The Printer Jam

Printer Guides & Tips

Printer Guides & Tips

These printer guides & tips are designed to help people with all their home office or small office printing needs. All of them are based on real world experience from a service technician with 23 years experience. Relevant information to anyone who owns a printer, these tips will help you get the most from your office equipment.


Inkjet vs laser

Inkjet vs Laser Printers

The Inkjet vs Laser printers clash is about to begin. On one side inkjet printers, on the other laser printers. Who will win? Which one will you choose? Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between inkjet and laser printers? This in depth guide breaks down each type for you by quality, cost, and reliability. Our inkjet vs laser printers rivalry compares the benefits and drawbacks of each type. In order to make your decision easier.


Print Driver

Which is the Best Print Driver to Use?

If you need some help navigating the sea of print drivers we can help. Sometimes your printer has only one print driver and leaves you no choice. Then some printers have several choices. The printer manufacturers may not go into much detail of each driver. Which leaves a person asking what print driver should I use? Most of the time any driver you choose will pass paper. In my experience some drivers perform better than others.


Printer Toner

What is Printer Toner?

Laser printer toner is the stuff used by a laser printer to create images on paper. Its function is the same as ink inside an inkjet printer: to produce an image or text on paper. However, ink and toner can’t be swapped since one is a liquid and the other is a dry powder. If you’ve ever had to deal with a laser printer, you’ve probably noticed the toner residue inside the printer. You may get some on your hands clearing a paper jam or adding toner.


What is a Laser Printer?

They are commonly used in offices and at home. You can connect a laser printer directly to your computer or via a network. They run on standard wall outlet voltage (120 AC). Due to power requirements they don’t make portable laser printers. If you want a portable printer you have to get an inkjet printer. Laser printers customarily come in a cream or off white color. However, you can get them in black, white, gray, or even blue.


Laser Printer Works

How Does a Laser Printer Work?

If you’re curious about how a laser printer works, this is an explanation of the laser printing process. A laser printer is a device that uses an electrostatic process to form an image on paper made from toner. We have all probably used or at least seen a laser printer at some time. They are a pillar of modern offices, schools, libraries, and homes. Just about every place you find computers you’ll find these peripheral devices.


What is an Inkjet Printer?

If you’ve never owned a printer before you may be wondering, just what is an inkjet printer? An inkjet printer is a type of printer that uses liquid ink. Other types of printers use toner, wax, or thermal paper to produce images. An inkjet printer uses dye or pigment based ink to create images on paper.


Inkjet Printer Works

How Does an Inkjet Printer Work?

For all those curious how an inkjet printer works, keep reading. This is a practical explanation of what’s actually going on inside an inkjet printer. An inkjet printer may have four, five, six, or more colors. It prints on postcards or 36 inch wide paper. However, the inkjet process is basically the same. The printhead will pass over the paper several times spraying tiny amounts of ink.


inside laser printer

What’s Inside a Laser Printer?

When it comes to laser printers some may wonder what’s inside a laser printer. How they work is another topic. But If you’ve ever wanted to know what parts are inside a laser printer you’ve come to the right place. You may have heard terms such as drum or toner associated with laser printers at some point. This article will go over each component inside a laser printer. The main parts of a laser printer are:


laser printer use

What is a Laser Printer Used for?

When it comes to laser printers, some may wonder what is a laser printer used for? We all know what a laser printer is, how they work, and what’s inside them but what they are used for can be a variety of purposes. The primary purpose of a laser printer is for printing a large volume of pages per month. It doesn’t mean they aren’t used for small volumes of printing or other printing needs such as printing labels, stickers, pictures or checks.


clean laser printer

How to Clean a Laser Printer

Cleaning laser printers isn’t like cleaning your socks. You can’t just toss it in a washing machine and let it go. Although tossing a laser printer in a washer does sounds like a lot of fun, it would ruin your printer. Cleaning the inside of a laser printer isn’t necessarily something that needs done weekly, monthly, or even yearly. It actually depends on how much printing you do. You should inspect your printer regularly.


7 Things You Need to Clean a Laser Printer

When it comes to cleaning a laser printer some may think all you need is a dust rag. Which can get the job done but the right tools make your job much easier. For laser printer cleaning supplies I carry a lot more than a paper towel. You don’t usually need any tools to clean one but a #2 Phillips screw driver will remove most items inside a laser printer. In order to clean your laser printer you will need a few items.


Inkjet Cartridge

Revive Ink Cartridges

Why does anyone even want to fix an inkjet cartridge? It’s like banging your head against a wall. But, whatever. If you’re like me maybe you see a clogged cartridge as a challenge and just refuse to walk away from it. To those determined to revive your dead inkjet cartridge, there’s a right way and wrong way to do it. I can’t make any guarantees, you can do everything right and still wind up with a useless cartridge.


