Scanners have cut down on the amount of paper we have to use, and they have been able to help revolutionise how business and conditions are done. It has helped create a much easier way to send documents, photos and text long distance via email, fax and instant messenger.

Early scanners were in a pen model, or half page scanner. There are still scanners like that but the most powerful ones are roller fed or page scanners. And the most common is the flatbed scanner. It lies flat on a desk and you put the item to be scanned onto it, and close the lid.

A scanner works by taking a image that is analog and makes it into a digital code for whatever it is provided. New scanners have often software called OCR or optical character recognition, this allows the scanner to recognise text and sometimes even format the scanned text.

Most scanners have a flat surface where the document or image to be scanned is placed face down. A light bar passes over a document, or the document passes itself over the light. Either way the image is scanned in the following manner.

A flatbed scanner has a powerful small light that shines upward, and illuminates what is on the flatbed to be scanned. You press the scan button or trigger the scanner, and the scanner first warms up. Then, the light source passed over the item, and the scanner then is able to record the areas of light and dark, to copy what is on the flatbed into the memory of the scanner, or sometimes to a computer.

The digital information is “sensed” with sensors mounted on the flatbed, as the light passes over the image it records the reflected light and makes a digital image of the item. It then is saved into a file, or manipulated by the software to make sure that it is saved.

Black and white scanners were first, and only items in black and white could be used. Or, if something was a colour item then it was put into memory in shades of grey. This is called a greyscale image, and was the only way that early scanners could sense material, in shades of light and dark.

New scanners can sense and tell using newer diodes and scanners between colours, and colour scanners have been around for over 10 years now. As time passes the technology gets better and scanners become cheaper.

The other type is non impact, and these include Inkjet printers. Inkjet printers are part of this group, and they use a series of different tiny nozzles to spray small drops of ink directly on the paper. When you click print, your computer will send a bunch of data to the printer driver.

The inkjet printer driver takes the information and translates the it to a form that the inkjet printer can understand. It makes sure there is paper located in the input area, and that everything is ready to print. The information then passes to the inkjet printer by a connection interface.

Older printers would use a serial cable, or parallel cable to take the information to the printer. Newer printers take the information and send it to the printer using a USB cable, but no matter which kind of delivery method. The information is received by the printer, and it is temporarily stored on the printer in a area called the buffer.

The buffer is a temporary storage area and they range in size from small, such as 516 kb or up to larger buffers such as 16 mb in larger buffers. The larger buffers can hold several documents at the same time.

Paper is fed into the printer, and the start of the page is started to print. The print head stepper motor uses a small belt to allow the print head to move across the page. It moves tiny amounts, and as it moved small dots of different ink is sprayed, the print head moves a tiny bit, and more ink is sprayed again. This process happens fast, nearly faster than the eye could see if you were able to view the inside of the printer during printing.

Multiple dots are sprayed a each tiny movement. Black and white inkjet printers spray only black ink, colour inkjet printers spray colour ink in precise little bits to make up the process. Each time the print head passes from side to side, the paper is advanced a tiny bit from the motor that feeds the paper through the printer.

Different ink jet machines operate differently. Some print heads print their way across, then return and print another pass. Others print both ways, across the page and then back. Either works. Printing time varies, and the printers today use fast drying ink to make it possible to pick up the page and not smear the ink.

Today’s modern inkjet printers work to spray ink to the paper from two different cartridges, one that is the colour cartridge, and one that is the black ink cartridge. Each of the two cartridges has one or more reservoirs for ink, and some of the different types of ink cartridges offer small computer chips and electronic foil contacts that talk or communicate with the printer.

Inkjet cartridges tend to be used in inkjet thermal printers. Each little opening in the ink cartridge is a small heading resistor, and when a certain signal is received from the printer a really tiny amount of electricity makes the ink heat up and spray out. This happens in milliseconds, and is the main way that cartridges know when to spray colour or black and white ink onto the paper.

The ink is sprayed out onto the paper from the tiny opening in the print cartridge through a print head nozzle, and it can sometimes clog up. Most major printers offer a cleaning cycle that can allow the printer to clean itself, and open up the nozzle. One of the things in an inkjet printer that happens when the ink is sprayed is it cools the print head, helping to keep it from burning up.

