Archive for September, 2010

How many ink cartridges are recycled?

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

How many Ink Cartridges are Recycled?

Recycle your empty ink cartridges if you want to make a difference in the world. What difference will you make? Well, you will be able to save the earth from the harsh effects of global warming.

Many companies are pushing efforts for homes, hospitals, schools or businesses to join ink cartridge recycling schemes. You will be able to help manufacturers save on raw materials and energy consumption with every ink cartridge you recycle. These will translate to environmental benefits which in turn will provide advantages to you as well.

Statistics on inkjet cartridge recycling

In the UK, there are around 4 ink cartridges thrown away by users per second. According to research, there are around 200 million ink cartridges thrown into landfills. This number increases by 12% each year. In the whole world, 70% of used ink cartridges are being binned.

These statistics brought about concerns on the need to recycle cartridges in every part of the world. Government industries and non-profit organisations kept their acts together and started promoting printer cartridge recycling schemes.

The number of empty ink cartridge you reuse is equivalent to the number of ink cartridges that can save the landfills from harm. When you consider using remanufactured versions, you also help save landfills from 3.5 pounds of solid waste deposits. This will also reduce pollution as you help lessen the percentage of ink cartridges incinerated in landfills.

How can you make a difference?

There are many ways you can recycle your used inkjet cartridges.

1. First, you may donate them to a charity. These organisations will collect all empty ink cartridges that they get. After collecting, they will send these cartridges back to manufacturers or printer cartridge recycling schemes in exchange for money. By doing this, you don’t only help save the environment; you also bring a difference to the lives of those who are in need.

2. You may also send the cartridge directly to these recycling program advocates. The good thing is that these organisations will send you the package which you may use in returning empty inkjet cartridges. Plus, you don’t have to pay for postage.

3. Of course, you may also use the recycling trend introduced by computer industries. In this trend, what you need is to send back old inkjet cartridges to your manufacturers. After that, they will refill the empty printer cartridge for you. You will be able to save money on this as the refill costs only a mere fraction of purchasing a new inkjet cartridge.

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How to print free graph paper online

Friday, September 24th, 2010

How to print free graph paper online

If you own a printer you can create and find lots of useful things. One of these things is printing graph paper free using the internet, your computer, and printer. So, if you have some maths or science homework, all you need to do is select the appropriate graph paper and print it out for free! The only cost that you will incur is the cost of your paper and ink.

1. Choose the type of graph paper you need

There are various types of graph paper options available from free websites, which include Cartesian graph paper, engineering graph paper, polar graph paper, isometric graph paper, logarithmic graph paper, and hexagonal graph paper amongst various others. Almost all kinds of graph papers are covered by the free sites offering online printing for graph papers.

2. Choose the Paper Size

The next step for you would be to choose the kind of paper size that you want to go for. The selection should be based on the paper you are using to take the printout. So this could be either letter size or the A4 size or even the A5 size, amongst various others.

3. The Measuring Units

An important part of taking an online printout of graph paper is the choice of your measuring units. It could either be in inches, centimetres or millimetres.

4. Save the file and click print

Typically the graph files are in the form of PDF files. You could save these graph files onto your computer for future use as well.

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Common Reasons For Paper Jams

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Common Reasons for Paper Jams

Paper jams are a common and irritating occurrence in all printers. This problem is very general and it doesn’t matter which brand or type of printer you have.

There are various reasons behind paper jams; below we have listed the most common reasons.

1. Damaged Paper

Using bent or torn paper in your printer is the number one cause of paper jams. Also using paper which as curled corners will most lightly cause a paper jam. Only use flat smooth undamaged paper in your printer.

2. Using the wrong tray

Today, printers have specific trays for special media such as labels, pictures and envelopes. If you use the wrong tray for the wrong for the wrong type of document it will lead to a paper jam. The manual which came with your printer will explain how to use each individual tray.

3. Incorrect loading of paper

The size of the paper needs adjustment with respect to the printer guide. If your printer guide is too tight or too wide it will result in the paper entering the printer at the wrong angle.

4. Paper overload

If you pile too much paper into the printer tray it will cause the paper to jam. Printer paper trays are designed to hold a certain number of sheets and no more.

5. Dirty printer

If there is an accumulation of paper dust and ink inside your printer, paper jams become quite common. The build up of toner inside a laser printer is one of the main reasons for a paper jam.

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How to Clean a Clogged Print Head

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

How to Clean a Clogged Print Head

Clogged print heads are a huge problem to all printer owners. It is not just because clogged print heads affect the quality of the printouts, they can eventually cause permanent damage to your printer. It is very important to clean out print heads when they are clogged, but it’s much better if regularly carry out preventive maintenance to your printer to keep it from developing clogged print heads.

How do I clear up a clogged print head?

Most printers these days have systems built into them that allow them to automatically clean their print heads. This is done by initiating the printer’s cleaning cycles. Ideally, printer cleaning cycles should be performed once a week to prevent the print head from getting clogged.

The downside to performing the printer software cleaning cycles is that it wastes a lot of ink. We all know how expensive ink cartridges are, and the printer cleaning cycles are not an efficient way to use up your printer ink.

There are other ink-efficient ways to be able to clean print heads that will prevent them from clogging just as effectively. One way is to gently wipe the print heads with a cotton bud soaked in water. Sources vary on whether alcohol would be more effective than water, but in the opinion of some printer resources, alcohol can be harmful to print heads and is best avoided.

