It’s easy for dust and dirt to become trapped in your plastic card printer and on your rollers as cards have a high static charge. This can result in poor quality print: images can be blurred and colours and text won’t be as sharp.
Regular cleaning extend the life of the printer and its printhead, allowing you to get the most out of your investment. A lack of cleaning over time can cause the printer to stop working and cause repair issues.
And when that happens, you’ll have to go back to the manufacturer, and the first question they’ll ask is how regularly you’ve been cleaning it.
If the answer to
the question above is ‘I haven’t’, you could invalidate your printer warranty.
Generally speaking, manufacturers recommend you clean the printer every time you change the ribbon, which is why most ribbons come complete with a cleaning roller.
This is a good general clean, but you’ll also need to do a deeper clean every few months as a cleaning roller can only do so much.
1. Use Cleaning Swabs for visible debris
If debris or dust is visible on the printhead, a cleaning swab is the safest way to remove it without damage. Never use a sharp object to do this as it could permanently damage the printhead.
2. Use a Cleaning Card for a fuller deep-clean
Using pre-saturated cleaning cards will ensure the printheads, transport rollers and magnetic encoder station are kept clear of debris. It’s like a deep clean for your card printer.
3. Improve printing performance with a Cleaning Roller
Using a cleaning roller regularly will improve printer performance by picking up debris from blank cards, producing sharper graphics and text.
You can buy branded products from the printer manufacturer, or generic products designed to fit multiple printers, which are cheaper.
You can generally buy all three in a pack for cost savings.
Regular cleaning will prolong the life of your plastic card printer, reduce maintenance fees and reduce the amount of downtime you experience.