Scanner Maintenance Tips

Often times, we get calls from our customers describing issues which can be easily avoided with the proper education. To help our readers get a better idea of how to keep their scanners in tip-top shape, check out our weekly feature on simple instructions for scanner maintenance.

Drive Rollers:

This week, we'll be discussing drive rollers - one of the most sensitive and easily damaged parts of a scanner. They’re the round little pieces (typically rubber) which hold documents in place once they’ve been fed into the device. Drive rollers are one of the most common reasons for document misalignment – any imperfections on the rollers will cause the document to be asymmetrically fed into the device, resulting in misaligned images. Dirt, grime and accumulated filth on the surface of the rollers are a common cause for this issue. In order to clean them, it’s important to use the right materials: rather than using rubbing alcohol or a synthetic cleaner, it’s important to use just a tiny bit of water on a lint-free cloth – using anything else may cause the rollers to lose some of their friction, and frictionless rollers won’t be able to correctly feed documents into a scanner. Similarly, it’s important to make sure that the rollers don’t become damaged. The best way to do this is to ensure that the documents you’re feeding into your scanner are suitable for the device – check your document’s thickness certification to make sure the documents you’ve been scanning aren’t too thick or bulky. Also, if you’re scanning on a rough paper type make sure your scanner is properly equipped to handle the additional strain which heavy-duty paper can cause.

If your drive rollers have become damaged, we offer replacements on all of our supported devices. Feel free to reach out to us through our support line if you'd like to request replacement rollers for your scanner.