Flashcards
Module 23
Cards in this deck (14)
- 1EXPLAIN PHYSICAL COMPONENTS OF LASER PRINTERS(RASTER IMAGE PROCESSOR, LASER SCANNER & TONER COATED ROLLER)?RASTER IMAGE PROCESSOR:
- a component responsible for producing the original image to be printed
- a raster image is anything that is converted into a sequence of pixels or dots
- square colored pixels = a pixelated image, round dots = what the laser would produce(dots per inch)
IMAGING DRUM & PRIMARY CHARGE ROLLER:
- imaging drum is at the heart of the process, this is a rotating round cylinder that is photosensitive, so images are written onto the drum by shining that focused laser light onto it
- corona wire, referred to as the primary charge roller applies a negative voltage to that drum(between negative 500 & 1000 volts), which attracts toner to it.
LASER SCANNER & TONER COATED ROLLER:
- toner on the toner-coated roller also has a negative charge(negative charges repel each other), so toner won't come off the roller to areas of the drum that still have a charge.
- but toner is only applied to the drum where the laser strikes it, as the charge is drained off, hence an image is produced
- laser scanning unit shines on a mirror for very tightly focusing the laser - 2EXPLAIN PHYSICAL COMPONENTS OF LASER PRINTERS(FUSER ASSEMBLY/PICK-UP ROLLERS/TRANSFER BELT/TRANSFER ROLLER/SEPARATION PADS/DUPLEXING ASSEMBLY)?FUSER ASSEMBLY & PICK-UP ROLLERS:
- involved with moving the paper through and ensuring that the toner is melted onto the paper
- fuse assembly gets hot and melts the toner onto the paper
- pick up roller picks the paper up and feeds it through printer
TRANSFER BELT & TRANSFER ROLLER:
- responsible for the toner being transferred to the paper. they apply an opposite charge, so it attracts the toner to the paper itself
- transfer roller typically found in a black and white laser printer
- transfer belt is typically what you would find in a color laser printer because it applies different colors to different areas of the belt
SEPARATION PADS & POSSIBLY A DUPLEXING ASSEMBLY:
- separation pads are purely for the paper, these tiny little rollers at the top move in the opposite direction of the pick-up rollers to simply try to prevent 2 pages from going through the printer at the same time
- duplexing assembly is a feed through the literally flips the paper over so that I can print on the other side(some printers may or may not have this) - 3EXPLAIN THE LASER PRINTER IMAGING PROCESS?STEP 1: PROCESSING
- during this phase, the image is converted to a raster image(by the raster image processor) & it's stored in the printer's memory
STEP 2: CHARGING
- this is where we see that negative voltage applied to the drum using the primary charge roller(between -500 and -1000 volts). Charging the entire drum as it rotates around
STEP 3: EXPOSING
- this is where the laser actually shines on the photosensitive drum, which drains off the charge wherever the laser strikes it
STEP 4: DEVELOPING
- is the process of the toner being applied to the drum(toner has the same negative charge & negative charges repel each other. So toner was attracted to the specific areas that the laser drained
STEP 5: TRANSFERRING
- we see the toner is transferred from the imaging & drum onto the paper itself
STEP 6: FUSING
- fusing roller applies heat & pressure to literally melt the toner onto the paper
STEP 6: CLEANING
- an actual blade wipes off/scrapes off any residual toner
- some models may have a recharge, where theirs a lamp that shines on the drum to reset the entire charge to neutral - 4EXPLAIN LASER PRINTER MAINTENANCE?MAINTENANCE:
Laser printers tend to be more expensive but require less maintenance than inkjet printers. So generally have a longer lifespan
REPLACE TONER CARTRIDGE:
- access toner cartridge
- remove drum assembly(some may not have to)
- remove the spent cartridge
- put placement cartridge in
- reinsert drum assembly(if necessary)
- cartridges are much larger than inkjet cartridges but still a single unit
MAINTENANCE KITS:
- able to buy preventative maintenance kits
- contents include additional components such as fusers, transfer roller, feed rollers, pick up rollers, separation rollers, separation pads(components that move most often so tend to wear out the quickest)
CALIBRATION:
- laser printer may need calibration to ensure the printing quality is consistent with that displayed on the monitor
- awesome may need to calibrate the actual monitor too
- most models do come with software that includes printer diagnostics & software calibration methods
CLEANING LASER PRINTERS:
- can keep things clean from the very fine powder that is used as the toner and can get onto the component - 5EXPLAIN INKJET PRINTER TYPES?INKJET PRINTER TYPES:
