All About Lasers

[er0k]

Ok, this tutorial will be a short one on how the laser printer works. Now

i am a bit rusty because of the fact that I haven't studied these in a

long while, but wanted to write a tutorial and this came to mind. I will

basically just go over the order of events (ie what happens from start to

finish during a regular print job, as that is important in understanding

how the laser printer works.)



Ok first off, the laser printer has to "Charge" as in, get its stuff

warmed up. It uses the high-voltage power supply (HVPS) to conduct

electricity to its primary corona wire. Which then passes the voltage to

"Drum" I wont go over the specific parts such as what the drum actually

does, etc because if you are reading this, you should already have an

understanding of the components of the laser printer. Typically, the

voltage used in the first step is around -5000vDC (volts of direct

current)



The second step is referred to as "Writing" the photosensitive drum with

its newly charged voltage, as per the first step, now has a very high

negative charge. The laser of the printer begins to move back and forth,

so to speak, along the drum, creating the image that will be on the

output. ie paper. Because this drum is photosensitive, the laser uses

charge each time it touches something. (Toner, drum, whatever) By the

end of the printers writing, the image is now around -100vDC. The drum

however, retains most of its charge, if not all.



The third step is known as developing. The toner cartridge is now opened

up. The toner becomes attracted and is able to be used. By the end of this

stage, the drum contains a toner covered image. and the drum retains most

of its charge, yet again.



The fourth step, known as transferring, is where the paper begins to come

through the printer, and past the drum. The transfer corona wire is what

applies the positive charge to the paper as it moves through. This charge

pulls negative charged toner from the drum out onto the paper.



The fifth step, known as Fusing, is the only thing holding the toner to

the paper as the electric charges. The toner melts its resin, when heated,

and the paper leaves the printer through fusing rollers, which are

previously heated by the fusing lamp. The heat on the rollers then melts

or fuses, to the paper.



Cleaning is the final step, this is when the printout completes, of

course. A rubber cleaning blade goes across the drum to remove the

extra toner that wasn't used from the drum. The toner is then moved over

to a small place for it to remain for later use. Next, erasure lamps

move across exposing the drum to the light. Again remember that the

drum is photosenstive, and loses remaining charge when light hits it

The printer is now returned to its previous pre-print state, and is ready

to go for more.



I recommend a good HP-Laserjet printer, or something of the like. I do not

own one personally, but have used them extensiveley in class and at other

places. Hope you liked the short tutorial, you can find some of the

keywords used at places like google.com, tech-target definitions, etc..

Any questions or comments email er0k@bytekill.net

like i said, its been a while so this off of my head may be inaccurate,

especially the charges, but maybe not..

[preep]

hahahahha ****in printers w000t 31337

[er0k]

hahahahah yerp, i was bored, so i through that together for something to do

[preep]

heh just unexpected. gj though.

you could at leasy explained the old paper cut vulrability or paper burn :P

Pree