Normally there are two different separate ink cartridges in a modern inkjet printer. One is the colour cartridge that normally has three different areas of ink, yellow, red, and blue. The other printing cartridge is made up of black ink. In some printers they may have a separate print cartridge for each primary colour.

Each different type of inkjet printer company produces ink cartridges for their own printers. Normally most cartridges from one manufacturer company will not fit other printers by other manufactures. They do this intentionally, when you buy a printer they often want you to purchase their products for the lifetime of the printer, and the ink cartridge that you get with the printer sometimes has just a small amount of ink, making you have to purchase a new one soon.

Many companies make after market print cartridges, and these can be either good quality or poor. The good quality ones are just as good as the official OEM cartridges made by the manufacturer. Some ink cartridges are able to be refilled, either by enterprising do it yourselfers at home with a kit, or by the manufacturer.

Each printer that utilises the inkjet process has ink cartridges. These hold ink in reserve until called upon, then they release it in tiny amounts that is directed onto the paper by inkjet nozzles or a print head.

Many people do not realise that inkjet cartridges have tiny holes that are often covered in a foil layer. When they receive a certain signal they spray ink from each of these little holes, forcefully in a process that takes literally milliseconds.

The inkjet printer has become the most utilised printer in use today, it is inexpensive, reliable and uses the cartridges to store ink until needed. Inkjet cartridges are commonly two in number, the black cartridge which holds ink for black and white documents, or documents printed in grayscale, and the colour print cartridge, which is normally divided up inside into the three colours, red, blue, and yellow.

Inkjet cartridges come in many different combinations depending on the manufacturers of the specific inkjet printers. In some inkjet printers, the cartridge supplies the ink to the print head nozzles which apply the ink. Some printers the print head itself consists of a unit of the two cartridges that pass back and forth, in small amounts at a time, spraying ink onto the paper and printing in this fashion.

Some manufactures have the typical two cartridges, colour and black. Others supply a separate cartridge for each of the colours, and one for the black. As the paper is fed into the printer, it is advanced in small steps, as the inkjet print head and cartridges pass back and forth, printing the document in small strips. Strip by strip and inch by inch the document is passed, and then it emerges on the far side with the paper fully printed.

Different technologies are used in most modern ink cartridges, and the ink cartridges for each are a little different. There is the thermal inkjet, and the continuous feed inkjet. Both are found in the marketplace, and both have cartridges that are different from each other. Each of the modern manufactures make patented versions of their cartridges, and cartridges only fit printers that they are made for, between different manufacturers cartridges are not interchangeable.

Cartridges often feature tiny circuits, even sometimes a tiny computer chip. This allows the printer head to receive special precise amounts of certain ink when a electric signal is sent to the ink cartridge, telling it to spray a certain amount. This all happens very swiftly in milliseconds.

Epson’s Stylus Printers

One of the biggest factors was the incredible success that they were able to obtain through the introduction of the Epson Stylus printers, although maybe more importantly was the technology used in these printers. The company was integral in helping to develop Micro Piezo inkjet technology. This is a technology, which used piezoelectric crystal in nozzles rather than having to heat Epson ink in the print head in order to release it to a page. This technology was revolutionary for the industry of consumer printing products at the time and in 1993 the company would introduce the first model in its long line of Epson Stylus printers, the Epson Stylus 800.

Introduces the Stylus Colour Printer

The company had much success with this product and because of that was able to introduce the next model for the Epson Stylus line of printers, the Epson Stylus Colour. This was the first high-resolution color inkjet printer at 720×720 dpi, which was considered to be quite high resolution for its time in 1994. This printer also use the Micro Piezo head technology that Epson had developed and was one of the biggest successes for the line of Epson Stylus printers at the time. It was also a huge success among the public as they took note of the great innovation and sales begin to grow, as the company would begin to gain sales in the United States.

Continued Growth

Epson quickly grew to have a great reputation for building quality and affordable consumer based printing products that utilised the latest technologies. This was largely due to the success that they had with the line of Epson Stylus printers and Epson Colour Stylus Printers. The company would continue to further develop the technologies that had helped to make them one of the leaders in consumer printing products. To this day the company still continues to have success with their many lines of printers and the Epson Stylus printer technology that, although much more advanced, is based on the same principals as the first model.

