Since the invention of printers, printing technology has rapidly become advanced, complex, and efficient. Printers like inkjet, laser, pigment ink, and other units have become popular using various printing technologies. Given the need for accuracy and faster printing speeds, laser printers have emerged as the most preferred option for modern users.
Laser printers carry out the printing process using a slightly different method than other printers. Working on the principles of static electricity, the data is transferred from drums to the toners and then finally onto the paper. Now you might think the laser printing process is so simple. However, the process involves several parts working together to produce a detailed print.
If you are curious about these parts and their role in printing, please go through this article. It will explain several parts of a laser printer and how they govern the printing process.
Laser Printer
As the name suggests, a laser printer prints with the help of LASER technology. Data that needs to be printed is sent to the laser where a specified laser beam pattern is projected on a rotating drum. Due to the continuous beaming of the laser, the drum is statically charged. The toner is attracted to the charged drum where a laser pattern was created. This process helps accurately position the toner to roll it down on the paper.
The paper is then passed through a fuser where heat melts the toner and permanently sets it over the paper. As a result, the produced print is accurate and durable. The toner used in a laser printer differs from dye inks since it is powdered. Prints created by a laser printer are waterproof and do not fade quickly.
Parts of a Laser Printer
Now that we have learned the basics of a laser printer, it will be easy to understand its components. These components of a laser printer directly or indirectly affect the printing process. Some components are additional accessories that help increase a printer’s efficacy. We have explained each of these components below:
1. Laser
The most integral part of a laser printer is its laser beam. The laser beam is produced by a laser gun where continuous beams of light are created. The laser gun receives all the data related to the printing process from the system’s controller. Depending on the data, the pattern of the laser beam is set and fired on a polygonal mirror. This mirror helps in directing the laser beam onto the metallic drum where the exact printing shape is created with static electricity.
2. Imaging Unit
After the laser beam has been fired by the laser gun, it goes straight to the imaging unit. The imaging unit consists of several sub-components which are responsible for transferring the laser data onto the paper. We will discuss these components one by one.
3. OPC Drum Unit
The laser beam is directed to the OPC drum unit with the help of a mirror. The organic photoconductor drum is made up of metal and covered with a photoconductive material. This layer is crucial for the OPC drum to capture the image data from laser beams. A continuous rotating motion is given to the drum for a continuous printing process. The intensity of static electricity helps decide which toner color will be used. A corona wire is used to offer an opposite charge to the drum and the paper.
4. Toner And Toner Cartridge
The toner used for laser printers is in a powdered form, unlike the liquid dye inks. The toner cartridges act as storage for different colors of toner. The toner falls directly on a developer roller placed near the OPC drum unit. Falling in the gap maintained between the OPC drum and developer roller, the toner is attracted towards the OPC drum (due to the opposite charge). The same process happened with the developer roller of every color (cyan, magenta, etc).
5. Fuser Unit
When toner and OPC drums work, the paper enters the printer. When the toner has been applied to the developer roller, paper is passed through the roller of each color. Since paper carries an opposite charge, the toner is attracted to its surface in the east printing pattern. After passing through every developer roller, the paper is finally passed through the fuser unit. The fuser unit uses two pressure rollers through which the paper is passed. One of the rollers is heated to melt the applied toner on the paper. The melting process turns toner into ink while the pressure of the roller uniformly applies ink to the paper.
6. Doctor And Wiper Blade
The doctor blade is considered an important component for toner and developer roller. The doctor blade is made up of rubber or stainless steel and directly placed over the developer roller. When toner falls on the developer roller, the doctor blade applies pressure to level the toner quantity. The doctor blade thereby helps in maintaining clarity in the prints.
A wiper blade is directly connected to the rear side of the OPC drum. The unit features a metallic body with a blade surface made up of rubber. It helps in cleaning any residual toner from the OPC drum’s surface, after each pass. If the residual toner is not cleaned, it distorts the prints.
7. Waste Toner Bin
The sole purpose of a waste toner bin is to collect the unused toner powder or layer. The bin must be emptied frequently since it collects all the residual toner from the printing process. If the waste toner bin is not changed or emptied, the printer will produce distorted prints where the residual toner will be visible. The leaked waste toner will also cause problems in the functioning of other printer parts.
8. Electronic Chip
Some models of laser printers use electronic chips with their toner cartridges. The purpose of this chip is to monitor the toner amount needed for the printing process. It signals the cartridge to release a set amount of toner to prevent wastage. The chip also closely monitors the toner amount remaining in the cartridge. When the toner level gets low, the chip signals the user for the refill process. Electronic chips on some laser printers are directly synced with a dedicated app to notify the brand for toner replacement automatically.
9. Transfer Belt Or Rollers
The transfer belts were used in the older generations of laser printers. They were used to move the paper through the toner section to print the required data. These belts offer an end to end support to the paper for smoother handling. The transfer belts were later replaced with rollers due to their efficacy. Rollers need less maintenance, they do not damage easily and do not jam the paper flow.
10. Feed Rollers
Feed rollers are used to move the paper from the input tray to the printing components of a printer. These rollers are also situated inside the printer to maintain a smooth flow of paper through each section of the printer. These rollers need frequent inspection since smaller damage can lead to the jamming of papers.
11. Control Panel
The control panel is a crucial part of the users-end. It offers access to several settings related to the printing process. The control panel might feature a simple mono-color display or a color touchscreen along with function keys. All the commands given through the control panel act as a starting point for the printing process.
12. Paper Tray
A paper tray is an important component that helps in handling the papers. The paper tray is divided into two types as the storage for these papers. The input paper tray is used to store the raw paper before sending them for printing. The output paper acts as a collection storage for all the printed papers. The capacity for both trays varies from model to model.
13. Optical Scanner
Some laser printers also offer features like scanning apart from printing. To capture the details of the document or pages, the printer features an optical scanner. The scanners use light beams for scanning text, numbers, characters, designs, etc from the input paper. This helps create an exact copy of the scanned document, which can be further converted into other formats.
Parts of a Laser Printer – FAQs
Ans: Fuser is the last component of the printing process where paper passes through. It is located after the OPC drum units, mostly at the rear side of the printer. It is used to permanently set the toner on the paper with pressure and heat.
Ans: The toner and drum are not similar components. Toner is the powdered color that is used to add multiple shades of color to a print. The drum is just a cylinder coated with photoelastic material. It receives printing data from the system to its photoconductor film via laser beams.
Ans: Users can notice distortions in the print outputs when the fuser is damaged. Ghosting occurs on the prints where characters or images are repeated prints over each other. Users can also notice faint spots or hear noises from the printer. If the rollers are damaged, the toner might not stick permanently to the page.
Ans: Toner and ink serve the same purpose in the printing process yet both differ from each other. The toner is used in the powdered form and melted with the help of heat. The ink is made up of dye and blended with a liquid base. Hence, the durability of both toner and ink-based prints differs from each other.
Conclusion
Laser printers are one of the most efficient printers users can buy. These units offer incredible print quality, printing speed, and durable prints. In this article, we have explained every critical component of a laser printer. With this information, users get to know how each laser printer component contributes to the printing process.
