Printers

Taking printers apart-- sometimes permanently, sometimes to make them work better-- can be a lot of fun. Welcome to Printerland, aka Printer Island. We're now in the middle of the Warehouse and we've got a new look. Still making lots of changes, and the space is a bit of a mess, but here goes nothing...

Just Printers? Right now we receive a wide variety of things. Receiving takes some of it into Printer Island, and sorts the rest of it according to Printer Triage. Our incoming pile is in the Warehouse, just next to the door to Evaluation. How To Run Printer Island If you're just starting out, here's a map of Printer Island: Navigating Printer Island. Each item on that page has a number that corresponds to a sign in Printer Island so you can see what goes where. At the bottom of that page there is a general checklist of things that need to be done in Printer Island regularly. A general rule for handling input is this: if there is too much stuff process it indiscriminately according to this flow chart: Recycling Prep This is something you or someone who is trained should do, NOT untrained volunteers. The general idea here process things a little bit before putting them in the Recycle box (3) and to keep Toner, Fluorescent bulbs and Glass off the bench and away from volunteers. If you are really afraid to destroy something that might be useful, consult the Testing section below to see what might be good to save for testing. Testing Let's reuse as much as we can! This is a more general look at testing things. If something cannot be made to work (with the exception of the Laserjet 4, which we keep under the bench marked: (1)) it gets processed by someone authorized according to Recycling Prep The object of the game is to get a printer to print an Ubuntu Printing Test Page. If we can do that and it looks good, we stick that Ubuntu Printing Test Page to the cleaned-up printer and write "Tested Ok" on the page. If we used in-house ink (ask your superviser as it's hidden), write that we used "New guaranteed black ink" or "New guaranteed color ink" on the page as well. Don't forget to include a power cord and ship it off to the Store or the Grant Shelves! Here is a more specific look at what to do with each kind of machine: Inkjet Testing (including All-in-ones) Laserjet Testing Scanner Testing Fax Machine Evaluation We also test network cards recovered from machines: Printer Network Card Testing Recycling Recyclable printers and related gizmos are in the "Recyclables" gaylords in Printer Island, to be processed according to Printer Disassembly.

Printer Links Staff schedule: Find out when Printer Island is open. tonsoftoner.com: Find out what ink/toner a printer model takes. inkreference.com: Or vice versa. fixyourownprinter.com: A good reference for printer errors. printertechs.com: A reference for Laserjet error codes.