How to Clean Laser Printers in All the Delicate Parts

When learning how to clean laser printer, it’s essential to know the step-by-step process.  Don’t let the fact that laser printers have high –tech designing discourage you from attempting to clean them. As long as you have the right tools for the job, you can have smooth sailing with everything else.

Our guide can help you navigate the laser printer cleaning process. You can achieve the task at hand while staying safe and without causing your printer damage.

A Step By step on How to clean laser printer

Cleaning a laser printer is an essential activity that allows it to keep working efficiently. There is a system of procedures to apply when practicing how to clean a laser printer. Since a laser printer has many different pieces, you have to start by making preparations.

If necessary, you can involve a laser printer cleaning expert to help you with the preparations. In the process of getting an expert to help you clean your laser printer, you get to discover stipulations within the warranty concerning cleaning it yourself.

Laser printers are prone to dust which is easy to get rid of, especially when you have the right equipment. The only part of a laser printer that may give you a hard time is the toner cartridges since they often have black powder.

Before you start cleaning a laser printer, you have to do all the necessary preparation. Here are some of the things you need to do before cleaning.

• Switch the laser printer off for it to cool
• Wear the necessary protective equipment like gloves and a mask
• Take out the toner cartridge and imaging drum
• Have a laser printer cleaning expert take care of the delicate inner parts
• Use wipes soaked with isopropyl alcohol to wipe the surface of the printer
• Put the parts back together

Since laser printers are highly functional, they are bound to get very hot. Allowing your printer to cool ensures that you have an easy time when working in it.

Since you will mostly clean dust, wearing a mask may be a good idea to prevent the dust from going to your lungs. Also, some of the substances you would use could cause skin reactions hence the gloves.

Parts like the imaging drum and the toner cartridge also require removal to prevent damage. Store the imaging drum in a dimly lit area. As for the cartridge, you can use a toner cloth to remove the black powder from it.

Even after switching off your printer, some parts like the corona wires are pretty dangerous for cleaning. Calling an expert to help you clean such components may be a good idea.

 If you have to clean corona wires yourself, you can use a cotton swab soaked in Isopropyl alcohol. The way to go about it is gently rubbing the wires with the cotton swab.

Use as many cotton swabs as you have to make sure you get all the sides of each corona wire. The reason you should be gentle with them is that they are delicate and expensive.

Ensure that you have isopropyl alcohol wipes handy to be used in the cleaning. These wipes are pretty effective in eliminating greasy marks.

Finally, you can reassemble your printer after inserting a new toner cartridge. You are then clear to switch on the printer and use it.

Materials You Need To Clean a Laser Printer

Most of the materials you require to clean a laser printer are necessary because a laser printer uses powdered toner. The materials are pretty effective when it comes to getting rid of those particles. Let’s explore some of the tools that you will need.

Mask

A mask is a crucial tool to wear when clearing a laser printer because often light toner particles. Inhaling them could be irritating.

Since the toner particles take some time to settle, it’s essential to ensure that you clean your laser printer in a well-ventilated space. It allows the particles to float away from you while others get trapped in the mask.

Isopropyl Alcohol

Experts prefer to use Isopropyl to clean electronics. Its preference is because it evaporates quickly without leaving any residues.

If you want to get better results, you can combine this substance with a spray duster. It becomes useful when you want to reach hidden spaces.

Toner cloth

This kind of cloth is unique since you have to stretch it to activate it. Its mechanism is such that it traps dust particles to allow easy and convenient cleaning.

Gloves

Toner particles are light and tiny, which makes them extreme irritants once they land on your skin. Use long latex gloves to cover the exposed parts of your hands.

Toner Vacuum

A toner vacuum is an optional tool that blows away toner particles inside the printer. Using a vacuum is easy since it is handheld. It can be helpful, but getting it requires some preparation in terms of budgeting.

Cleaning the Internal Delicate Parts of a Laser Printer

The most important thing to keep in mind is that it is unsafe to clean the interior of a laser printer when it’s still plugged in. You risk getting burnt if you fail to observe this rule.

There are other parts besides corona wires that you have to be gentle and watchful when cleaning a laser printer. The best way to find out what waits for you once you open it is by looking at the manual.

You can also get ideas on how to clean certain parts of a printer. Below are more tips on cleaning other fragile features of a laser printer, including corona wires.

Vent

The vent has a fan in it that can collect dust over time.  A convenient alternative to cleaning it is using pressurized air. It has enough force to blow the dust off completely.

Corona Wires

Before taking you to start cleaning corona wires, it is essential to know how they work. Their primary function is to attract toner to paper using static. When they begin attracting dust instead of toner, that is when you start to notice reduced print quality.

As we mentioned, cotton swabs soaked in rubbing alcohol are pretty effective when cleaning these wires. Finding them is easy; they are right next to the paper rollers.

Rollers

The best way to clean the paper feed rollers is using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol.

Toner pads

Sometimes the amount of toner under release can be expensive. The toner guard takes care of excess toner to ensure that the print papers get just enough.

Often new cartridges come accompanied by new toner pads.  If replacing the toner pads is not among your choices, you can remove them from the printer and wipe them on a clean cloth.

How Often Should You Clean Your Laser Printer

You should make a point of cleaning your printer at least twice a year. You can interchange between doing it yourself and seeking the services of an expert.

Besides that frequency, the amount of work that a laser printer does in a given amount of time can play a role in determining how much time it takes before you clean it. When preparing to clean a printer, be thorough with the cleaning to ensure that you get to the most intricate parts.

Examining the print quality once in a while can also tell you if you need to clean your laser printer. Dust build-up inside a laser printer often ends up affecting print quality.

Overheating and malfunctioning your laser printer is also a reliable indicator that it needs cleaning. For everything to run after you have cleaned it, it’s best to ensure that you attend every part, inside and outside.

What to Do After Cleaning a Laser Printer

After cleaning a laser printer, you can finally reassemble it. Reassembling involves putting the cartridges and imaging the drum into place. Reassembling is especially easy when you label what needs to go where.

Referring to the manual when reassembling a laser printer makes it less complicated. The toner cartridge is an important part that should have your maximum attention when checking its realignments.

Once you have put everything back, you can switch on the printer and perform a few test prints. In case things are not working as they should, then you have to resist the reassembling.