Right Paper

Choosing the Right Printer Paper

If you’re looking for some tips on selecting the right paper for your printer, this article can help. It will break down all the different factors for selecting paper. Then clarify which paper is right for kind of printing you do on your printer. If you’re looking for paper the two most important factors are the type of printer and purpose of the print job. We could just recommend you premium inkjet paper for your inkjet printers and premium laser paper for laser printers, but why?


Doc Scanner

Get the Most Out of Your Scanner

Even though this site is dedicated to printers, I thought I’d cover scanning as well. Whether using a scan driver or changing settings at a control panel, here’s a guide and some tips to help you get the most from your scanner. This guide will focus on scanning documents since most all-in-ones are geared more for a variety of documents rather than professional photo scanners. It seems intuitive a lighter/darker setting would actually make the image lighter or darker.


How to clear a laser printer jam with step by step photos and instructions | how to clear a paper jam | get the most out of your printer

Paper Jams

Even the best laser printer will have a paper jam every now and then. Clearing a printer jam doesn’t have to ruin your day. When I sat down and thought about it I have probably cleared thousands of paper jams in my life. Over the years I’ve noticed a few things that I thought I’d pass on hoping it will empower anyone to tackle that jam with confidence or maybe even give a few pointer to the experts.


6 Advantages and Disadvantages of a Laser Printer

If you’re not sure about buying a laser printer this article can help you choose whether a laser printer is right for you. When it comes to laser printers some may wonder what are the benefits?
As someone who has repaired laser printer for over 25 years I’ve seen them at their best and worst. I’ve worked on them at schools, offices, factories, and homes. Most were good fits, some were not. Based on my experience as a service tech here are the advantages and disadvantages


ultimate guide to plotters

Ultimate Guide to Plotters

If you’ve ever wondered what a plotter is, you’re not alone. A plotter is a device that carries out tasks along an X and Y axis. Whether it’s printing a vector image or cutting vinyl signs, they both coordinate points along an X and Y axis for their functions. The term plotter was popularized from the original pen plotters.


What Exactly is a Plotter Device

What Exactly is a Plotter?

While a plotter can be a sneaky person, it can also be a machine. The best way to define a plotter is: a computer peripheral device that coordinates points along an X and Y axis to either cut or print on a material.


What is the Difference Between a Plotter and Regular Printer?

The first time I heard the term plotter I wondered how it’s any different than a traditional printer. After all, they’re both printers. How different can they be? While there is considerable overlap there are some key differences. First, the type of plotter being compared is important since plotter can refer to several different devices.


How to Clean A Laser Printer

Cleaning laser printers isn’t like cleaning your socks. You can’t just toss it in a washing machine and let it go. Although tossing a laser printer in a washer does sounds like a lot of fun, it would ruin your printer. Cleaning the inside of a laser printer isn’t necessarily something that needs done weekly, monthly, or even yearly. It actually depends on how much printing you do. You should inspect your printer regularly. Whenever you add toner or clear a jam is a good time for an inspection to determine if a cleaning is necessary.


How to Do Sublimation: A Beginners Guide

If you want to know how to do sublimation then this article can help. It will cover everything you need to sublimate and a step by step of the process. If you’ve discovered the wonders of dye-sublimation printing and want to give it a go yourself you’re not alone. It doesn’t require a large investment to get started sublimating. Even a beginner will get great results. Everything you need to get started, step by step instructions, and what you can do with sublimation will be covered.


Fix Print Queue

How to Delete Jobs in a Print Queue

A document stuck in the print queue seems to happen at the worst time. Most of the time deleting the job and waiting a few minutes will do the trick. Yet every once and a while the job just won’t go away and a reboot seems inevitable. Before rebooting, give our instructions below a try. What is a print queue? It’s an index of all the jobs currently being printed. Most times there will be none or one job in the queue.


How to clear a laser printer jam with step by step photos and instructions | how to clear a paper jam | get the most out of your printer

How to Clear A Paper Jam in a Laser Printer

Even the best laser printer will have a paper jam every now and then. Clearing a printer jam doesn’t have to ruin your day. When I sat down and thought about it I have probably cleared thousands of paper jams in my life. Over the years I’ve noticed a few things that I thought I’d pass on hoping it will empower anyone to tackle that jam with confidence or maybe even give a few pointer to the experts.


Fix Wireless

How to Fix Your WiFi

At the end of your rope trying to fix that wireless printer? We’ve got it covered. Wireless printing is a great thing when it works. On the other hand, WiFi issues can be one of the biggest aggravations with a printer. Getting them to connect and stay connected shouldn’t be so complicated. I know firsthand how inconvenient it is to plug a printer in a different part of the house or other side of the room to print.

As more Printer Guides & tips are written they will be added to this list. Need more? Find more printer guides on Print Wiki.

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