Printers

How Printers Work

Connect to a PC by parallel, serial, USB, IEEE 1394, or SCSI port, or by infrared, wireless, PC Card, or network connection
Can be combined with fax machines, copiers and scanners in the same machine

Most often use AC power

Major Categories of Printers

Impact printers

Dot-matrix the noisiest Laser (highest quality) Inkjet Solid ink Dye-sublimation Thermal

Non-impact printers

Laser Printers

How a Laser Printer Works

Places toner on electrically charged rotating drum Deposits toner on paper as paper moves through system at same speed the drum is turning

Six Steps of Laser Printing

1. Cleaning

2. Conditioning
3. Writing

Take place inside toner cartridge

Use components that undergo the most wear

4. Developing
5. Transferring

6. Fusing

Six Steps of Laser Printing (continued)

1. Cleaning Cleans drum of residual toner & electrical charge

2. Conditioning Conditions drum to contain high electrical charge 3. Writing 4. Developing 5. Transferring 6. Fusing Laser beam discharges a lower charge to only those places where toner is to go Toner is placed onto drum where the charge has been reduced Strong electrical charge draws toner off drum onto paper; takes place outside the cartridge Heat and pressure fuse toner to paper
7

Six Steps of Laser Printing (continued)

Step 1: Cleaning

Any leftover toner from previous printing is brushed from the drum, which is then exposed to a high intensity light that erases any traces of previous images on the drum.

Step 2: Conditioning

Also referred as electrostatic charging. A uniform negative charge is applied to the surface of the drum (600-1000v)

Step 3: Writing

The image to be printed is written (reduced ve charge) on the drum by the laser

Step 3: Writing (continued)

Step 4: Developing

Step 4: Developing (continued)

Toner material is extracted from the toner cartridge and attracted to the image written on the drum

Step 5: Transferring

The transfer corona wire charge the paper (+ve). Toner will stick to the paper thus transfering the image from drum.

Step 6: Fusing

The toner image is pressed into the paper and method to permanently affix it to the paper

Laser Printing Operations

1. Cleaning Any leftover toner from previous printing is brushed from the drum, which is then exposed to a high intensity light that erases any traces of previous images on the drum

2.

Conditioning (also referred as electrostatic charging) A uniform static charge is applied to the surface of the drum
Writing The image to be printed is written on the drum by the laser Developing Toner material is extracted from the toner cartridge and attracted to the image written on the drum Transferring The toner image is transferred from the drum to the paper Fusing The toner image is pressed into the paper and method to permanently affix it to the paper

3. 4.

5. 6.

Inkjet Printers

Inkjet Printers (continued)

Use ink-dispersion printing Popular: small and print color inexpensively Most give photo-quality results (eg, PhotoREt II color technology)

Paper quality affects quality of printed output

Slower than lasers

How an Inkjet Printer Works

Print head moves across paper, creating one line of text with each pass Shoots ionized ink at a sheet of paper in a matrix of small dots Several technologies are used to form ink droplets (eg, bubble-jet) Require ink cartridges Nozzles tend to clog or dry out

Can be cleaned automatically

Inkjet Printer Ink Cartridges

Dot-Matrix Printers

Less expensive; lesser quality Print multicopy documents (impact printer) Print head moves across the paper, using pins to shoot against a cloth ribbon and print a matrix of dots 9-pin draft quality or 24-pin NLQ If print head fails, buy a new printer

Dot-Matrix Printers (continued)

Thermal Printers and Solid Ink Printers

Relatively new printer technologies

Non-impact printers that use heat to produce printed output

Epson - TM-T88IV Thermal Printer

Thermal Printers

Use wax-based ink heated by pins that melt ink onto paper Popular in retail for printing bar codes and price tags Variation: dye-sublimation printer

Solid Ink Printers

Store ink in solid blocks that melts into print head which spans width of paper Print head jets liquid ink onto paper as it passes by on the drum

Simple design, excellent print quality, easy to set up and maintain

Takes print head ~15 minutes to heat up
Tektronix's Phaser 300X

Installing and Sharing a Printer

Local printers

Network printers
Default printer

Installing a Local Printer

Physically attach printer to computer

Install printer drivers

Have Windows do it

Use printer manufacturers installation program (recommended)

Test the printer

Sharing a Printer with Others in a Workgroup

To share a local printer using Windows

File and Printer Sharing must be installed

To use a shared printer on a remote PC

Client for Microsoft Networks must be installed

Using a Shared Printer

Approaches to installing shared network printer drivers on remote PC

Use drivers on CD Use printer drivers on host PC

Using a Shared Printer (continued)

Using a Shared Printer (continued)

Using a Shared Printer (continued)

Ways to Make a Printer Available on a Network

Attach regular printer to a PC using a port on the PC

PC can share printer with network

Connect network printer with embedded logic to manage network communication directly to network with its own NIC Use a print server to control several printers

Troubleshooting Guidelines for Printers

How Windows handles print jobs

Printer maintenance
General printer troubleshooting How to troubleshoot problems specific to laser, inkjet, and dot-matrix printers

How Windows Handles Print Jobs

Windows NT/2000/XP or Windows 9x using a PostScript printer

Converts print job data to PostScript language

Windows 2000/XP can also use Printer Control Language (PCL) Converts print job data to Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF)

Windows 9x using a non-PostScript printer

How Windows Handles Print Jobs (continued)

Text data lacking embedded control characters is sent as raw data (DOS) Spooling

Printer Maintenance Procedures

Vary depending on manufacturer and printer Make sure consumables for printer are on hand Research printer documentation or manufacturers Web site for specific maintenance tips

During routine maintenance, clean inside and outside of the printer

Using Printer Manufacturers Web Site as a Resource

Online documentation

Knowledge base of common problems and what to do about them

Updated device drivers Flash BIOS updates Catalog of options and upgrades for purchase

Using Printer Manufacturers Web Site as a Resource (continued)

Replacement parts

Printer maintenance kits

Additional software

General Printer Troubleshooting

Isolate the problem

Application attempting to use the printer OS and printer drivers Connectivity between PC and printer Printer itself

Verify that a printer self-test page can print

Isolating a Printer Problem

Problems with Laser Printers

Poor print quality or a Toner Low message is displayed Printer stays in warm-up mode Paper jam occurs or Paper Out message appears White streaks appear in the print

Problems with Laser Printers (continued)

Print appears speckled Printed images are distorted Printing is slow Portion of the page does not print

Problems with Inkjet Printers

Poor print quality

Intermittent or absent printing

Lines or dots missing from printed page Ink streaks appear on the printed page

Problems with Inkjet Printers (continued)

Problems with Dot-Matrix Printers

Print quality is poor Print head moves back and forth but nothing prints

Troubleshooting Printer Problems

Problems printing from Windows

Troubleshooting printing from applications

Troubleshooting networked printers

Summary

Main types of printers and how they work

Laser Inkjet

Dot-matrix

How to install a printer How to share a printer with others on a network How to troubleshoot printer problems