Computer printers, scanners and photocopiers

Output is data that has been processed into a used form, called information. An output device
is any hardware component that can display information to a user. The main and most common
output devices in a computer system are the Printer and the V.D.U.

A printer is an output device that produces text and graphics on a physical medium such as
paper. Printed information is often called hard copy because the information exists physically
and is a more permanent form of output than that presented on a VDU (Monitor). Printers can
be grouped into impact and non-impact printers.
 An impact printer forms characters and graphics on a piece of paper by striking a
mechanism against an ink ribbon that physically contacts the paper.
 A non-impact printer forms characters and graphics on a piece of paper without
actually striking the paper.

The printing speed of a printer is usually expressed in pages per minute (ppm). Printer
resolution is often expressed in dpi (dots per inch). The larger the number, the higher the
resolution.
Advantages of printers: Information produced is permanent.
Disadvantages of printers include:
 The time to get the printout is slow, when compared with display devices.
 Paper is wasted for obtaining the output. Printers are generally noisier than display
devices.
The following are types of printers:
1. Daisy wheel Printer
2. Dot-matrix printer
3. Line printer
4. Ink-jet printer
5. Laser printer
6. Plotter Printers

Daisy Wheel printer

A daisywheel printer is an impact printer that uses a wheel as a print head. As the wheel
rotates, a hammer strikes the backside of the spoke and presses it against the paper to print a
character. Advantages of a daisywheel printer Can print letter quality characters. Disadvantages
of a daisywheel printer Printing speed is very slow. Cannot print graphics.

Dot-Matrix Printer
A dot-matrix printer is an impact printer that produces printed images with a print head striking
mechanism. Most dot-matrix printers use continuous-form paper. A higher number of pins on
the print head means more dots are printed, which results in higher print quality (i.e., a 24-pin
printer has better print quality than a 9-pin printer).

The diagram above shows the grid (or dot matrix), the way the letter A is
designed on this matrix, how the letter A is formed on paper, and what a
close up of the printout would look like. Note that the final image is fuzzy and not cleanly
formed because the cloth ribbon and the paper texture cause the ink to smear, and also
because of slight misalignment of the pins. The speed of a dot-matrix printer is normally
measured by the number of characters per second (cps) it can print.
Advantages of dot-matrix printers:
 Dot-matrix printers can print multipart forms.
 Dot-matrix printers can withstand dusty environment, vibrations, and extreme
temperature.
Disadvantages of dot-matrix printers
 Dot-matrix printers are generally noisy because of the striking mechanism.
 Print quality of dot-matrix printers is not as good as those from ink-jet printers and laser
printers.
Line Printer
A line printer is a high-speed impact printer that prints an entire line at a time. The speed of a
line printer is measured by the number of lines per minute (lpm) it can print. Line printers are
often used with mainframes, minicomputers, or with a network in applications such as
manufacturing, distribution, or shipping.

Ink-Jet printer
An ink-jet printer in a non-impact printer that forms characters and graphics by spraying tiny
drops of liquid ink onto a piece of paper. Ink-jet printers can produce letter-quality text and
graphics in both black-and-white and colours. Some ink-jet printers can print photo-quality
images on any type of paper. Printer resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi). The speed of
an ink-jet printer is measured in lines per minute (lpm). Advantages of inkjet printers include
 Inkjet printers are generally quiet.
 Inkjet printers can produce high quality colour output.
Disadvantages of inkjet printers include:
 Specialized papers are required to produce high quality colour output.
 The ink cartridges and specialized papers are expensive.
 The ink may smear when printed on ordinary paper.
Laser Printer
The mechanism of how a laser printer works is similar to a photocopier. Laser printers are also
known as page printers because they process and store the entire page before they actually
print it. Most laser printers today can print text and graphics in very high-quality resolutions,
ranging from 600 dpi to 1200 dpi. Laser printers can print text at speeds of four to over thirty
pages per minute.
How a laser printer works
When a document is sent to the printer, a laser beam "draws" the document on a selenium-
coated drum just known as a drum, using electrical charges i.e. the process of transferring that
image or text to paper using a combination of positive and negative static electric charges to
the drum. The drum is then rolled in toner, a dry powder type of ink that adheres to the
charged image on the drum. The toner is transferred onto a piece of paper and fused to the
paper with heat and pressure.

