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Lesson 6Printers
The course CompTIA A+ through ProCert's testing and Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.
certification process is now accredited by CompTIA.
Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.
Objectives
A printer is a peripheral device that produces a hard copy of data. Popularly used printers are:
In addition to the laser and inkjet printers, two more commonly used printers are given below.
The following are some common printer-related terms that are important to know:
The number of dots a printer can print per inch of a paper, vertically and
Dpi (dots per inch) horizontally
Determines the resolution of the printer
Used by laser and inkjet printers via a feeder or a tray mounted on the
Single-Sheet Paper printer.
Laser printers give very high-quality print and are commonly used in medium-to-large organizations
for good quality prints.
Laser Printer
Many organizations use monochrome laser printers. Even though there are color laser
printers available, they are very expensive. Some of the characteristics of a color laser
printer are:
Controller Circuitry Circuit inside the laser printer that the PC talks to
Light sensitive imaging drum Laser writes the print image onto this drum
Developer roller Coated in charged toner particles that are transferred to the drum
Toner cylinder Contains fine black powder that gets written onto paper as ink
Pickup roller Draws paper into the printer from the paper tray
Fuser Is a heat and pressure roller that melts the toner onto paper
The laser imaging process involves seven steps which occur in a specific sequence during the rotation
of the imaging drum. The following image is the graphical representation of these steps:
3 Exposing
1
Processing
2 4
RIP I passed Side view of Developing
Charging Imaging drum
7 Cleaning
Fusing 6 Transferring 5
The Processing stage, also called the Raster Image Processing (RIP), is the first step that creates a
raster image. A raster is a single line of dots, and a raster image is a combination of all these lines.
When the Print command is issued, the computer sends the print job to the printer in a format that
RIP understands.
This voltage is between -500 and -600 VDC or Volts of Direct Current, and can be as high as -1,000 VDC.
Charging has two purposes:
It prepares the imaging drum to accept the image from the laser.
In this stage, the excess toner is scraped off the imaging drum and is collected for disposal.
After scraping off the toner, the erase lamp neutralizes the charge on the imaging drum.
Print head stepper motor Is used to move the print head and ink cartridges across the paper
Belt Is used by the stepper motor to move the cartridge assembly horizontally
Come in many combinations, such as one black and one color cartridge or
Ink cartridges
a separate cartridge for every ink color
The location of the cartridge varies from printer to printer. In most printers, the
cartridge is near the print head or may even have the print head built-in. Ink cartridges
are easy to replace.
Some models use two ink cartridges, one for all the three
CMY colors, and one for black ink.
Inkjet print heads may develop alignment issues over time, resulting in blurry printouts or lines that
are not straight. Manufacturers generally include software tools to check the printer and recalibrate it
if required. Calibration Check
Thermal Printer
Characteristics of Thermal printers
Spring It applies pressure on the thermal head to connect with the paper.
Printers usually receive print commands from the computer. They can be connected to PCs through
wired and wireless mechanisms. Some important connection types are listed below:
Printer Connections
Network Printers
A wired printer connection is when the printer is plugged into the computer using a cable. There are
two types of wired printer connections:
Most printers are connected to a PC using a USB connection through a USB Type B port.
USB-connected Printers use a USB cable with Type A connector on one end and a USB Type B connector
Printers
on the other end to connect the printer to the PC.
When a printer is directly connected to a computer, it is known as a local printer.
Designed for connecting to a computer network (LAN) rather than to a single computer.
Network
Printers They are similar to other types of printers but they have an Ethernet port.
Multiple users on a network being able to access it is its main advantage.
Use caution while opening a printer for maintenance. The following are some important electrical and
heat precautions:
Laser printers should not be plugged into power strips that have other devices plugged into them.
They operate at very high voltages and can draw a large volume of power in a short time, which can
damage a UPS.
The best option for a laser printer is to use a surge protector that does not have other equipment
plugged into it.
The next best choice is to plug a laser printer directly into a grounded AC socket.
There are many models of laser printers, but they all share common maintenance tasks.
When the toner runs low, the print quality goes down.
Toner Replacement: Many laser printers give an alert when the toner is low.
The solution is to replace the toner cartridge.
Some common symptoms, causes, and solutions for a printer problem are:
No connectivity
Paper not feeding
(local printer)
No connectivity
Printer not printing
(network printer)
Some common symptoms, causes, and solutions for a printer problem are:
Some common symptoms, causes, and solutions for a printer problem are:
Printers give error codes. They are Raster image is larger than the
numbers you can look up in the printer available memory. Add memory to the
manual. printer if possible. Or, use low
resolution to print.
Toner or ink cartridges inserted in Replace the fuser assembly in the laser
the wrong slot. printer to resolve the problem.
The most important maintenance task is cleaning the printer. There are several tools listed below that
are used in printer maintenance.
Compressed air Compressed air from a can or a blower can be used to dust off the insides of the printer.
Vacuum cleaners can be used to suck up the resultant dust from the blower.
Computer vacuum Regular vacuum cleaners cause electrostatic discharge (ESD) problems, so use only ESD-
safe vacuums.
a. Laser printer
b. Thermal printer
c. Inkjet printer
d. Impact printer
a. Laser printer
b. Thermal printer
c. Inkjet printer
d. Impact printer
Answer: b.
Explanation: Thermal printers print on a chemical-coated paper that changes color when
heat is applied to it.
a. True
b. False
a. True
b. False
Answer: a.
Explanation: Dpi, or dots per inch, is the resolution of a printer, or how many dots the
printer can print on every inch of paper.
a. charging
b. processing
c. developing
d. cleaning
a. charging
b. processing
c. developing
d. cleaning
Answer: a.
Explanation: Exposing is done by sending a focused laser beam to the imaging drum. This is
the step that follows the charging stage where the drum is charged with negative voltage.
a. Thermal
b. Laser
c. Inkjet
d. Impact (Dot Matrix)
a. Thermal
b. Laser
c. Inkjet
d. Impact (Dot Matrix)
Answer: d.
Explanation: Only the Impact (or Dot Matrix) printer type uses tractor feed and continuous-
feed paper.
a. The computer is not sending the printer the correct file to print.
b. The electric cable to the printer is faulty.
c. Toner is running low.
d. Printer paper is not of good quality.
a. The computer is not sending the printer the correct file to print.
b. The electric cable to the printer is faulty.
c. Toner is running low.
d. Printer paper is not of good quality.
Answer: c.
Explanation: Usually a printer will print faded pages when the toner is getting low. The
solution is to replace the toner cartridge.
Different types of printers are suited for different users and organizations.
Inkjet printers are cheaper and more affordable but also slower.
There are several wired and wireless ways to connect printers to computers.
The course CompTIA A+ through ProCert's testing and Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.
certification process is now accredited by CompTIA.
Copyright 2014, Simplilearn, All rights reserved.