Inkjet Printer Maintenance - CompTIA A+ 220-1201 - 3.8

One of the biggest problems you'll run into on an inkjet printer is keeping that print head clean. There are a number of processes used across different printers to be able to maintain this. And you'll want to check with your printer manufacturer to see the best practices for keeping that print head clean and able to work

properly. For example, many printers run through an automated cleaning process every 24 hours. That's to wipe off any excess or dried ink that's on the print head and keep that print head as clean as possible. If you're getting streaks of color across the page, it's probably because there's some excess ink that is

still on the print heads. Many inkjet printers also allow you to start this process manually. So, if you use your printer a lot during the day, you may find that it needs to be cleaned more than every 24 hours. And if you're very careful, you may be able to remove the print head or the entire print cartridge

from the printer and very carefully clean that print head off. Here's an example of an inkjet print head that is accumulated ink over a 24-hour period. And here's the same print head after cleaning. The ink cartridges themselves are usually either separate colors or combined into a single cartridge. You usually will find cyan, magenta, yellow,

and key, which is the black color, and it's usually designated as CM YK. Here's an example of these colors in an inkjet printer. You can see that the cyan, magenta, and yellow colors are all combined in a single cartridge, and the black color is separate. On other printers, you may find completely separate cartridges for the cyan,

magenta, and yellow, making it very modular to replace. These are usually very quick and easy to replace. They pop right out of their holder inside of the printer, and you can replace the new one in just a few seconds. Once you add a new cartridge, the printer will normally go through a calibration process, which