- two main types(Thermal bubble & Piezoelectric) refer to the way that the ink is ejected from the nozzles
- thermal bubble is more common in Canon and HP printers. Epson patented piezoelectric
- Thermal bubble(a bit of heat is applied to the ink which causes gas to form & produces a little bubble that forces ink out of the nozzle, resulting vacuum that is created by that pulls more ink from the reservoir into the nozzle)
- Piezoelectric(has an actual crystal that has electricity applied to it, as this is applied it vibrates down, forcing ink out the novel. And as it vibrates back up it pulls more ink from the reservoir into the nozzle)
- thermal bubble can sometimes have cartages come up a little bit due to the constant heating and cooling
- piezoelectric uses a more continuous spay, so uses a little more ink than this may be necessary - 6EXPLAIN COMPONENTS OF INKJET PRINTERS?HEAD ASSEMBLY:
- print head is essentially what produces the image on the page
- ink cartridges are the reservoirs that hold all of the ink
- stepper motor is what's responsible for the movement of the print heads back and forth(attached to a belt that helps this process)
- print head moves back and forth along a stabilizer bar to make sure that movement is as stable as possible
PAPER FEED ASSEMBLY:
- a paper tray or feeder where you just insert the paper and leave it there
- rollers are then responsible for picking up the paper and feeding it through
- also has a stepper motor just to spin the rollers
- power supply to plug in the cable itself
- various control circuits for processing the image
- physical interface parts such as USB where you plug in the device itself
the only serviceable component on most inject printers is the ink cartridges themselves as not cost-effective to replace them - 7EXPLAIN INKJET PRINTER MAINTENANCE?PRINTER HEAD MAINTENANCE:
- benefit from regular maintenance. can perform a nozzle check, head cleaning, and usually head alignment right from the software of the device itself
- typically a process you invoke through the driver interface and it will do it internally
- may want to do head alignment each time you buy new cartridges(as the head is normally a component of the cartridge)
COMMON MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES:
- replacing cartridges(open printer door, remove the cartridge from its holder, replace with a new cartridge)
- clearing paper jams(usually manually clear it, but some devices might have a feed option where it just spins the rollers & tries its best to spit that paper out) - 8EXPLAIN COMPONENTS OF THERMAL PRINTERS?feed assembly is simply what moves the paper through the printer
- once the paper is fed through, the other key components include the thermal printhead(produces the characters) itself, thermal sensitive media(the paper), thermal heat element(applies heat to paper, which where exposed changes color) & a pressure roller(makes sure the paper stays tight up against the thermal printhead itself)
THERMAL PRINTING PAPER:
- has heat-sensitive pigments embedded within the paper that change color with heat
- varying the temperature gives different colors
- thermal printing paper has a waxy feel to it
- sensitive to heat and in some cases light
- easy to tear but very simple and fast printing process - 9EXPLAIN THERMAL PRINTER MAINTENANCE?REPLACING THERMAL PAPER:
- heat-sensitive paper is relatively costly, cannot be substituted for over paper types
- comes in different sizes so make sure you get the correct one
- replacement of paper is a simple process(open printer, remove spent roll, replace with a new role, paper is fed in)
MAINTAINING THE HEATING ELEMENTS:
- heating elements require periodic cleaning
- can be done with Isopropyl alcohol as it evaporates very quickly
- this can be done with a cleaning pen(easy to reach heating elements but clean with care so you don't damage anything)
- or may have a cleaning card which is usually some type of pad that you can dab alcohol on
REMOVING RESIDUE WITHIN THE THERMAL PRINTER:
- has no toner or ink residue, but will find a collection of debris from the moving paper itself and/or a collection of dust
- can use compressed air to clean this
- can use a damp cloth but be sure to let everything dry before you use the device again
- can you special vacuum cleaners for cleaning these types of devices - 10EXPLAIN IMPACT PRINTERS?IMPACT PRINTERS
- also known as dot-matrix printers
- referred to as impact because there are pins in the printhead that strike an ink-saturated ribbon(is how a typewriter works but this is much faster)
