Toner technologies are being advanced every day by researchers, chemists and engineers to supply better results and simpler construction. Toner particles are now produced in much smaller sizes and reduce the amount of energy used in their development and use. Currently, electrical charges are used in the process of printing to transfer the toner to the page. A new development in toner and printing technology is sonic toner release. In this particular technology sound waves are used to transfer, or release the toner from the transfer drum to place the toner particles to the page.

In the process multiple scanner beams are set to receive particular color signals and are scanned across the photoreceptors of the printer. This works much the same way as current laser printers with a small difference. These beams are separated by wider distances and are controlled by timing algorithms to match all of the color information for an image or document. Each color portion is developed or rendered prior to the photoreceptor receiving the scan. The toner particles are still adhered to the drum via electrostatic charges but when released to the page for fusing a sonic wave vibrates them clear and they fall into place on the page.

This means that the drum does not need to be reset for each subsequent page and saves electricity and in the process loses less toner to waste. Although this technology is still in development and testing, it should prove to be an improvement upon current technologies. There is, unfortunately, no known release date for this method of laser printing or even if it will be released as a viable mass market technology. So for now we will continue to use electrostatic methods coupled with improved toner particle sizes as well as alternative printing methods like solid ink printers.

One of the most common networked printer problems is that occasionally a user may not be able to print to a networked printer, even if they have previously done so. First check to see if the network is working properly and that the computer you are printing from is connected to the network. If you do not typically handle the network problems consult your staff IT member. Next check your print queue via the printing utility provided by the manufacturer or the utility your company uses to maintain its networked printers. These programs will vary slightly but you should be able to find the print queue in your task bar. Open this up and find out if your print has in fact been sent to the printer.

Should your printer be plugged into another computer on the network as a shared printer make sure the other computer is in fact connected to the network and working properly. This is a common case within home networks or small offices; if you are printing via another computer make sure you check to see if the printer is online and ready to print. Another common problem happens when a loss of power occurs. When this happens, the TCP/IP address of the printer may inadvertently have changed; this causes the port over which communications occur with the printer to be invalid. In this case simply ‘adding’ the printer to the network again usually solves this problem.

Lastly, an update or new software may be conflicting with the old drivers or, in extreme cases, may have over written the existing drivers. Find the version of your operating and search online, usually on the manufacturer’s site, to find the applicable drivers. A change in printers or recently downloaded new drivers may in fact cause this to occur.

Toner cartridges are a main concern for laser printers and contribute to the overall cost of a budget in printing more so than other consumables. Almost every manufacturer, original and 3rd party alike, offer high yield toners and businesses want to know if they truly are high yield. The answer is yes. Through development manufacturers have enabled more efficient uses of toners and the systems by which they are applied to the page. Toner particles can now be made to extremely precise sizes and measurements. The chemical production of these toner particles makes them smaller and in turn easier to place more accurately on the printed page.

Toner particles are encased in a wax like material that keeps them from adhering to each other during the printing process. This substance has been redesigned for s a few improvements in the application process. First, the wax substance now has a lower melting point which means that the toner particles are released and applied to the page quicker. This reduces the amount of fluctuations that can occur if a toner particle does not reach the proper melting temperature; this causes more toner to be used than is necessary.

It may seem that smaller toner particles would mean a higher ratio of particles on the page, but when coupled with advanced electrostatic technologies they are used in a much more efficient manner. By improving the electrostatic process a single toner particle can be placed more accurately to the page. Laser printers use a difference in electrical charges to place toner particles to a page, and by being able to control the electrostatic field more closely the particles can be placed with fewer particles per line, letter and image. The yield that manufacturers provide for their toner cartridges are almost always based on a 5% coverage which does mean that your results will vary. Even so, the high yield cartridges are a great buy.

If the auto duplexer is part of the device at purchase then set up is simple; it will install and configure with the printer itself. Adding duplexing as an upgrade will need you to add more memory in some cases. This is a specification that varies between manufacturers and models and is easily obtained from documentation typically found online. Some auto duplexing units are large external attachments and will need a little extra space in some cases. Most companies have an installation disk that ships with or is included with the auto duplexing unit that will take you through the configuration process.

If you need to configure the duplexer manually, locate the printer utility in your start menu. In the utility there will be a work group or workstation configuration menu. This may be named something else depending upon the manufacturer; terms like network configuration or a duplex configuration menu. You will need to tell the utility that the printer is a duplex capable model by clicking yes or typing in yes in the text box provided under the proper utility menu. Most auto duplex documents are sent to the printer with the duplexing data after configuration allowing for less intervention by the end user.

For those who require a bit more from their color prints the Xerox Phaser 6180 MFP is a great choice, but it is priced markedly higher at close to $999.00. The color images are near flawless but well worth the 2 pages per minute speed. This printer can be upgraded to handle over 1000 sheets but the pedestal base for the added tray can be expensive; they are part of the same assembly. Consumables are priced on average with other in class printers but the internal construction puts the transfer belt right in the way. Text documents are printed extremely fast and in impeccable clarity at 28 pages per minute increasing productivity. The printer delivers great color graphics but at a higher cost per page, around 3.5 cents, and slower print speeds.

The Dell 3115cn is lower in price at $899.00 than the Phaser 6180 MFP and produces small text in great resolution and at fast speeds, close to 24 pages per minute. The printer is somewhat bulky, but has the ability to expand and grow with the business. One large downfall is the complexity of changing consumables; it is not terribly difficult but more tedious than anything to get to the toners which are priced low compared to other on class printers. Graphics print at 5 pages per minute but lack in quality; not that they are not acceptable, just not as good as they should be considering its price. Any of these would make a great addition to a small work group looking for a new printer.

Expandability is another feature a work group should consider. The printer’s capability of expanding will allow it to grow as needed for your business or office. Such additional or expandable aspects are memory, paper trays, dual sided printing and finishers for professional documents. This is, of course, completely dependent upon the requirements of the work group and work load being delivered to the office. A minimum of 32MB of memory should be used for work group color lasers, but this will only deliver minimum results. High color document printing needs will need much more memory and should be expandable to at least 320MB for best results.

Check to make sure the printer is compatible with your platform; not all color lasers work with every network platform, along with this pay special attention to the supported printing languages. A good work group color laser printer will support several printing languages including at least Post Script 2 or 3. Should your office require a variety of media to print on, a close examination of supported media types and sizes should be on your check list. At a bare minimum card stock, envelopes and transparencies should be supported in addition to standard sizes and weights.