How Does a Printer Drum Go Bad?

If your office laser printer starts producing blurry results, printing unwanted lines at the edges of pages or peppering your documents with tiny spots, the printer drum may need replacing. The internal workings of a laser printer are rather mysterious, but by understanding how a printer drum works and how it can go bad, you'll know how to protect it and how to speak with the experts when it's time for a repair.

How a Printer Drum Works

The drum is at the heart of your laser printer. It picks up toner using a static charge and then distributes it to the paper. First the entire drum is given a negative charge which repels toner. A laser decreases the charge everywhere it fires, which makes it attractive to toner. As the drum passes by the toner cartridge, toner sticks only to the areas with a lower charge, where the laser has fired. When it passes over a statically charged piece of paper, the toner is drawn off the drum and onto the paper.

Bad Paper

Using paper not intended for laser printers can not only produce lower quality print, it can wear your printer drum out more quickly. If the paper cannot fully remove the toner from the drum, the drum can build up toner residue, which will prevent it from operating properly.

Wear

To make it sensitive to a laser, the printer drum is covered with photosensitive material. Over time, the photosensitivity is simply worn out by repeated charging and discharging. Leaving a printer drum exposed to light for extended periods of time can also damage it, though exposing it to light for brief periods while inspecting or repairing the printer should have minimal effect.

Cleaning the Printer Drum

Your printer drum may not be worn out. It may just be dirty. To clean your printer drum, refer to your owners manual for how to access and remove it. Always wear plastic gloves while handling the printer drum as the oils from your hands can damage it. Use paper towels, q-tips, and rubbing alcohol to gently remove excess toner from the drum's surface.

To Repair or Replace

Consumer printers tend to be less expensive year after year, many of them selling for less than $100. Sometimes, in fact, replacing the printer costs less than replacing the toner cartridge. Consider the cost of repairing your laser printer versus the cost of purchasing a new one. Larger enterprise printers will usually be cheaper to repair if the drum is the only problem, and in many cases are sold with service contracts that cover the repair.