Now Christmas is virtually upon us, most printers will be preparing for their seasonal break. But buying the presents and ordering the turkey is only part of the job. You need to make sure your printers are in tip-top shape for the long period of inactivity. The last thing you need on January 2nd is printers that have seized up and printheads that are blocked.

Check your maintenance now
December can be a rush of getting out last minute print jobs and making time for staff parties and Secret Santa, but make sure you schedule time for that necessary maintenance. Prevention is better than cure, and this certainly holds true of printers left idle of the Christmas break. If lack of maintenance means there’s a problem getting your printer up and running again after the break, you’ll kick yourself – and the last thing you want to do is start the New Year with stoppages, unfulfilled orders and a loss of revenue.

Preventative maintenance
Check with your manufacturer’s manual, or directly with the manufacturer, to make sure that you’re following the correct maintenance schedule for each of your printers. Then ensure that all your operators know what needs to be carried out daily, monthly and annually to keep your printers in good working condition. If you need to use certain maintenance kit or consumables, check that you have a good supply of what’s required, such as cleaning fluids.

Establish a maintenance schedule
The important thing about maintenance is consistency. Just remembering it occasionally isn’t good enough, so you need to establish a schedule of responsibility for daily and weekly chores. This will allow you to monitor whether it’s being done. Cleaning printheads and nozzles are daily tasks, while the printer should be more thoroughly cleaned on a weekly basis. Pick a certain day of the week for this and adhere to it.

Understand your printer
If you know how to maintain and calibrate your printer, the chances are that you’ll be able to spot something going awry before it becomes catastrophic. If you discover ongoing print defects, investigate your cleaning and maintenance efforts and make any necessary adjustments to get your printing back on track. It might be something as simple as a blocked nozzle that’s causing the problem – and your new maintenance routine will pick this up.

Proper maintenance will mean less downtime and less revenue lost, so make sure you stay on top of it. If you have any questions about regular printer maintenance for your particular model, our print experts will be happy to help. Call them on 01268 724570 or email sales@sedolitd.co.uk .