7 Ways to Maintain Your Office Copier

A busy office copier takes a lot of impact throughout the day. This can add up, but proper maintenance can extend the life between necessary service calls. These seven tips will help businesses get the most out of their copiers:

1. Safety First – Always Unplug Before Cleaning or Tune-Ups

For any maintenance, even exterior work, always turn off and unplug a photocopy machine. Never work on a warm unit – if it was recently used, wait for it to cool. This reduces the risk of electrocution or burns. A laser copier’s fuser component responsible for heating the toner can take up to 30 minutes to cool off.

2. Clear Dust from the Copier’s Interior and Exterior

Dust buildup will happen to every single copier. Cleaning dust out with a pressure-controlled vacuum or lint-free cloth is easy, and can prevent bigger issues of debris buildup down the line.

3. Periodically Clear the Tray of Paper Debris

Small pieces of torn paper are a major culprit for paper jams. Periodically check the paper tray and cassette for tiny pieces of ripped paper and remove them before they cause a jam. If applicable, cleaning the cassette pads will also help ensure that only a single piece of paper is fed at once into the copier, which will also help to prevent jams.

Know how to fix a paper jam if one occurs. The device’s manual will have specific instructions, but a good overall tip is to gently remove the paper in the direction of travel. Never roughly pull on jammed paper.

4. Maintain the Copy Machine Glass

Ever notice a perfectly straight gray line running through the page on your copies and scans? This typically means the glass is dirty. Use a lint-free cloth and a small amount of water or glass cleaner (sprayed onto the cloth, not the glass) to gently clean the copier glass surfaces. Remind staff to be mindful to remove paperclips, staples, or other items that could cause scratches to the surface, as these can build up and diminish the quality of copies and scans over time.

5. Purchase High-Quality, Low-Dust Paper

Inexpensive paper will often shed a lot of dust, which can build up and cause internal issues and paper jams in a copier. Investing in high-quality paper will have a good return on investment throughout the life of an office copy machine.

6. Use Care When Loading Paper into the Tray

Quickly or haphazardly loading paper into a copier’s tray can lead to jams and damage to the device. A good practice is to load paper no more than half a ream at once, ensuring that the paper on the bottom of the stack is straight. Avoid overfilling the tray, as this can lead to paper jams.

7. Partner with a Reliable Service Company

A lot of copier problems can be mitigated by some quick troubleshooting and preventative maintenance. However, there will likely be a time when a professional is needed. In this case, it is best to be partnered with a reliable service company. You can rest assured that even the most major technical issue will be handled timely and effectively.

At ImageNet, we’ve been supporting the best maintenance and servicing for print hardware for over 60 years.