Printing and Troubleshooting

Types of printers	Dot matrix	A dot matrix printer uses a printing head that contains up to 24 tiny wires. Each wire is pressed against the inked ribbon by electrical signals in the printer, producing dots on the page that form letters, numbers, and other characters. Dot matrix printers are noisy compared to other types of printers. Paper usually uses a tractor feed. Dot matrix printers are "impact" printers.
	Ink jet	An ink jet printer sprays tiny droplets of ink on the paper producing very sharp characters. Paper is placed in a tray for friction loading. Ink jet printers can print between 1 and 8 ppm (pages per minute). Ink jet printers are "nonimpact" printers.
	Laser	A laser printer uses a miniature laser beam and a fine powder that works like ink called "toner" to print extremely clear characters. Paper is placed in a tray for friction loading. Laser printers can print up to 40 ppm (pages per minute). Laser printers are "nonimpact" printers.
Paper loading:	Tractor feed	Paper is moved by rotating wheels with pins that go into holes along the sides of the paper. The paper is usually "fanfold" and after printing must be separated into individual pages. Some paper for tractor feed printers has the holes' edge strip that can be removed from the rest of the paper after printing. Most dot matrix printers use this type of paper feed. Paper is loaded by inserting the pins in the holes on each side of the paper and closing the clamps that hold the paper in place. It is important that the paper is straight.
	Friction feed	Paper is moved by rotating one or both of a pair of spring-loaded rubber-coated rollers with the paper sandwiched between them. As the rollers wear out, slipping and jamming takes place more often. Special paper is not necessary; standard typing or copying paper may be used. Ink jet and laser printers use this type of paper feed. Paper is frequently placed in a drawer - just be sure the paper is pressed down under the lip of the paper guide. Paper may also be placed in a tray - usually reserved for special paper - doesn't hold has much paper as a drawer.
Print sharing	You must have logged into the network properly to use the shared printers. You can install a shared printer by locating it on the server, double click, follow the online instructions. You may set a "default" printer: Start - Settings - Printers - right click the printer you want - click Set As Default
Troubleshooting	Make sure you know which printer you are using. In the toolbar, pause at the print button, a sign will tell you the name of the printer; from File, go to Print, drop down and select the name of the correct printer.
	Not ready	Press the ready button
	Out of Paper	load paper
	Wrong type of paper	cancel job at printer, change setting at your computer
	Wrong paper size	cancel job at printer, change setting at your computer, load paper properly
	Wrong "tray"	cancel job at printer, change setting at your computer or load correctly

Skills Needed
4th Graders	5th Graders	6th Graders
Print sharing	Do all 4th grade items	Do all 4th & 5th grade items
Types of printers - dot matrix, inkjet, laser	Loading paper, friction/tractor feeds	Troubleshooting (on-line, paper in, retry, delete everything from queue)

Printers and Printing