Copier maintenance is critical whether you have a tiny workplace with a trustworthy copier that you only use rarely or a fast-paced, high-productivity team with a workhorse of a printer in your corner.

Maintaining your printer properly will save you money by reducing downtime and extending the life of your printer. It will also ensure that your team remains productive and efficient.

Not everyone understands that copy machine maintenance entails more than just calling in a maintenance professional on a regular basis. So here’s a list of modest things that everyone can do to keep the workplace copier functioning as smoothly as possible.

Give Your Office Copier a Break

Equipment, like biological organisms, requires rest. It prevents overheating and allows the component parts to cool down on a regular basis. There are several approaches to this. If you work in an office that closes for the weekend or at least one day a week, make it a habit to turn off the copier when you leave the building. If you are not a 24×7 operation, do the same thing. When you go for the night, turn off the copier.

Additionally, if the copier is not used for more than 15 minutes, set it to sleep or standby. Including these regular pauses in your schedule will improve the life and lifespan of your copier.

If your office is so busy that you utilise the copy machine at all hours, seven days a week, consider purchasing or leasing a second machine. This way, each copier can have one or two scheduled days off each week. Furthermore, putting this much miles on the copier is likely to cause a lot of wear and tear, which will lead to malfunctions and downtime. Having a backup copier to carry the load and keep the office functioning while the broken copier is being repaired can save a lot of money and stress.

Heat it up

It’s natural to want to get the project started right away when you step into the copy room. However, the warm-up period on copiers is intended to allow them to align and complete their pre-flight checklist. Allowing the copier to go through its whole warm-up procedure ensures better copies and a longer life for your equipment.

Maintain the Glass’s Cleanliness

It’s astonishing how much lint may affect the quality of your copies. Lint and tiny particles are naturally attracted to glass. And, let’s face it, when making duplicates, a lot of small particles come off the paper.

In addition, minute particles shear off of metal and plastic bits with time. And dust, especially dust in and around the copier, is an unavoidable part of life. A lot of this dust, lint, and other particles end up on the copier glass, causing obscured copies or giving texture or shadows to copies that shouldn’t have dark spots.

Set a calendar reminder to clean the glass on both the outside and inside of the machine to ensure that your copies have the clarity and crispness to which you have grown accustomed. Also, ensure that the staff understands how to spot when there is a build-up on the glass and how to properly clean the glass between normal maintenance periods.

Lines should be avoided.

Lines in your copies, like difficulties that can arise if the glass isn’t clean, suggest that something isn’t right. Perhaps the glass needs to be cleaned. Lines, in particular, frequently indicate that the roller is unclean.

This is not something for the faint of heart. So, while you can do a lot to keep your copier in good working order, it’s best to hire a professional for this problem. It’s fine to call them back for a dirty roller even if they were just there for normal maintenance.

Use higher-quality paper and toner.

It may be tempting to buy the cheapest paper and toner available. Everything appears to be the same. You do, however, get what you pay for. Choosing the cheapest solutions may result in more wear and tear over time, reducing the life of the copier and lowering the quality of your prints.

It is not required to select the most expensive option; nevertheless, selecting a mid-range option will provide a combination of low price and good quality. Finally, you want to assure quality so that you have fewer toner leaks or breakdowns, less paper lint clogging up the printer, and better overall print quality.

Load the paper with caution.

One of the most typical issues that novices have with copiers is inappropriately loading the paper. Paper jams, rips, and other issues might occur if the paper is not loaded carefully. Unfortunately, this involves more wear and tear on the component parts, many of which are more sensitive than expected.

Always ensure that the paper is loaded in the proper direction. The stack of papers should be even. Also, make sure you have more than a few pages loaded. Copiers frequently misload paper from an overloaded or underloaded paper tray.

Finally, remember to always use the appropriate paper for your copier. Most copiers indicate the best paper weight and size for the machine. Unfortunately, using the improper paper might result in paper jams and other issues.