Delia Robinson, This Week’s Featured Copy Machine Artist

Sarah    Copy Machines     art, copy machine

In 2002, artist Delia Robinson made an accidental discovery: “A piece of paper run repeatedly through the color copier with sequential images acquired rich colors and a shiny patina. The results are random as colors combine and images meld in unpredictable ways.”

Here is how the artist describes her take on the world:

My view is bioptic, cross-eyed, fragmented, salty, bitter, yet still hopeful. My work is overloaded with information, stories, color, and images– most original, some pilfered, some in transition.

We think it’s quite beautiful. See more of her work, copy machine and otherwise, at her website: www.delia-robinson.com

The Copy Machine Turns 50!

Sarah    Copy Machines     copiers, copy machine, Copy Machines, office copier, office copiers, office copy machine, xerox

Hooray! The copy machine turned 50 last month, commemorating the Xerox company’s first sale — a 648-pound copier as big as two washing machines.

This historic event reminds us of how much we take for granted nowadays. Way back when, before “Xerox” became a regularly-used verb, copy machines were much less reliable. The devices broke down all the time, sometimes even catching on fire. And they had trouble fitting through doorways.

For more info, be sure to check out CNN‘s comprehensive article.

Determining Your Copier Volume

Sarah    Copy Machine Leasing, Copy Machines     copier volume, copy machine, office copier

If you’re looking to buy, rent, or lease a copy machine, it’s important to figure out your expected copy volume. This will help you determine which kind of copier (or copiers) will best suit your office.

In this way, choosing a copier is much like choosing a car. If you’re planning to make frequent trips across the country, you’ll want a car able to stand up to a lot of mileage, and — if you’re leasing — it would be wise to secure a generous service agreement as well. Alternatively, if you’re only going to be driving to the supermarket once or twice a week, a top-of-the-line vehicle might be a waste of money.

How can you calculate your volume? If you already have a copier, this is as easy as examining the counter, which you can typically find beneath the glass. To obtain an estimate without a copier, we recommend looking at the receipts from your copy shop, in addition to checking out your month-to-month paper consumption.

After you’ve come up with a predicted volume, most experts advise inflating this number by 15 percent or more. This will factor in your business’s potential expansion, as well as manufacturers’ tendencies to overestimate their product capabilities. If your machine will be working as an office printer or fax, consider inflating your figure even more.

Note: If your expected monthly volume is under 700 copies, you probably don’t need an expensive industrial copier. Save some money by investing in a smaller office copier instead.

Copiers: Back in the Day…

Sarah    Copy Machines     carbon copies, carbon copying, carbon paper, copy clerks, letter press, office copier, printing press

Even if your office copier occasionally malfunctions, you’ve still got to be happy it’s there – centuries ago, copying even a single page was a much more time-consuming process. Let’s take a look at some copying methods of the past:

By hand: Ouch! Until the end of the 18th century, the only duplicates were handwritten by copy clerks, a fixture at most offices. Even after the first typewriter was invented in 1874, hand copying remained popular throughout the subsequent decades.

By letter press: Drawing on a method used by the Chinese around the 8th century, letter press copiers emerged in the late 1700s and featured the legendary (and confusing) backwards-to-forwards transition also evident in the printing press.

By carbon paper: Still alluded to in email CCs and BCCs, carbon copying was invented in 1806 and uses sheets of carbon paper to replicate handwritten marks. In fact, certain industries continue to use carbon copying today!

Pushing a button sure sounds easier than any of that, doesn’t it?

Printing and Faxing with Copy Machines

Sarah    Copy Machine Leasing, Copy Machines     copier faxing, copier printing, copiers, Copy Machine Leasing, copy machines for sale

You’ve probably noticed that some copy machines for sale, lease, and rent offer printing and faxing capabilities. And, even though most offices already have printers and fax machines, these features are definitely worth considering.

Copy machine printing, for example, offers several advanced functions not available in standard printers, such as double-sided printing and automatic stapling. Plus, all of your employees can print from the same copy machine (as long as it has a network card). Printing with copy machines can also save you money, since per-page costs for copiers are about 80% than those of laser printers.

Copy machines make sending and receiving faxes easier as well. Some high-tech machines can read faxes from document trays, in addition to faxing pages from books and magazines scanned on the copier glass. Certain machines can even receive files to fax wirelessly from multiple computers.

Not ready to cough up the cash for these extra features? In that case, we recommend copy machine leasing. If you lease a machine compatible with printing and faxing upgrades, you can make the switch when the time is right for your office – and budget.

Copy Machines Go Wild!

Sarah    Copy Machines    

Copy machines are like a breed of African animal. I imagine them on the plains of the Serengeti, traveling in herds, honking and bleeping at each other to fight over the more attractive feminine copy machines during mating season, trembling and vibrating ferociously to produce the most paper to impress her. And then after partners have been chosen, during the dry season, all of the older copiers struggle to keep up, but no, it’s too late, their time has come; they fall by the wayside as the herd moves north in search of the great Ink river. After thousands of copies made, each one fainter than the last, it seems like never will they arrive at that oasis of cool black ink. When suddenly, over that last brown hill, they emerge with the largest copy machines flashing their lights in excitement and their printer trays overflowing with used paper as they run down the hill, the smaller printers and fax machines humming along behind with their mothers, and then they bask in the river and refill their ink cartridges, with black ink and color ink, and they spray cyan, magenta and yellow at each other, and everyone is happy and nothing could go wrong.