Laser printers are connected directly to a single PC, but today many are linked to local area
networks (LAN), supporting workgroups or entire departments. In some cases, a laser printer is
used as a multifunctional peripheral with printing, scanning, photocopying and fax capabilities.
These devices are known as multifunction printers (MFP). They usually have MFP or MFC for
multifunction centre as part of their model numbers.

Laser printers can be used in a home office or a small business office. Office connectivity is
typically via an Ethernet connection. In a home office or small business, a cable or Wi-Fi are
used to connect the printer to computing devices.

Factors to consider when buying printers

 Cost of hardware
 Laser or inkjet
 Print speed
 Duplex printing (automatically or manually print on both sides of the paper)
 Print quality
 Paper types
 Warm up time
 Reliability

Types of a photocopier machine

 Multifunctional Printers/Copiers - they offer printing, scanning, and faxing . Newer
models are incredibly easy to connect to the internet, which makes document
sharing/processing incredibly smooth.
 Desk printer/photocopier –
 Wide format printers
 Label printers
Colour printers
Laser printers use either black-only toner or black and colour toners. Unlike some inkjet printer
cartridges, each colour for laser printers is sold in a separate cartridge. The standard colours for a laser
printer are cyan, magenta, and yellow. When combined, these three colors can create almost every
possible colour on the spectrum.
There are two primary kinds of colour laser printers: four-pass and one-pass printers. Four-pass
printers use the four cartridges that are mounted to a carousel (container) by applying each
colour is one at a time and very slowly. One-pass printer systems use four separate lasers and
four photo conductor drums so all of the colours can be applied at once, making it a much
faster process. The cost of a single toner cartridge is much higher than that of a single ink
cartridge.

How a Inkjet Printer Works

The printer driver software converts the digital text or photo file into a language which is
understandable by the printer. This information is then transferred to the print head which is a
component which houses the ink cartridges.

The print head has thousands of tiny holes. The ink from the cartridge reservoirs is then forced under
pressure through the holes to create high volumes of individual ink droplets. The printhead moves
rapidly across the page distributing the minuscule ink droplets onto the page to create the image.
With inkjet printers featuring automatic double-sided printing capabilities, the page is then inverted to
allow for printing on the opposite side.

This reversal of the page is achieved using a duplex unit. The duplexer unit employs stepper motors and
rollers to draw the page through a pathway which flips the paper to the opposite side to allow the print
head access to the reverse side. Once the page is completed, the paper needs to be ejected. Usually, the
pages are collected into an expandable paper output tray.

This process is repeated until the document has finished printing, with the most advanced inkjet models
printing more than 40 pages a minute.

The Difference Between Inkjet vs. Laser Printers

Laser printers use microscopic toner particles which are attracted to a component called a
‘drum’ using an electrostatic charge. Once the toner particles are deposited onto the surface of
the drum, the toner particles are melted onto the page via high temperatures using a
component called a ‘fuser unit’.

The laser printers are capable of much higher print speeds compared to inkjet equivalents.
Despite laser models having higher initial hardware costs, toners are much cheaper than inks
meaning laser printers can significantly reduce long-term overall running costs.

High print speeds combined with the ability to tackle heavy print volumes make laser printers a
clear choice for busy work environments.

In contrast to laser printing technology, inkjet printers use pigmented liquid ink which is
directed into the print head, this then sprays droplets of ink through tiny nozzles onto the page

How do you take proper care of a printer

Clean your printer as needed: Ink and toner can be messy substances, so cleaning may be
necessary every now and again. Check the inside of your printer for weekly maintenance for
spills, dirt or paper dust. Remember to turn it off first and avoid touching its moving parts. Use
a lint-free cloth to wipe.

