A Full Guide on Troubleshooting Common Printer Problems, Making Your Printer Work Better

Anyone who has ever received a printed page with unfused toner (floating powder) can tell you how frustrating it can be when someone touches the page, and the ink rolls off or comes off in their hand, and they are left with no energy for the day.

• Poor Temperature or Pressure: If your fuser unit cannot maintain the correct temperature or cannot hold enough pressure to bond the toner to the paper fibers, fusing will not occur.
• Wrong Toner: If you use low-quality toner with a melting point that is not compatible with the melting point of the fuser, the toner will not bond properly.
• Poor Media: Printing on poor quality media (media that is too thick or damp will absorb heat, making the toner not bond with the paper).
• Parts Failure - The fuser heat roller or pressure roller will lose thermal performance through continued wear.

To ensure the integrity of your output, we recommend you use high quality, compatible toner cartridges specifically designed for different types of printers such as Xerox WorkCentre (example: 3335, B405, Versant 180/2100), HP Printers (example HP M402/M405/HP M428/M477/M577) and Ricoh Office Series printers (examples: Ricoh MP5055, IM 4500, C3000) as well. For consistency in the prints, you must routinely maintain your fuser maintenance kit. When monitoring your copy machine, you should watch out for the following components: fuser assembly (along with the heat roller, pressure roller, and fuser belt), heating element, thermistor, and fuser cleaning web. You can be sure your Xerox VersaLink or HP LaserJet gets professional-grade fusing quality by having a quality Fuser Unit or Fuser Film Sleeve.

The most common cause of faded print or light prints is an issue with the imaging system.

• Inadequate OPC drum: The photosensitive coating wears out, meaning it cannot hold or develop a charge.
• Toner levels: Low or unevenly distributed toner levels in the cartridge.
• Developer agent: The developer agent becomes less magnetically charged than originally, so toner will be difficult to transfer from the toner to the page.
• PCR fatigue: A dirty or worn primary charge roller (PCR) means that the image will not be formed well and thus will appear light or faded.

If you are a high-volume user of Kyocera and Konica Minolta (Konica Minolta) copiers, like Kyocera M2540dn, Kyocera M2640idw, Kyocera P2040dn, Kyocera TASKalfa 2553ci, Kyocera TASKalfa 3252ci, bizhub C258, bizhub C308, bizhub C368, bizhub 450i, bizhub C360i, it is best to take a proactive replacement approach towards your drum unit and developer unit. You should always keep a stock of the hottest-selling OPC Drums, Developer Powder, and Magnetic Rollers (Mag Roller) so you can avoid being down on your photocopying equipment. For Konica Minolta bizhub or Kyocera ECOSYS models, you should focus on maintaining high-quality imaging units, primary charge rollers (PCR), doctor blades, Clean blades, and complete drum rebuild kits.

Use a high-quality Toner Chip and Development Assembly to restore the documents back to their original sharpness and contrast.

Paper jams are the biggest issue to device downtime, as most jams originate due to simple mechanical wear within the paper path.

• Worn pickup roller: Because it's rubber, the surface of the pickup roller will start losing grip. This is why you’ll get a “misfeed” (or just slipping).
• Worn separation pad: The pad will start losing friction, thus it will no longer be able to stop multiple pages from going through the paper path at the same time.
• Media environment - Using damp or low-quality paper, especially with dust on it, will produce more friction and static.
• Obstructions - Small pieces of torn paper or staples can also block your sensors and rollers.

The best way to handle routine paper handling is to periodically replace your Pickup Rollers and Separation Pads. For Xerox and HP devices, the best solution will be to purchase one of the Paper Feed Kits along with Feed Rollers. Good maintenance parts to have on hand include: Separation Roller, Cassette Pickup Roller, Bypass Feed Roller, Transfer Roller, Registration Roller, and Paper Exit Sensors. High traffic machines like the HP LaserJet Enterprise or Xerox WorkCentre will benefit from a new Roller Replacement Kit and Solenoid check, so you will have accurate timing and paper separation.

• Match your consumables: Always use compatible and matched consumables for your printer for the best performance and technical compatibility.
• Monitor wear cycle: Don’t wait for complete failure of parts to replace them, such as rollers and blades. Check frequently on the wear parts based on their rated page yield.
• Control your environment: Keep all paper supplies stored in a cool, dry location, as damp paper is a primary cause of fusing failure and paper jams.
• Avoid overloading your device: Always operate within the recommended monthly duty cycle; continuous operation will cause the Fuser Unit and Power Supply to fail much sooner than expected.

Using high-quality components (such as Toner Cartridges and Fusing Belts) will allow your company to deliver consistent, high-yield results while continuing to meet the needs of your global customer base.