Printer test

At some point, there will certainly be a need to profile and check the print quality of a particular printer. You can, of course, print out various photos and peer at the transitions of different colors, but it is much easier to use special test pages for this.

What is a printer test

There are various test pages that allow you to test your device:

• color test page;
• text for diagnosing color devices;
• page for checking facial skin colors;
• mixed test for diagnosing color and black and white printouts;
• to determine gray shades;
• page for diagnosing the alignment of the print head in the printer;
• black and white test page;
• three-color page printout to determine the quality of colors in a three-color range;
• completely black page for cleaning the black print head nozzles or determining the fill quality for black and white printers.

Why do you need a test on a color printer?

When setting up the device and checking its functionality, as a rule, a regular test page (“Printers and Faxes” - “Test Page”) is sufficient.

But in the case of inkjet equipment, especially if this device is not new and the ink in the head nozzles is probably a little dry, a more color printout may be necessary, which shows how each color is printed separately in a specific line.

How to use the printer test

In the field of printing and device repair, nozzles are special elements on the print head of equipment. They are also often called nozzles. All nozzles “shoot” ink at the required time. If one or more nozzles are dirty or broken, the final sheet may be printed with gaps - “stripes”. The number of nozzles on a cartridge or print head can be more than 100 pieces (in some cases, more than 1000), taking into account the purpose of the printer.

Important! Nozzle testing is a test of the device, printed on a sheet showing the number of working and non-working nozzles.

Why do you need to check the nozzles? By printing a test page, you can immediately see which colors are used, which are printed with gaps, and in what order the ink enters the head. If you have problems with the quality of printed text, first you need to print a test page of nozzles, comparing it with the print standard.

To perform a nozzle test on devices, you need to perform the following steps:

• go to the “Start” menu, find the “Control Panel” tab and go to “Printer Properties” or “Printers and Faxes”, taking into account the installed OS. A window will appear indicating the installed device;
• If the equipment is turned on and connected to the PC, its label will be brightly highlighted, unlike other unconnected printers. Next, you need to right-click on the connected device and select “Printing settings”;
• in the new window you need to find the “Service” tab and click on it;
• in the “Service” tab you need to find the “Nozzle check” menu, read the description of this function and click on this item;
• in a new window you need to read the information, fulfill the conditions specified in it and click “Print”.
• Another new window will appear, which will show the nozzle printing standard for a specific device model and testing of nozzles with a probable problem (with a certain number of dirty nozzles), as well as the “Ready” and “Clean” operating modes of the device.

If the text picture matches the standard (indicated “Good”), then all nozzles are working in normal mode and the device will produce high-quality text, but if there are gaps during the test mode, then cleaning will be required, for which you need to press the “Cleaning” key.

Important! It is not recommended to perform more than two cleanings in a row, as you can clog the cleaning counter and thus create a lot of problems. This most often applies to Epson equipment. After several cleanings, it is best to let the printer sit for 2-3 hours, then print the test document again and, as a rule, it turns out in accordance with the standard; if this does not happen, then you need to find a problem in the ink when feeding or directly in the device .

Most often, it is possible to check the nozzles without the participation of a PC, by pressing a certain key combination on the device’s instrument panel.

When summing up, it is necessary to focus on the demand for functions. Typically, multifunctional devices are used for printing, followed by photocopies and scanning (fax mode is not considered in this case). In all modes, you need to separately evaluate the quality of text and drawing. Additionally, it is necessary to take into account the resistance of the ink to moisture and highlighting with a marker.