- paper is marked by the pin strike(wherever it hits the paper, it leaves a mark from the ink-soaked ribbon on the paper)
- still quite common today as ideal for making copies at the same time with multiple pages held together by tractor feed on the edges
- Better suited for text
- Cost-effective
- print head is the primary component of an impact printer
- can be replaced
- other components that are replaceable include ribbon, tractor feed, and impact paper
- common for point of sales systems(2 copies created easily) - 11EXPLAIN IMPACT PRINTER MAINTENANCE?INK RIBBONS:
- is responsible for providing the ink so you can produce an image
- is 1 long circular piece that moves through the cartridge which contains the ink(re-inks the ribbon)
- requires replacement when print quality deteriorates
- is easily replaced(snap out ribbon cartridge, replace with new cartridge)
PRINT HEAD:
- susceptible to wear and tear
- when we replacing make sure it's not too hot from friction(allow to cool down before changing)
- usually has a release mechanism that allows you to pull out the old one and insert a new one
- for best results(replace the print head & replace ink ribbon at the same time)
CHANGING THE PRINTING PAPER:
- long continuous piece of paper(usually folded up in an accordion-style in a box and then it's perforated at the point where you just tear each individual copy off, 2 pieces of paper back to back)
- has a tractor feed(holes along the sides), ensure holes line up perfectly to feeder
- pay special care to forms with predefined print areas as can easily misalign
- ensure paper feed is unobstructed - 12EXPLAIN VIRTUAL PRINTERS?VIRTUAL PRINTERS:
- where you produce another copy of a document but not a hard copy of the printed document
- output is a digital document(but as a copy in another format)
- no printing hardware required(no printer, no paper, no ink)
- easy to manage documents(storing, sharing with people who may not have the same applications)
PRINTING TO FILE:
- common approach is to print to a file( by taking your original and going through the same process of printing it but choosing the virtual printer to save the file to your hard disc instead
- still, the process is very much like a printer(print to the printing device driver, select to save the print job as a file, select location to save
- Output format is specific to that type of virtual printer, in most cases, the output format cannot be edited - 13EXPLAIN VIRTUAL PRINTERS(PDF)?PRINT TO PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT(PDF):
- this is a common example of printing to file
- outputs information in a format ready to view
- this is an adobe proprietary software type
- prints directly from any application to pdf
- PDF output compatibility with Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile devices
- built into internet browsers so can view the document through it
PRINT TO XPS:
- Windows systems have an option called printer XPS which stands for XML Paper Specification(XML is the Extensible Markup Language)
- Similar to Adobe PDF but proprietary to Windows(has a built-in feature to print to XPS format
- can be viewed with any operating system, compatible in terms of viewing
PRINT TO IMAGE:
- this is an option where you can print to an image
- outputs print to a graphics format file
- images can be viewed, edited, and/or shared
- this is typically a feature of an application(not included in the Operating System)
- may require third party print to image drivers - 14EXPLAIN 3D PRINTERS?3D PRINTERS:
- used to produce 3-dimensional objects(builds an object layer by layer)
- typically made out of plastic but other materials can be used
KEY MECHANICAL COMPONENTS OF A 3D PRINTER:
- print bed(heated or non-heated, various surface types)
- bed leveling(can be at an angle)
- filaments(where you are actually ejecting the material itself, most common material is plastic)
- plastic extruder & nozzle(pulls plastic in, melts the plastic, deposits the melted plastic)
- Thermal sensors(to maintain constant temperatures)
- Laser curing(as soon as it is printed, lasers are shot through it to make it cure as quickly as possible when you do want it to harden fast)
- Cooling fans(keep components of unit cool)
- Motion control motors(to move the print heads in appropriate places in 3 dimensions)
KEY ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS:
- power supply
- controller board
- stepper drivers(to move the motors)
- user interfaces(USB)
- SD Card slot
Information
- Description
- Learning Technology Specialist CompTIA A+ (Core 1) Flashcards on Module 23, created by Chantelle Knight on 17/09/2021.
- Created by
- Chantelle Knight
- Views
- 0
- Rating