Lesson 11 - Chapter 2: The Laser Printing Process

Question 1

What are the 7 steps in the laser printer imaging process?

Answer 1

1. Processing
2. Charging
3. Exposing
4. Developing
5. Transferring
6. Fusing
7. Cleaning

Question 2

Where does the CPU send your print job request to?

Answer 2

an area of memory called the print spooler

Question 3

What does the print spooler do?

Answer 3

Allows you to queue up multiple print jobs sequentially (the memory that holds the print job queue)

Question 4

What does it mean when the printer icon in the notification area at the bottom of the screen goes away?

Answer 4

It means the print queue is empty, all jobs have gone to the printer

Question 5

What are 2 potential bottlenecks when it comes to the print spooler?

Answer 5

1. When Windows sends the first print job to the printer
2. Printer receives some or all of the job and the printer hardware takes over

Question 6

What’s the difference between Impact printers and Laser printers when transferring data to the printer?

Answer 6

Impact = one character/line at a time
Laser = entire pages at a time

Question 7

What is a raster image?

Answer 7

a pattern of dots that a laser printer paints on the drum to represent what the final image should look like

Question 8

What’s another name for laser printers? Why are they called that?

Answer 8

page printers, because it processes images one page at a time

(drum needs to have the entire surface painted before transferring to paper)

Question 9

What does RIP stand for?

Answer 9

Raster Image Processor (chip)

Question 10

What does the RIP chip do?

Answer 10

it gives instructions to the laser on how to translate images into raster images

(needs RAM to store data to be processed)

Question 11

What printers use RIPs? What’s the difference?

Answer 11

Inkjets and Laser Printers

(For inkjets, they’re written into the device drivers not the onboard programming)

Question 12

A laser printer must have enough ____ to process an entire page

Answer 12

memory

Question 13

What error do you get when there’s insufficient memory to process the image?

Answer 13

Memory Overflow error (MEM OVERFLOW)

Question 14

What are 3 things you can try if you get a memory overflow error?

Answer 14

1. Reducing the resolution (high resolution = more memory)
2. Printing smaller graphics
3. Turning off RET (Resolution Enhancement Technology)

Question 15

What’s the best solution to a memory overflow error?

Answer 15

Add more RAM to the laser printer

Question 16

Adding more RAM chips will solve almost every printer error that contains memory. T or F?

Answer 16

False, sometimes the data is too complex for the RIP and you would have to reduce fonts, formatting, resolution, etc to make it less complex

Question 17

The 2 common laser printer resolutions are…?

Answer 17

600 x 600 dpi
1200 x 1200 dpi

Question 18

In laser printer resolutions, which number is the horizontal resolution? What is it determined by? (2)

Answer 18

1. The first number (600 x 600 dpi)
2. Determined by how fine a focus the laser can achieve

Question 19

What is the 2nd number in printer resolutions determined by?

Answer 19

the smallest increment that the drum can be turned

Question 20

What does RET stand for?

Answer 20

Resolution Enhancement Technology

Question 21

What does RET enable a printer to do?

Answer 21

Uses the printer’s RAM to print HQ jobs by smoothing out the jagged curves outlining characters using smaller dots

Question 22

How many volts of negative charge does the primary corona wire or primary charge roller apply to the entire surface of the drum? What phase is this done during? (2)

Answer 22

~600 to ~1000 volts

The Charging phase

Question 23

What does the Exposing phase do?

Answer 23

the laser creates a positive image on the surface of the drum (every part hit with the laser releases its negative charge)

[exposes it to light – the laser]

Question 24

What happens during the Processing phase?

Answer 24

CPU processes the print request and sends the job to the print spooler (in PC memory) to queue up sequentially until Windows sends the job to the printer

Question 25

What happens during the Developing phase?

Answer 25

The negative toner particles are attracted to the lesser negatively charged particles (negative toner -> positive drum particles) left by the laser to create a developed image

Question 26

What hardware is used during the Transferring phase?

Answer 26

transfer corona/transfer roller

Question 27

What happens during the Transferring phase?

Answer 27

To transfer the image from the drum onto the paper, the transfer corona/transfer roller gives the paper a positive charge to attract the negatively charged toner particles to rest on the paper

Question 28

What are toner particles mostly made of?

Answer 28

Plastic (so the toner can be melted onto the paper)

Question 29

What 2 rollers are used during the Fusing phase?

Answer 29

1. a heated roller coated in nonstick material
2. pressure roller

Question 30

What happens during the Fusing phase?

Answer 30

2 rollers (1 heated non-stick, 1 pressure) melt the toner to the paper and a static charge eliminator removes the paper’s positive charge (that attracted the toner)

Question 31

What’s a warning when using plastic media to print on?

Answer 31

The heated rollers can melt some types of plastic media and damage the printer and void the warranty (only use ones designed for laser printers)

(ones for inkjets don’t have to be heat resistant)

Question 32

What component does the printer use during the Cleaning phase?

Answer 32

It scrapes the surface of the drum with a rubber cleaning blade

Question 33

What happens to the residual toner removed during Cleaning?

Answer 33

it deposits the residual toner in a debris cavity or recycles it by returning it to the toner cartridge

Question 34

After every page, the drum must be returned to a clean condition in what 2 ways?

Answer 34

1. Physically
2. Electrically

Question 35

How is the printer cleaned electrically?

Answer 35

the erase lamp bombards the drum with light and the surface particles discharge into the grounded drum to leave a neutral-charged drum