On a Budget? Get a Refurbished Copier

Sarah    Copy Machines, Uncategorized     cheaper copy machines, Copy Machines, refurbished

If you run a small business, you’re probably aware of how expensive office supplies can be, especially the big purchases like computers, faxes and copy machines. If you’re in need of a new copier for your office but are on a tight budget, you may want to look into refurbished copiers. Many often think of lower quality when they hear used or refurbished, but in actuality, you could get a like-new copier for a dramatically lower price than retail.

When many people hear the term “refurbished” they equate it with mechanics going to junkyard and piecing together old and beat machines, and then passing them off as “like-new.” But in reality, the copiers selected for refurbishing are chosen through a careful process where only the copiers with low-usage that are in reasonable condition are selected. These are then disassembled, examined closely, and all areas are cleaned to ensure it looks like new when you get it. New parts replace the worn ones, and then the copier is tested several times to make sure it functions at its most optimal level. If this still doesn’t sell you, many refurbished copiers come with a warranty that guarantees the rebuilt copier 100%.

All in all, if you’re on a tight budget, refurbished copiers are something you should look into.

Troubleshoot Your Copy Machine… Or Else

Sarah    Copy Machines     funny, repair, troubleshooting, video

We all know what happens when you take out your problems on your copy machine… IT TRANSFORMS! To avoid this potentially life-threatening scenario, here are some simple troubleshooting techniques.

Problem: Crooked/misaligned copies.
Solution: Check the paper tray–if that paper isn’t straight, nothing else can be!

Problem: Paper has lines on it.
Solution: Black lines indicate that there is something on the glass plate that won’t let light get through. They could also be caused by dust in the scanner’s mirror unit.

Problem: Burning smell coming from the machine.
Solution: Paper is trapped in the part of the copier that fuses the toner to its surface, called the fusing unit. The paper won’t catch on fire, but you should look into replacing the pressure rod or tension springs.

Problem: Machine cannot pull paper from the feeder tray.
Solution: Check the feed tires, as they are either very dirty or need to be replaced.

Problem: Paper comes out blank.
Solution: You’re not out of toner if there’s absolutely nothing on the page. It’s more likely that the laser diode (the light that flashes across the copier) is broken and must be replaced.

How Does a Copy Machine Work?

Sarah    Copy Machines     copier drum, copy machine, Copy Machines, science

Office workers use photocopiers every day, but not many of us understand how they actually work. Essentially, copiers function through the use of light, static electricity, and the attraction of oppositely charged particles.

The process begins when a positive charge is applied to the copier drum, an internal metal roller (pictured above).

Just like a balloon that’s been rubbed on the carpet and charged with static electricity, a charged copier drum will attract nearby objects – except instead of hair and paper, a drum attracts toner particles.

Of course, if the drum were uniformly charged, it would attract toner all across its surface and you’d wind up with a completely black piece of paper. Not ideal.

Instead, your copier drum is selectively charged, so that only the black areas of the paper receive a charge.

This selectivity is achieved with light – that’s where the “photo” part of “photocopier” comes in. Here’s how it works:

• The toner begins with a uniform positive charge.
• Photons of light hit the drum only through the white areas of the original piece of paper – the dark spots block the light.
• Electrons on the drum are attracted to the photons, thus neutralizing the positive charge on certain areas of the drum.
• The toner is negatively charged, so it only sticks to the non-neutralized, positively charged regions.

Once the toner is on the drum, it has to get on the new sheet of paper. To accomplish this, the copier gives that paper a charge, empowering it to pull the toner particles from the drum.

Finally, heat is applied to seal the paper to the toner, which is heat sensitive. And presto chango – you’ve got your copy in hand!

How Can I Make My Printer Run More Efficiently?

Sarah    Brother Copy Machine, Copy Machines     brother drum, brother toner, brother toner cartridges, printer

If you own a Brother printer or copy machine there are many good reasons why you should also use original Brother toner cartridges in your printer. By the same token, there are many reasons why you should avoid using compatible Brother toners, refurbished Brother toner or try to refill your own cartridge. If cost is an issue, you may find it better serves you and your home or business to work out ways to conserve on the amount of printing you do, rather than trying to save money by using compatible toner in your cartridges. The problem with many refurbished cartridges is that while the toner inside the cartridge itself is changed, usually the individual parts such as rollers and small gears are not changed and they are often quite worn to the point that they no longer perform well at all.

At worst, using worn cartridge parts inside your printer could do some damage. At best, it can cause a lot of delay and frustration when you install your refurbished cartridge and it does not work, and thus has to be replaced. This is never a problem when you purchase original Brother toners. Another consideration is that not all toner is the same composition. Brother toner is made specifically to use with the specified models of Brother printers and has the right combination of toner and developer to help it to run smoothly and produce optimum print copies – which is especially important if you are using these prints and toners for something like a corporation or business.

Using an original cartridge will also help to protect the Brother drum inside your printer. Incidentally, to help offset costs, Brother printers have Brother drums, which means you can extend the life of your printer for quite some time. As with the cartridges though, if you do need to replace your drum it is important to use an original drum, not a refurbished or compatible model. One of the best ways to conserve on the amount of money spent on toner cartridges is to do the bulk of your printing on draft mode, which can usually be accessed through the printer properties.

This is usually sufficient for most documents and pages printed. In fact, you can make printing in draft mode your default and that will help you to avoid ‘accidentally’ printing out a long document in a higher quality. Also, proofread and correct any documents before you go ahead and print. Most word processing programs have spelling and grammar checking options, so be sure to use them as a lot of paper and toner can be wasted by printing unedited work and then having to reprint again. If you need to print out something for informational purposes, try to only print the section that contains the instructions or information you need, rather than printing an entire document.

Above all, in order to lengthen the life of your Brother printer, use original Brother toner cartridges and an original Brother drum. This is probably one of the best ways to ensure that your printer will not only last you a long time, but also give optimum printing results.