Paper Cassette
The paper cassette, often also called the paper tray, is
the container to hold the stack of paper sheets to print
on.
Paper Feed
The paper feed is a rubber piece that takes a sheet of
paper from the paper cassette and sends it into the
printer system, beginning with the registration rollers.
Registration Roller
A soft rubber roller that collects the paper and passes it
towards the drum.
Exposure Lamp
The exposure lamp exists in most old and new systems
that copy an original document, and its purpose is to
supply light to the image of the original so the light
reflects off a series of lenses and optical mirrors and
projects the image onto the Drum.
Photoconductive Drum
The drum is an aluminum cylinder coated with a
photoconductive (light sensitive) film. The
photoconductive material reacts to the light and so the
image is formed on the drum as a series of active and
inactive areas of static electricity on the photoconductive
material. The intensity of light – perhaps by reflecting
the amount of colour or grey, black or white – from the
original document provides an intensity of electrical
charge on the photoconductive material, which is
created by the charge corona.
Charge Corona
The first of the two Corona components is the Charge
Corona, which is a thin wire in a metal slide, usually part
of the drum unit, with the purpose of producing an
electrical charge on the Drum where the light reacts with
the photoconductive film. This charge is to attract the
toner to the drum, as the toner unit consists of a
positively charged chemical.
Toner Unit
Toner is a powder which contains finely grounded dye
coloured plastic, and this will become ink when heated.
The unit also consists of something called ‘Developer’
which is a finely grounded metallic chemical with that
can be electrically charged. When the electrically
charged Drum rolls passed the toner unit, the developer
is attracted to the drum, and carries the toner along with
it onto the drum. Where there are colour toners, the
collection of toner units with different colour dyes sit in
parallel within proximity of the drum.
Transfer Corona
Much like the Charge Corona, the Transfer Corona is a
thin wire housed in a metal slide that electrically attracts
the toner from the drum onto the copy paper. At the
same time this component separates the electrically
charged paper away from the drum so the paper can
continue to the next stage of the process.
Fuser Unit
The Fuser Unit binds the toner to the paper, consisting
of two rollers, of which the upper one is heated to melt
the toner plastic and releasing the ink onto the paper as
the paper passes through the rollers. The upper fuser
roller is heated by a temperature-controlled lamp, and is
coated with a non-stick (and therefore easily cleanable)
silicon coating. The lower fuser roller is not heated, and
is generally just a soft silicon rubber.
Cleaning Unit
As the drum is not only charged but attracts the toner
with developer material to form the copy image on the
drum, the cleaning unit is designed to remove any
residue of the substances that form on the drum after the
Transfer Corona has transferred the necessary toner
representing the image onto th paper. The cleaning unit
consists of a magnetic roller and a cleaning blade. The
cleaning blade is simply a silicone rubber strip attached
to a metal bracket, and makes physical contact with the
Drum to remove the residue.
Paper Transport
The Paper Transport is a carriage system that holds
together the process of copying by consisting of a series
of rubber rollers and planes to facilitate the copy paper’s
passage along the process.
Paper Tray
The Paper Tray – also known as the ‘catch tray’ – is
often an optional extension to the exit location for the
copy paper, allowing the paper to stack more efficiently
with less risk of paper falling off the printer exit shelf.
CCD and other Electronics
In digital copiers, there are additional components to
digitise the copied image before it is transported to the
physical copying process. These components include a
CCD (Charge Couple Device) which acts as a sensor to
the image light from the lamp/mirror, and converts it into
a series of charges that represents the formation of the
image from the light.
The signal is then passed on to other electronics on a
circuit board within the copier, such as an ‘Analogue to
Digital Converter’. On the output of the circuit, the signal
is passed to a laser gun which forms the image as light
again onto mirrors towards the photosensitive drum. The
purpose of the electronics is to add a stage of refinement
and flexibility to the copy.