1. Image Fuzziness

A common complaint among certain individuals is how the image can appear fuzzy and may not provide them with the quality they are looking to have in their pictures. If you are encountering this image fuzziness, you might have to change the quality of the paper or ink that you are using, and in some instances, you might have to clean your ink heads and rollers. In other cases, you may have to check the software you use with your photocopier and either reinstall the driver or realign the heads.

2. Using the Wrong Kind of Paper

Although many believe that a manufacturer recommends users only use their own brand of paper and ink in order to promote sales, often the manufacturer has a point in recommending which kinds you should use. Not using the correct kind of printer paper could cause a photocopier to jam, especially if it is of cheap quality that may have a residue from the creation process, which can then get on the rollers and the print head. This can lead to paper jams, damage to the heads, and even an overheating of the photocopier which may cause it to shut down.

3. Cheap Ink Causing Erroneous Errors

Using cheap ink just because it is cheaper is another idea which might not be a good option for anyone who needs to have high quality photocopies, especially if he or she is in business. Although cheap ink might keep costs down, the results could be a lower quality print, leaking ink across your rollers, jammed paper, and delays in time sensitive projects. Other factors that may result due to using cheap ink is that there is a film which builds up over time within the inside of your photocopier. If this is not taken care of with regular maintenance, the result could be damage to your costly photocopier, which will cost you a fair amount out of your wallet in order to have it fixed by a professional.

1. Buy the Paper That Suits You

If you like glossy photos, you will want to choose glossy photo paper, and alternatively if you like matt photos, you will want to buy matt photo paper. Can’t seem to choose? Buy one packet of each and try it out both ways. Matt tends to be better for pictures you’d like to frame, while glossy is better for photos you want to give to others as gifts.

2. Choose Smaller Sized Photo Paper Sheets

While larger sized sheets seem to make more sense expense-wise, these can also cause troubles when it comes to paper waste. Instead, choose smaller photo sheets that allow you to print the exact size photo you want. Sizes vary from 4×6 to 5×7, up to 8×10.

3. Consider a Better Printer Cartridge

If you’re printing on your own printer at home, you need to make sure the colour cartridge is full and is the highest quality possible. Some printers now offer the option of photo quality cartridges. When quality matters, you might want to invest in this kind of ink cartridge so that they last longer. At the very least, make sure your cartridges are newer and full, if possible.

4. Turn Up the Quality

When you choose to print a photo, make sure the printing quality is set to ‘Photo’ quality as this will ensure all of the details are coming through on the actual photo paper. You will find this on ‘Settings’ when you are in the Print menu of your program. If you don’t have this option, just be certain not to use the lowest quality print setting.

5. Let It Dry

While you might not realise this, printing on photo paper takes a lot of ink and thus, a lot of time to dry. Allow your photos the chance to dry for at least a few minutes before you begin to cut them out of the sheet or place them into a photo frame.

Summary

When you want to turn your memories into photos, photo paper is an easy and inexpensive way to do this. Instead of waiting at the photo counter for your prints, you can print them yourself ‚Äì without having to print photos you don’t want.

Paper Jam

Most printer manufactures have their own unique design of alerting you to a printer jam. Often it is a sound along with a display of a flashing red or yellow exclamation point. If your home or office printer suddenly jams in the middle of a printout, the following simple steps will assist you in fixing the problem.

1. Have a look inside the printer: find where the door opening to the rollers is located on your printer. On some printers there are two doors, located in the rear and one in the front. Press the tab to release the door.
2. Check the rear door first: if the jammed paper is not in the rear rollers, cheque the front door.
3. Start to clear the paper: if the paper is jammed in the rollers, gently pull, do not force or rip it out fast. It may cause the paper to tear even more, resulting in small torn pieces that are more difficult to remove.
4. Sometimes paper is tightly jammed: if this is the case, very slowly and gently, wiggle the paper side-to-side while softly pulling at the same time. Usually it will loosen and set free.
5. Check for scraps of paper: if there are little fragments of paper left among the rollers, a flashlight might help you to see easier. For safety reasons, unplug your printer for the next step.
6. Use tweesers to grasp smaller pieces of paper: as mentioned in step 4, wiggle, and gently pull towards you to clear any small pieces of scrap paper from your printer.