Follow your printer manufacturer's recommendations and instructions when cleaning and
troubleshooting. If you have any issues with your printer, it is best to first consult your printer's
user manual. There are many helpful articles online, but not all of them will relate to your exact
model. You can also check your printer manufacturer's website if you do not have the user
manual.

Use your printer regularly. Make sure to use your printer at least once a week to prevent ink
clogs from hardening in the print heads
Place in a right location. Avoid putting your printer in places under direct sunlight or that are
moist. This can damage the printer's electronic parts. Allow air flow of at least 15 cm around
your printer to avoid over-heating.
Only use printing paper and cartridges that are compatible with your printer. Using the wrong
kind of paper in a printer that does not support that type can cause issues like toner spills.
Know what kind of paper and cartridge models are usable before printing a particular
document and replacing your cartridges.
Replace parts as needed: Printer parts like a laser printer's drum unit will need to be replaced
after some time for maintenance. Most printers will notify you when it is time to replace these
parts.
How scanners work
A scanner is hardware input device that optically reads an image and converts it to a digital
signal i.e., a scanner converts a printed picture, drawing or document (hard copy) to a digital
file that can be edited on a computer.

Types of scanners
 Drum Scanner - consist of a photomultiplier tube {PMT} which is responsible for and
used for scanning images and documents.
 Handheld Scanner – Are small manual scanning devices that are generally used with
hands for manual scanning.
 Flatbed Scanner - have a large glass surface and a lid. They come with built-in all-in-one
devices that function as printers, scanners, copy machines, and fax machines
 Optical Character Recognition, OCR- OCR is a mechanical device that can convert
images, pictures, documents, or manually written content into readable form.
  Magnetic Ink Character Recognition - MICR is an input device of a computer system that
is generally used in the banking sector where numerous cheques are handled and
processed every day. The cheques contain important and sensitive information printed
on them like cheque number, account number, name of the account holder, and bank id
codes. These details are imprinted. The MICR devices are capable of reading this
information and comparing and cross-checking check previously-stored detail in the
banking database.
 Image Scanner - Image scanners are used in a variety of domestic and industrial
applications such as design, reverse engineering, orthotics, gaming, and testing.
 Light Pen - The light pen is a computer input device similar to a pen used to read bar
codes, also capable of pointing at the object and characters on the monitor screen .
 Barcode Reader - These barcodes are scanned with the help of a barcode scanner or
barcode reader to check the details regarding the price, item no, batch code, etc.

Scanners work by shining light at an image, document, or object. The reflected light by the
object is then directed onto photosensitive technology via mirrors and lenses, then converted
into electronic data that is used to form a digital copy of the original.

The latest scanners most commonly use charged couple device (CCD) technology as the light-
sensing element. There are a couple of variations on this technology out there however, such as
the lower-end contact image sensor (CIS), as we’ll explain. CCD features light-sensitive diodes
called photosites which convert photons into electrons. While this is the key element of a
typical flatbed scanner, the device will also usually includes mirrors and lenses.

Benefits and Advantages of Scanners in Points

 The speed of modern scanners is pretty high, they can carry out multiple operations
simultaneously, without affecting another important working process.
 They are capable of storing and handling huge files and documents as they possess
enough memory to execute any operation and tasks given to them.
 Compact in size and hence can be installed in small spaces, easy to use and handle

Disadvantages
 They are expensive
 The scanned sizes of documents eat a lot of space in the hard disk drive.

