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Laser Printer Repair Technician

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"We need it fixed now" are the five words that laser printer repair technicians hear most often.

Technology for printers for the home and office has come a long way in the past few years. But computerized laser printers still require repairs or maintenance. And when a printer breaks down, it has to be fixed quickly.

"Virtually every machine we work on is essential," says laser printer repair technician Bob Adzima. "We fix them as soon as possible. Repair is done on an as-needed basis and most people will postpone a regular expense as long as possible. So when the machine finally stops working, the repair must be done as soon as possible."

Most problems are routine and can be diagnosed simply from a description over the telephone. The real challenges are the jobs that aren't obvious. They also can be the most frustrating, like Adzima's bout with a particular brand of laser printer.

"The display panel would notify the user that the fuser unit was bad and wasn't heating up. From a service perspective, this means simply changing or rebuilding the fuser unit. But on this particular model, it turned out that the power supply wasn't energizing the fuser unit. I found this out after changing the fuser unit with no result, and finally reaching a vendor who tipped me off to the problem. I replaced the power supply and the machine worked."

What was supposed to be a simple job for Adzima turned into a frustrating learning experience. But he wasn't quite finished.

"Over the years, several more of this same model experienced the same problem with the same fix. As this problem surfaced more and more in the repair industry, word spread, and soon an article was published that described how to fix the power supply. A simple solder was all it took. No new parts. No rebuilding of anything. The problem with the printer model was solved by many people over a period of time. It made me realize how important it is to read trade publications regularly."

"Some secretaries are very attached to their printer," says Gaeza Mihaly, a repair tech and business owner. "They like it when I can fix it quickly and on the spot." Mihaly's background includes working as a tool and die maker and a machinist before taking up computer technology and laser printer repair.

"Most of my service calls are basic and take about an hour. The biggest problem for printers here...is static electricity. It gets really cold and dry with no humidity in the winter and that harms the printers. You really have to watch out for static electricity."

Now a master technician, Jeanette Engro started because she needed a part-time job. "As time went on, I wanted to do more and so I applied to the laser printer technical program that all new techs...go through. I've always liked working with my hands and I find I can think problems out very well. It just came naturally."

Stuart Elflett recalls a few memorable printer jobs while working in Australia -- "like troubleshooting a dead printer for nearly 30 minutes before we came to the conclusion that it was turned off at the wall! Or the day we found a dead mouse in [a printer] that wasn't working and realized that its driver was dead. Or a customer obliterating a machine with an ozone filter that crumbled into the power supply as they were changing it."

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