How to clean printer rollers: efficient ways

If you want your printer roller to work efficiently, you should clean it properly. Here are useful tips that will help you to clean your machine correctly.

How to clean printer rollers

If you make a lot of printing, your printer roller gets dirty quickly. Paper rollers will accumulate dust and that will affect your document’s quality.

Clean HP printer rollers regularly in order to avoid problems, such as black marks and paper jams.

The roller cleaning process is not hard at all, so you can manage to do it yourself. Here are the most efficient ways.

Cleaning paper tray rollers

You’ll need:

• tablespoon of isopropyl alcohol
• cleaning stuff and lint-free cloth

Your actions:

Before starting the cleaning, turn off and unplug the HP printer. Remove the paper tray carefully. Pull out the paper tray rollers (they’re black or gray and made of rubber) and remove the printer rollers carefully.

Then pour the isopropyl alcohol onto a lint-free cloth and wipe the paper tray rollers. By the way, you can use water for the same purpose. While wiping, make sure that you’re removing all the dust and debris.

After cleaning, fold the lint-free cloth in half and wipe the paper tray rollers one more time in order to remove all the dust and debris particles.

When you’ve finished your cleaning, you should take another clean piece of tissue (it should be dry) and wipe the printer rollers dry.

Make sure that your rollers are dry, and no debris remains, and then place them back into your HP printer.

Cleaning the internal pickup roller

You’ll need:

• tablespoon of isopropyl alcohol
• clean pieces of lint-free cloth

Your actions:

As usual, turn off the HP printer and unplug it. Then open the printer’s door and pull out the printer’s toner cartridge. Remove the paper tray gently.

Then locate the internal pickup roller (usually it should be gray or black and made of rubber) of the HP printer. Gently lift the roller upwards and pull it out of the printer.

Place the roller on a clean surface, such as a desk. Make sure that there is no dust on it.

Take one tablespoon of isopropyl alcohol or water, if you don’t have some, and pour it on the lint-free cloth.

Gently scrub the internal pickup roller. During the roller cleaning, try to remove all the dust and debris.

Then take another piece of dry lint-free cloth and wipe the internal pickup roller dry. Make sure that you remove all the remaining dust and debris.

Consider that your roller should be completely dry.

Finally, snap the pickup roller back into the HP printer. Fit it in the toner cartridge carefully and close the door of the printer.

Read this article if you also want to know How to Clean Rubber Rollers.

Useful tips on cleaning HP printer rollers

Here are a few moments that you should consider while you clean HP printer rollers. They will help you to simplify and clarify the clean process. Use these beneficial tips and everything will be fine.

• You should try to clean the printer roller properly. However, overcleaning can badly affect the printer rollers, so try not to put too much effort into making your printer perfectly clean.
• When you clean the roller with a lint-free cloth, try not to bring harm to the paper tray rollers. They are fragile and you can easily smash them if you are not very careful.
• After you’ve cleaned your HP printer, you better make sure that you’ve fitted all the parts of the printer properly. Plug in the HP printer and check whether it works normally or not.
• If you use the HP printer on a regular basis, you should manage to clean HP printer rollers regularly. It will improve the quality of your prints and will really help your printer’s work. It’s recommended to do the roller cleaning every month, especially if you have difficulties with the work of the printer.

FAQ

If you still have any questions about the printer roller cleaning, look through frequently asked questions and find the answers here.

When do you need a roller cleaning?

If you don’t clean HP printer rollers regularly, you can face some printing difficulties. Such problems as streaking on the laser printers, printers not grabbing paper, frequent paper jams, skipping lines, black streaks, and others are serious reasons to clean rollers.

Any strips, spots, or marks left on the documents after printing is not okay. For instance, if you notice some of the documents printed on the HP inkjet printer, this means that a drop of ink has spilled on the paper tray roller, thus leaving strips on the paper.

Also, the inkjet printers can leave lines as the ink is dry. You should clean rollers to fix this problem.

Paper jams are another serious problem. It may be caused by the paper particles stuck in your printer. If you notice this, manage to clean HP printer rollers. It will solve the problem of paper jams.

If your printer doesn’t feed paper, manage to clean the paper feed roller or replace the transfer roller.

Can I replace the rollers myself?

If your printer doesn’t work well, there can be a problem with paper tray rollers that cannot be fixed. Sometimes the only way is to replace the rollers. Don’t be afraid, it’s not hard at all. You can change the rollers yourself.

To do it, you should remove the front cover and place the printer rollers at the center of the paper tray. Then pull out the roller gently and place the new pickup roller into its place. Don’t forget to replace the front accessory plate.

How to find the printer rollers?

While looking for the paper roller, you should understand where is it. The HP inkjet printer rollers are usually placed on the bottom above the paper tray, not on it. Find the area of the printer where the paper tray slides into it.

The laser printers rollers also can be found near the paper tray. However, in some printer types, you’ll have to open the printer’s access panel and remove the toner cartridge to reach the rollers.

Final words

Just remember that cleaning the printer roller is not hard at all. You can do it, just try.

To sum up, we would like to emphasize that roller cleaning is very important as it will help you to avoid many printing problems.

Watch your document’s printing quality and clean your HP printer rollers regularly.

Also read our article: How to get why is my printer printing lines.