Many businesses and consumers choose laser printers for their printing needs. Though more expensive than common inkjet and dot matrix printers, the print quality from a laser printer is excellent. Laser printing is high contrast, easy to read, and permanent on most paper.
Laser printers do not use a laser to burn text and images onto the paper. Instead, they use an innovative application of static electricity to render the image and bond it permanently to the paper.
How they work
Laser printers are mechanically more complex when compared to inkjet or dot matrix printers. A typical laser printer has many key components that must all work together to print properly. The major parts of a laser printer include the paper tray, toner cartridge, drum assembly, corona wires, fuser, and feed rollers.
When printing signals are sent from a computer to the laser printer, many mechanical operations happen simultaneously. Inside the printer, a tiny laser beam (hence the name "laser printer") traces the image and text from the computer on a rotating drum that is sensitive to light. The areas that are hit by the laser beam become charged with static electricity. The next step is to make the toner, a heat-sensitive fine black powder, adhere to the traced image.
To accomplish this, paper is pulled from the paper tray into the printer by the feed rollers. It is next passed over the corona wire where it too is charged with static electricity"the opposite charge of the drum. The paper is rolled over the drum and the toner is transferred to the surface of the paper only on the areas traced by the laser. The paper, its surface now coated with toner, is passed through a very hot fuser where the toner is melted into the fibers of the paper. The feed rollers then send the printed paper out of the printer....
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