Sometimes ghosting is very subtle. It could appear slightly lighter in comparison to darker text and images on the page. Luckily, the printer specialists have these tips to help you exercise your printer and deliver it from the evils of ghost printing.
Why Does it Happen?
Before you troubleshoot, how about some insight to the issue? Why does ghost printing happen? Electricity could be one of the culprits. Printing takes place over the course of a series of short electrical charges. If the pattern of these charges is not maintained (usually in an older printer) the printer can get a little confused and start repeating itself.
Static Electricity
If you drag your feet on the carpet and touch metal, you’ll likely get a brief static jolt. Now imagine what happens when paper is dragged through the printer and comes into contact with the printer heads. These static jolts can sometimes interrupt the electrical charge of the ink as it is being transferred from the printer head to the paper. When static electricity interrupts the electric charges from the lasers, the result can take the shape of duplicate images on the same page.
Humidity
The same thing that makes your hair frizz could be causing your ghost prints. It’s best that you avoid printing in the state of Florida during the month of August (just kidding), but you should make sure your printer is not located in a humid environment such as a laundry room, kitchen or bathroom.
Listen to your Printer
This sounds about as silly as talking to your roses to make them grow bigger and more beautiful, but it’s an important step in fixing the problem. If your printer sounds like it isn’t moving through the machine easily, if there is audible dragging and screeching, there is something wrong. This could be a fuser issue. The fuser is the component which makes the ink stick to the paper. If toner isn’t fusing to the paper properly it will smudge and cause ghosting.
Fix it!
Fret not! There are several solutions to help lessen these static interruptions.
1. Broken Rollers
If your printer is old, a deeper look at the issue may reveal problems you can’t easily fix, like a broken roller. Broken rollers are going to do a poor job feeding paper through the printer. While you can replace them, maybe it’s time to upgrade.
2. Dirty Rollers
Dirty rollers are nothing to be afraid of. In order to conduct electrical charges from the print heads to the paper, your rollers must be clean. Depending on the way your printer is assembled, there are several steps you may have to take to get to the rollers. You can refer to our guide for how to clean your printer rollers for more details.
3. Dirty Drum
If neither of the above items are what ail you, a dirty drum could be the culprit. A dirty printer drum will have residual toner on it. You will need a few supplies in order to clean you printer drum: q-tips, small tweezers, a cleaning cloth, paper towel and some rubbing alcohol. Essentially, you will want to carefully clean all components of the drum with the cloth, and keep it out of direct sunlight until you are ready to place it back into the printer.