How a laser print works

When a document is sent to the printer, a laser beam "draws" the document on a selenium-
coated drum using electrical charges. The drum is then rolled in toner, a dry powder type of ink
that adheres to the charged image on the drum. The toner is transferred onto a piece of paper
and fused (attached) to the paper with heat and pressure.
Advantages of laser printers include Laser printers are:
 generally quiet and fast.
 Laser printers can produce high quality output on ordinary papers.
 The cost per page of toner cartridges is lower than other printers.
Disadvantages of laser printers include
 The initial cost of laser printers can be high.
 Laser printers are more expensive than dot-matrix printers and ink-jet printers

Plotter printer
A plotter is a large printer that generates high-quality documents by moving ink pens over the
surface of a page. Plotters are particularly useful to engineers and architects, as they produce
high-quality blueprints, maps, and floor plans. Two basic types of plotters are pen plotters and
X-Y plotters. Advantages of plotters include:
 Can print on large printers.
 High quality printing

Factors to consider when selecting an appropriate Printer

Cost
This is always an important consideration. As well as the purchase price of the printer, the cost
of cartridges, toners, paper, maintenance etc. need to be taken into consideration. Some
printers, such as laser printers, have a limited life. The cost of a good printer can cost a lot.
Nowadays inkjet printers are cheap whereas laser printers are more expensive.
Speed
A wait of a minute might be acceptable to a typist who wants to print out a document on a
word processor, however this would be unacceptable if several hundred documents (ex.
Invoices and bills) need to be printed. The fastest printers are usually more expensive and this
need to be considered along with the volume of work they have to do.
Print Quality
Good print quality is needed for letters and other documents which go out to customers, Such
documents are usually printed using laser nowadays. However a programmer might want a
quick hard copy of the listing of a program. For this he/she would probably use a dot matrix
printer.

Ability to print graphics

High quality graphics such as logos, diagrams, charts and even photographs can be produced
quickly using a laser printer. Dot matrix printers can produce lower qaulty graphics. Daisy
wheel printers can only print text. Ability to produce text and graphics in colour Inkjet printers
are the commonly used printers, which can print in colour, unless you are rich to buy and
maintain a colour laser printer. Ability to produce multiple copies (carbon copies) Many
organizations need to produce several copies of a document (ex. The yellow copy to accounts,
blue copy to the warehouse and white copy to the customer). Multiple copies are usually
printed on a type of impact printer.

Why colour printers use CMYK colour mixing instead of RGB

Colour mixing
Colour is the visible wavelength (380 – 780 nm). There are two main types of colour mixing:
additive colour mixing and subtractive colour mixing. Additive colour mixing is
creating a new colour by a process that adds one set of wavelengths to another
set of wavelengths. Additive colour mixing is what happens when lights of
different wavelengths are mixed. When we add all of the different wavelengths
of sunlight, we see white light rather than many individual colours. It is called
additive because all of the wavelengths still reach our eyes. It is the combination of different
wavelengths that creates the diversity of colours.

The subtractive model uses pigments or ink to block – subtract – light rather than adding
it. Combining two pure additive primaries produces a subtractive primary. The subtractive
primaries of cyan, magenta, and yellow are the opposing colors to red, green, and blue.
 Cyan is opposite Red
 Magenta is opposite Green
 Yellow is opposite Blue
When two subtractive primaries overlap, an additive primary is produced. When all three
subtractive primaries overlap in equal quantities, all of the light is subtracted and we perceive
black; the absence of light.
To render colour on paper, printers use reflected light and subtractive colour inks. By laying
Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow pigments upon a white, reflective substrate, each absorbs – or
subtracts – its opposing counterpart from the white light.

In subtractive colour printing, a fourth colour, black (K, which stands for key) is added to make
four-colour printing (CMYK). The black ink helps to neutralize images and graphics, adds density
to the shadows, and saves ink.

Primary Colours
Red, blue, and yellow make up the three primary colours. Using combinations of these colours can result
in a massive range of additional colours. You also need primary colours as you cannot mix them
yourself.
Secondary Colours
Once you have all your primary colors ready, you can use them to get secondary colours. Two
primary colors combined will create a secondary color. Orange, green, and purple make up the
secondary colors.

