Lesson 17

Installing, Configuring and

Troubleshooting print
Devices
L ASER PRINTER
Brief recap of Printers
A printer is a device that produces text and images from electronic data onto physical media
such as paper, photo paper, and labels. A printer output of electronic documents is often
referred to as HARD COPY.

A printer type or printer technology is the mechanism used to make images on the paper. The
most common types for general, home and office use are inkjet and laser.
Components of Printers
There are many types of printers. Each from different manufacturers, and with slightly varying
printing processes, but all printers have the following common components
A connection to computing devices
A mechanism for creating text and images
A paper feed mechanism
Paper input and output options
 Features of Printers
The following criteria are used in selection of the best and most suitable type and model of
printers
SPEED
The speed of a printer is measured in Pages Per Minute (PPM). You will see different speeds
quoted for different types of output( for example pages of monochrome will print faster than
color photos)
INTERFACE
Almost all printers support USB, but printer models designed for workgroups also support
network connections, usually at a higher cost than standard models. Wireless may also be very
expensive.
IMAGE QUALITY
The basic measure of image quality is the maximum supported resolution, measured in dots per
inch(dpi). Resolution is simply the level of detail in a printed image. Technically, resolution is the
number of droplets of ink a printer deposit per square inch of your final printed image. Printer
dots and screen image pixels are not equal. It take multiple dots to create one pixel at an
acceptable quality. Pixel dimenisions are typically stated in Pixels Per Inch(PPI) to avoid
confusion. Also the vertical and horizontal dimensions are often different. The horizontal
resolution is determined by the print engine, whereas the vertical resolution is determined by
the paper handling mechanism.

The minimum resolution for a monochrome printer should be 600dpi. Photo quality printers
start at 1200dpi.
 Other terms related to Printers
PAPER HANDLING
Paper handling means the type of paper or media that can be loaded. It may be important that the printer
can handle labels, envelopes, card stock, acetate, and so on. The amount of paper than can be loaded and
output is important in high volume environments. Overloaded output trays may lead to paper jams
TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP(TCO)
TCO is the cost of a printer over its lifetime, including the cost of replacement components and consumables.
It is important to know how a printer will be used to work out TCO
OPTIONS
Options are the states that can be assigned to printer features. They may be fitted by default or available for
additional purchase. Options might include additional memory, duplex(double-sided) printing, large
format(A3 of greater), binding and so on.
Introduction to Laser Printer
What are laser Printers?
A laser printer is a printer than uses laser beam to project a latent image onto an electrically
charged drum; toner adheres to the drum and is transferred onto the paper moves through the
mechanism at the same speed the drum rotates. The toner is fixed using heat and pressure,
creating a durable printout that does not smear or fade

Laser printers are one of the most popular printer technologies for office applications because
they are cheap to buy and run, quiet, and fast, and they produce high quality output
 Laser Printer imaging process
PROCESSING
Laser printers produce their output in a series of dots. The computer encodes the page in a
computer language and sends it to the printer. The printer’s formatter board processes the data to
create a BITMAP of the page and stores it in the printer’s RAM.
The entire process must be repeated multiple times(2 –4times) because the circumference of the
drum that processes the image is smaller that a sheet of paper.

CHARGING
The electrostatic photographic drum or imaging drum is conditioned by a corona wire powered by a
high voltage power supply assembly. The corona wire applies a uniform 600v electrical charge
across the drum’s surface. A laser printer has a power supply capable of generating very high
voltages
Processing
Data input: Your computer sends a digital image or text to the printer as series of 0s and 1s
Charging
Electrostatic Charging: Whenever the laser hits the drum, it makes the drum lose its electric
charge. The exposed areas of the drum become negatively charged.
Exposing
Laser Scanning: Inside the printer, a laser beam scans across a special drum that’s sensitive to
light. This is where the image creation begins.
DEVELOPING
Toner Application: The drum is coated with tiny positively charged particles of toner. These
particles are attracted to the negatively charged areas of the drum.
Image formation: The toner particles stick to the parts of the drum that were hit by the laser,
forming the image or text. This creates a temporary image of the drum.

TRANSFERRING
Paper transfer: The drum rolls onto a piece of paper, and the toner image is transferred to the
paper. The paper typically has a negative charge to attract the toner.
FUSING
A fuser unit inside the printer uses heat and pressure to melt the toner unto the paper, making
it permanent. This step ensures the toner adheres securely to the paper.

CLEANING
After the toner image is transferred to the paper, there is a cleaning process where any residual
toner on the drum is removed. This prepares the drum for the next printing cycle