subject: Understanding photocopiers - Reprographics [print this page] When it comes to standard office equipment, the photocopier is one of the typical additions to most offices. However, these days, photocopiers come in all forms, including multifunction printers that can perform the functions of photocopiers, scanners, printers and fax machines. There are also all-in-one units available for home use, including inkjet printers that may have a copying function. When you place your originals on the glass, have you ever stopped to consider just how your photocopier works?
How do photocopiers work?
Even though the machines have an updated look, the technology behind reprographics and photocopiers has remained more or less the same throughout the years. Photocopying is a fairly simple and highly efficient process that makes fast and accurate duplicates of your documents.
1. When you place the original on the glass, the first thing the photocopier does is shine an intense beam of light across your document. The light is reflected on the lighter parts of the paper, which creates an impression of your document.
2. The impression is then transferred on to an electrically charged drum in the photocopier. Only certain parts of the drum will become charged with static electricity.
3. The charged drum is then dusted over with toner - and the very fine toner particles are attracted to the static electricity of the drum. The other parts of the drum remain blank.
4. The machine then passes a sheet of paper over the toner covered drum. The black toner particles adhere to the paper, which is then heat treated so that the toner sticks to the page. The final result is your copy.
The whole copying process takes just a couple seconds - so it is one of the quickest ways to make fast duplicates of your black and white documents. Meanwhile, if you're looking to make colour copies, the process is the same, but the page is passed through multiple colours of toner: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
You don't need to understand how your photocopier works to know how handy and helpful they are in your office. From multifunction printers to scanners and fax machines, there's a office document solution for you.
