Why should you regularly clean your card printer? Well, if you saw things from our side, or more importantly, our printer technician's side of things, you would see that this simple function is often neglected and leads to bigger problems.
Think of it like this: the regular cleaning of your printer is very similar to regular oil changes for your car. If you drive, you know that if you don't change the oil regularly, there are a number of not-so-great things that can happen, including decreased performance and severe engine damage.
The same is true with cleaning your ID card printer. If you're trying to use a dirty printer, you'll definitely notice one or more of these things:
- a reduction in overall print quality
- an increase in reprinting cards
- problems with feeding cards into the printer
- potential damage to the printer's printhead which can create lines running through your cards or even worse: a complete breakdown of your printing program
Many times, the printers that our customers send to our technicians for repair just need a good cleaning. Once that's done, they typically run like new again. Actually, the percentage of printers that require this simple repair will surprise you: believe it or not, it's well above 50%!
Let's take the car analogy one step further. Depending on the car you drive, we can assume that the average cost of an oil change is $35. That's $35 every 3,500 miles over the life of a car is (again assuming that you drive 100,000 miles) is not even $1,000. Seems like pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, doesn't it? Compare that to the cost of a total engine overhaul from not changing your oil, and that bill could run you upwards of $4,000+.
Bringing it back to the ID card printer, the manufacturer says to clean the printer after printing 500 to 1,000 cards. The cost of a multi-use ID card printer cleaning kit (ranging from 10 to 25 uses) is $18 to $40.
If you print 50,000 cards over the life of a printer, it will need to be cleaned up to 100 times. That’s spending roughly $150 for ID printer cleaning supplies. Compare that to the cost of a new printhead which ranges from $400 to $800, and you can easily see the savings.
Now for the disclaimer: as we all know, engine breakdown is not just caused by neglecting to change your oil. There are instances where simply putting miles on your car can create problems which will cause you to replace your engine. The same is true for your ID printer. The time and use of your ID card printer can cause a printhead to require repair or replacement.
The card printer cleaning kits we carry generally include printhead cleaning swabs or cleaning pens, cleaning pads, and cleaning cards.
The moral of the story is that by simple, proper maintenance, you can save a lot of $$ in the long run and maximize the performance of your card printer. So, please: don’t forget to add the ID card printer cleaning kit and cleaning supplies to your next order! You'll be glad you did.
For more information and tips on cleaning your card printer, call a knowledgeable ID Professional at (800) 321-4405. We love helping our customers!