Don’t forget that you should be regularly maintaining your printer, which is an easy and relatively quick task with the benefit of making your printer last longer and print more reliably.

If the above steps fail and you still aren’t able to free the paper, consult your manual for further instructions: there is usually a troubleshooting guide to assist you. Making a call directly to the manufacturer is another option. You may also choose to contact the manufacturer online for assistance as some of them offer live text-based customer support.

Keep your printers drivers up to date!

If your printer is older then your computer, you will need to pay special attention to this. You can visit the printer manufacturer’s website, Look on the tech support page for any relevant downloads such as driver updates or patches.

Always replace your ink cartridges

Keep a spare cartridge on hand for the corresponding colour. Your computer will let you know when you are low on ink, but be sure to wait until the tank is empty then replace the tank.

Keep an eye on the nozzles

For Windows, click Start/ Control Panel/ Printers then right click your printer and select properties. Select the maintenance tab and choose nozzle test. For Macintosh, from any program that prints click File/ Page Setup /Utilities then select “Test print” from the drop down menu. Click “Nozzle Test.” On the test page, look for unevenness in color or missing lines. These show that the print heads need cleaning or alignment.

Clean the print heads regularly

Printer heads are very prone to clogging Especially if they are not used on a regular basis. Access the printer maintenance page For Windows, click Start/ Control Panel/ Printers then right click your printer and select properties. Select the maintenance tab and choose nozzle test and select the “Cleaning” option

Don’t forget to clean the printer

Unplug the printer, then open the printer, use a dry lint-free cloth to gently wipe away any drops of ink or dust.

Keep paper jams cleared

You will know if you have a paper jam (your printer won’t print). Refer to your printers manual for the safest way to clear the paper jam, but in general you should lift the cover or remove the panel and gently access the easily reachable areas.

Align the print heads

To do this click Start/ Control panel /Printers and then right click your printer from the list and select properties, select the maintenance tab then select the option for “Print head alignment.”

Turn off and cover your printer when not in use

Most people will turn their computer off and yet leave the printer on which leaves the printer heads exposed. This can lead to dust and hair getting onto the printer heads or causing them to dry out.

If you follow these tips your printer should run better and last longer. Remember if you have any questions or concerns, contact your printers manufacturer.

Paper Jams
A paper jam may be the most well known problem with laser printers. Laser printer print their pages one at a time by moving the page through the unit and allowing the turning drum to gather toner from the cartridge and put the image or words or combination on the page. Paper jams can occur for a variety of reasons. These reasons include worn rollers, dirty internal mechanisms and using the wrong type of paper. Whatever the case may be, a paper jam should be undone in the direction of the printout, not by pulling it backwards towards the paper tray, which can damage the rollers and motor.

Trouble Printing Envelopes
Printing your envelopes gives them the customization that would cost a small fortune if you have to mail order them or pay a printer. Fortunately, when you own a laser printer, you can achieve the same print shop quality at home. Unfortunately, laser printers for the home office are not designed to handle certain weights and designs of envelopes, which can cause many troubles when trying to print. Causes of these troubles can range from incorrect weight of paper to adhesive that cannot withstand the internal heating mechanism and the heated envelope to jam.

Ghosting
Ghosting happens when the image or text prints where it should but also ghost prints elsewhere on the page, making an unusable copy. The most common reasons for ghosting are the laser drum life is nearing an end or the power source is insufficient. Before replacing the drum, try changing to a different outlet; the latter costs nothing.

Printing is Faded
There are usually some very specific reasons that you can pinpoint as the culprits for when some of your printing is faded. One condition is attributed to setting the printer to Economy mode. Another condition is that your toner is running low and needs to be replaced. The third condition is that the print density may be set too low. Removing the cartridge and shaking it can extend toner life. The other two conditions must be resolved by changing the printer’s settings.

Toner Smears or Fades When Touched
When this happens, it may be due to a defective toner cartridge or the fuser assembly may be worn or broken. A defective cartridge can be replaced but if the fuser assembly is worn, it will most likely be cheaper to replace the entire printer.