Printer Problems

Whether you are using a business or a personal printer, sometimes you might run into different issues that can cause the printer to no longer function. This can be frustrating, and it can sometimes be daunting to try to determine where the problem is coming from. A variety of printer problems can occur from a simple paper jam or unclear print results, to the printer completely not working at all. If you're installing a brand new printer, it is a good idea to look for various printer problems and solutions directly from the manufacturer's website or owner's manual. Often, troubleshooting printer problems is as simple as reading the manual that comes with it. A driver might not be installed properly. First, make sure your printer's driver is installed completely and that your computer recognizes the printer. If the driver is in fact installed, try to print a test page. This usually gets the printer to "wake up" and begin the printing process. If you have a paper jam, gently open up the printer and look for the source of the problem. Never jerk, pull, or yank the paper out, but instead slowly try to get it to come out by pulling it gently and methodically.

Many times, a printer problem is related to the quality of the print job itself. If a print job comes out smeared or faded it could be a number of different things. Check your printer's ink levels and make sure they are up to par. Your printer may alert you if the ink cartridges are getting low, but not all models will do this so you may need to manually check. If the ink levels look good, try to clean the print heads. Most new printer models have a feature that allows you to select this option from the printer's main menu. It will then go through the process of cleaning the print heads, resulting in clearer printouts. When troubleshooting printer problems, make sure you are selecting options that match your own make and model to ensure you can fix the printer problem easily and safely.

MICR toner, What is it and Do you need it

Have you seen or wondered what MICR toner means? What are the benefits of a MICR laser system? Should you be using MICR toner for your business or accounting needs? And what MICR toner cartridges are available?

 MICR is a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition technology used primarily by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of checks.  MICR characters are printed in special fonts with a magnetic toner containing iron oxide. As a machine decodes the MICR text, it first magnetizes the characters, and then the characters are passed over a MICR head, a device similar to the playback head of a tape recorder.  As each character passes over the head it produces a unique form that can be easily identified by the system.  Banks and Institutions rely on this MICR technology to read the account numbers and other codes in the bank line on checks and other negotiable documents with electronic bank processing equipment.

Most users cite the following benefits as a reason for converting to MICR printing:

• MICR Laser check processing provides a much higher level of security.
• Cost reductions by eliminating pre-printed checks
• Creating a MICR Laser check is a single step process that adds payee data, signatures, logos, bank identification, and the MICR line to the check.
• Increased flexibility to add, change or delete new bank accounts on demand, without ordering new checks.
• Decreased exposure to check fraud.

So if you are in banking, accounting, payroll or accounts payable or are printing checks, you should use nothing less than MICR toner.  Clickinks MICR remanufactured laser toner cartridges guarantee that all checks are printed properly and will clear the financial institutions check clearing systems, adhering to ANSI readability standards.

Clickinks.com offers the best value, quality and price on MICR toner cartridges for all your check printing needs. We offer MICR toner for Canon, Dell, HP, Lexmark, IBM, Samsung, Toshiba, Xerox and even Source Tech printers, with more brands to come.  

What is Toner

What is Toner?

Toner is an electrically-charged powder used in laser printers and photocopiers.  It is used to form text or images.  In its early form it was simply carbon powder.  Later the manufactures added polymers to improve the quality of printing.  The two main ingredients of toner powder are now pigment and polymer. The role of the pigment is fairly obvious, it provides the coloring (black, in a monochrome printer) that fills in the text and images. The use of polymer varies by manufacturers and even by printer model.  Some of the most common polymers are styrene acrylate copolymer, polyester resin and styrene butadiene copolymer. 

The formulation of toners can also vary in granule size and melting point. The particle size of toners has reduced from a 14–16 micrometers to 8–10 micrometers (600 dots per inch resolution) to improve resolution.  The smaller the particle, the more accurate the color reproduction and efficiency. Uniform shapes are also a great factor when talking about improving the quality of the printout.  Further reductions in particle size producing further improvements in resolution are being developed through the application of new technologies.

In earlier machines, this low-cost carbon toner was poured by the user from a bottle into a reservoir in the machine. Current machines feed directly from a sealed cartridge. To save money and keep cartridges from piling up in landfills, empty cartridges can be refilled or even better, remanufactured.  Remanufactured cartridges refill the empty toner cartridges and the quality remanufactured cartridges like found at Clickinks.com also replace all used or worn parts.