Another way of preventing clogged print heads is to buy a cleaning kit and use it regularly on your printer. A typical cleaning kit usually has a tube of ammonia that you can spray on the printer head and remove the dried ink.

How do I Prevent the Print Heads from Clogging?

Cleaning clogged print heads can be a tedious chore, but the problem is very much preventable. The main method of preventing print heads from getting clogged is to use the printer. In fact, a lot of experts are saying that it is better to print one colourful page once a week than to run a printer cleaning cycle because doing so uses a lot less ink. In general, using the printer prevents the ink in the cartridges from drying up. Ink that has dried up is the main cause of clogged print heads.

Keeping the printer free from dirt and debris also helps a lot in preventing the print heads from getting clogged. However, dirt and debris should never be cleaned from the printer using a vacuum cleaner because it can cause the circuitry of the printer to burn. When that happens, you would have a bigger problem than simply dealing with clogged print heads.

Turning the printer off when it is not in use also saves the print heads from getting clogged with dried ink. Leaving the printer on keeps the ink in the cartridge warm and makes them bleed onto the print head.

If you need to store your printer away, it would be best to remove the ink cartridges. Also, never touch the print head with oily or dirty hands. Doing so will leave skin oil on the print head and add to the likely hood of it becoming clogged.

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How Do I Get Print PDF File to Show in My Printer List?

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

How Do I Get Print PDF File to Show in My Printer List?

Sometimes, you want to print a PDF file directly without converting it into a word document. This situation usually is common offices and bigger organisations. There might be occasions when the ‘Print PDF’ tab or command is not displayed in the printers list.

Below is a few steps that will help you tackle this problem.

1. Update Your Acrobat Standard or Professional

The easiest solution to this problem would be to update your Acrobat Version. If this does not work you could also manually add the Adobe PDF printer.

2. Restart the Computer

There are times when the computer might not show some of the tabs, icons or commands that it displays. The simplest solution is to restart your computer. Preferably also restart the printer.

3. Reinstall the Drivers

In large organisations, the problem of drivers getting corrupted is common. It might be due to the corruption of the printer drivers and software that various printer settings are not getting displayed properly.

4. Updating the Printer Driver

Another problem would be the fact that you are using an old driver and have not updated it. There is a chance that your old driver settings would not have a Print PDF command. Therefore it’s important to keep updating the drivers, as well as making updates to your operating system.

5. Installation of Software

There are various software available online that you could download directly from the vendor website. Their installation on to your computer will take care of the problem for you.

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Printing Labels onto a Blank DVD

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Printing Labels onto a Blank DVD

Have you been wondering to print labels on to a blank DVD? All you need is an inkjet printer for printing labels. You may also need to invest in some label printing software though. After reading this, you will have gathered the main equipment you need to do this– inkjet printer, blank DVD labels, DVDs and of course the software.

Steps in printing labels on blank DVDs

1. Purchase some DVD labels. Some manufacturers provide DVD labels that are exclusively made for inkjet printers.

2. Invest in label printing software. You can use these not just for printing your blank DVD labels. This can be used for designing them as well. The steps in designing the labels will have some variations that will depend on how you want your label to look like. It also depends upon the software you are using.

3. Carefully design your label. The first thing for you to do is consider the information you want to appear on the DVD. Remember that using plain text will be easier. But if you want to use pictures, go ahead. Just ensure the sizes fit on the label before you print it.

4. Now you can begin printing your DVD labels. Once you have clicked “print”, the software will ask you some information regarding your blank DVD. This is important in order for you to make sure that the label is aligned properly. After this you are ready to print the label.

5. After printing, you are ready to place the label over your blank DVD. Peel off the backing carefully. It is also important to take your time in placing these labels over your blank DVD. Since the labels are very sticky, you only have one go to place it correctly.

6. Make sure that the label is firmly pressed on to the blank DVD. Any paper that hangs over the edge of the DVD may damage your player.

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Download and Print Photos and Images from the Internet

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

One of the first things most people do when they get a new computer or printer is print everything and anything they can find! They’ll print their favourite webpage or download lots of photos and print them. However, beginners tend to make several mistakes when printing websites so it’s important to follow these printing tips to make the most of your hardware and software.

Photo Printing Tips

1. Download the photos you want to print.

First create a new folder on your desktop. Then start downloading pictures into this folder. You can do this by right clicking on the image you want to save from the web and selecting “Save Image As…” You can then change the name of the file or leave it the same.

2. Edit the photos.

With your photo manipulation software, set the photo resolution to somewhere around 200 to 300 DPI. This makes the image print quality rather than web quality, which is around 75 DPI. Photo printing at web quality makes for blurry, unfocused image. During this stage, you can also adjust the brightness, contrast, colour, hue, saturation, and sharpness. Doing this will give your photos the best quality they can achieve for photo printing.

3. Save your image.

After you’ve made the adjustments to the photo, it’s time to save it. The standard format in which to save photos is JPEG. These image files compress each time they are saved, meaning a bit of the quality is lost with each save, so don’t save them too often!

4. Time to print.

Your first concern should be that your printer is of photo quality. If not, you cannot expect to achieve high-quality results. When you go to print, be sure to set the printer on high quality or photo setting. This ensures your photo printer achieves optimum results. You should also use photo paper, which prevents bleeding, running and “muddiness.”

So the next time you want to try printing websites or photo printing, make sure you follow these easy steps. You’ll get the best results and have photo-quality pictures to show off to your family and friends. Now you know the photo printing tips to give you professional quality photos every time!

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