How to take care of Inkjet Printer
- 11 Aug, 2020
Printer plays a vital role in office as well as home. Every computer accessory needs to be properly taken care off for longer service life. Unfortunately, printers are the most neglected computer accessory. Inkjet printers are commonly in use for small offices and homes because of their attractive price tag. Here are some tips on how to properly handle your inkjet printer to ensure that it won’t fail in your moment of need.
Safety First
Make sure to turn off your printer properly before doing any type of maintenance work to ensure both safety for you and your printer.
Print Regularly
Unfortunately, the less you print, the shorter life span of your ink cartridge. Regular use keeps the ink in flow preventing clogged head nozzle. Places where printer have very less use, it is recommended to print some pages to avoid drying out of ink. Printing a test page every few weeks may solve the problem of clogged nozzle. Modern printers have software-based cleaning processes e.g. nozzle check, print head cleaning and print head alignment, although it consumes some ink, yet it can be beneficial for healthy life of your printer.
Location of printer
Printer should be installed on a level surface and in a properly ventilated and dust free place to increase its service life.
Keep it clean
Most basic principle of a machine also applies to printer to keep it neat and clean and avoid any clogging of dust, debris and ink which may lead to jams and poor performance. A damp cloth/paper towel or kitchen roll can be used to remove dust from outside the printer but for inside use lint free cloth. Avoid using any type of liquid for cleaning the printer because moisture will do harm to your printer. A vacuum cleaner is also a good option for cleaning printer from dust. Cleanliness of printer head ensures quality and resolution of your print so make sure to clean your printer head for better quality. and avoid clogged printer head in future. Software based cleaning are also available in some modern printers which automatically clean the printer head etc. just by clicking the option on the software. Instruction manual should be consulted for proper usage of these software-based cleaning.
Choose the best Ink Refill
Printer head will be damaged by usage of poor printer cartridge. Two types of ink cartridges are available in the market one made by the manufacturer and the other made by third parties that are compatible with your printer model e.g. hp ink cartridge for hp printers. Compatible ink cartridges are cheaper than the cartridges made by the manufacturers. These cheap printer ink cartridges are sometimes recycled hence environment friendly. If your photo printing is more and you want to do it cheaper as well reliable you can have remanufactured HP 302 Ink cartridge by Printing Pleasure.
Do not run your printer on low ink
Some ink is used to maintain health of printer head so if your printer is low on ink, do not wait for complete emptying your cartridge because it will damage you printer head in long run as well as compromise quality of your work.
Take caution when replacing ink cartridge
Always read the instruction manual before replacing the cartridge. Compatibility of cartridge with the printer is most important. Cartridge must be properly installed and caution like do not touch the bottom of the cartridge! Must be kept in mind while installing it in the printer.
Pick the right paper for better results
Paper selection plays an important role in printing a photo or document on your printer as final result of your project is on paper. Non compatible papers will sometimes result in paper jam or low-quality print. Always buy branded paper for a branded printer. For example, hp printer with hp ink cartridge will give best result on hp photo paper.
Always use Updated software and drivers for your printer
Software update are provided to make the software bug free and fast. Genuine software is always provided with updates so install genuine software and update it regularly for smooth operation of your printer. This will keep your printer in a good condition. Software-based maintenance also needs updated version of software.
Fix errors according to instruction manual
Instruction manual is vital part of any hardware. it will help in removing any type of mechanical error given in the form of error code in modern printers. Keep your printer instruction manual safe. Consult instruction manual before fixing any kind of mechanical or any type of error. For example, if you a clogged paper and error is displayed on the screen of the printer then manual consultation is important to fix and remove the paper.
Turn it off
Turn off your printer when it is not in use. Printer generates heat while they are on and this heat will dry up your cartridge and ultimately a clogged head. Wear and tear in other parts of the printer is always expected when printer is always on. So best practice is to turn off your printer when it is not in use.