Have you noticed a drop in the print quality of your printer for some time? Smudges, color banding, diminished color intensity, or blurry letter outlines are all reminders that taking care of your printer is essential to ensuring its longevity. We tell you how to do it.
Maintaining your inkjet printer via its management software
Whatever its brand, an inkjet printer is always controlled by its own software. In this way, it is possible to carry out very useful maintenance operations to maintain print quality.
By opening the interface of this software, you can launch the check of the nozzles to clean them and recalibrate them to guarantee the alignment of the print. Caution: the nozzle check consumes a lot of ink. You shouldn’t do it too frequently (3 to 4 times a year maximum).
Dust off your laser printer
Laser printers are often more difficult to clean, in particular, due to the volatile nature of the toner powder. Before cleaning it, unplug it, wait one hour after its last use, and place it in a room free of dirt (a garage, for example).
Wear gloves and a protective mask: the ink can seep into your skin and possibly be inhaled. Take out the toner cartridge to gently clean it with a cloth, then dust the inside of the printer with a soft brush to avoid damaging the components. After reassembling, print a test page to verify that everything is in place.
Our other printer maintenance tips
To take good care of a printer, other simple gestures allow you to space out maintenance and possible problems:
- Don’t let dust accumulate on it. Dust there very regularly. If you do not use it for several days, cover it to prevent dust from getting into it;
- For a scanner printer or a multifunction printer: clean the window of your scanner with a soft cloth and a suitable product to avoid any marks or blurring on your documents;
- Regularly check your printer’s air vents and remove any dust that may accumulate there. Likely to heat easily, you must place it in a ventilated environment.