The "four-colour" in "four-colour printing" refers to the four ink colours—cyan, magenta,
yellow, and black (CMYK)—used in offset printing presses and many digital presses. These four
colours are combined to make a wider range of colours.
Copier Problems and Their Solutions
1. Wrinkled Pages: Wrinkles in your paper aren’t just unsightly, they can also cause the
paper to get stuck in your copier and damage the machine. If your copies are coming
out with wrinkles when the paper in the tray is smooth, it’s likely due to worn-out parts.
 Weak paper trays, feeds, and exit rollers can all cause wrinkled pages, so replacing these
parts should fix the problem.
2. Blemishes on Paper: If your copier is producing streaks, lines, or dots on your copies, it could be
as simple as dust or smudges on the glass or scanning mirror where you place the original.
Cleaning these surfaces with a lint-free towel should resolve the problem.
Regularly cleaning and maintaining your office copier can prevent many issues with the
machine. However, if your copier is clean and you are still experiencing issues, there could be a
problem with its fusers or drum. In this case, you should call a technician who can identify the
problem and replace the necessary parts.
3. Light or Dark Copies: Copies that are too light or too dark may result from a change in the
copier’s settings. Check to see if your copier is set on high (dark) or low (light) density. If you
have configured the correct settings but are still having issues, it may be due to old toner or a
problem with the drum. Try replacing the toner cartridge, and if that doesn’t work, it may be
time to call a technician.
4. Toner Cartridge Issues: Using the wrong toner cartridge, a malfunctioning cartridge, or
an empty cartridge can cause a number of problems with your copies. Replace your
toner as soon as your copier signals it is low to prevent causing damage to your
machine. It’s also important that you use the correct type of cartridge for your machine,
insert the cartridge correctly, and that it is free of defects. If you properly replace the
toner cartridge but continue to have problems with your copier, your machine may
require maintenance or replacement.
5. Paper Jams: are one of the most common printer issues. While your knee-jerk reaction may be
to rip the paper out in both frustration and an attempt to clear the block, we recommend
exercising some patience. Tearing the paper out will only make the problem worse, and can
damage the printer.

When removing paper from a jammed machine, refer to the troubleshooting section of
the printer’s manual. The most common cause of a paper jam is misaligned paper. Be
sure that employees are squaring off the paper when loading it into the tray. It’s also
important that employees use the right kind and quality of paper for your office printer.

Poor Print Quality

When it comes to smudges, faded text, and poor image quality, there are a couple of issues that could
be at fault. Sometimes, these problems are related to the print settings you have selected.
First, check that you have the correct media selected and that the paper in the tray matches the
type selected in the print driver.

If that doesn’t solve the problem you can take a look at the ink cartridges to make sure there
isn’t any damage to or issue with the cartridge. If smudges are the problem, try printing several
sheets in black and white, which should do the trick.

Nothing is Printing
If you’re standing in front of a printer that is not spitting out your documents, where should you
start the troubleshooting process?
First, if you have multiple known printers, make sure that you’ve selected the right one for the
job. Second, check that your printer is still connected to the correct WiFi network, USB, or
Ethernet connection. An empty paper tray can also be the culprit.
If none of these solve the problem, try shutting down the printer, waiting a few minutes, and
then turning it back on. Lastly, if your printer is still not working, it could be an issue of a
corrupted printer driver that needs to be reinstalled on your computer.

WiFi Printing Takes too Long

WiFi printing is meant to be more convenient. However, it can sometimes be slower and
present more problems than a cable connection. Slow print jobs on a WiFi connection could
simply be a problem of printer placement.

Make sure your WiFi router is close to your printer and that there aren’t big objects obstructing
your connection. This should help increase throughput and performance. Sometimes, printer
speed and performance can be impacted by the amount of network traffic as well. If it’s
possible, try manually switching the channel of your wireless router.