer, where the paper runs through to print. Once this door is open you can easily pull out the jammed sheet of paper.