Printing documents is usually a straightforward and hassle-free task that anyone is capable of doing perfectly. However, sometimes things can go wrong and you might have no idea why. For instance, the letters may come out all blurred and almost unreadable and you might wonder, why is my printer printing blurry? If this is the case, there is no need to panic. It’s quite a common problem and there are several possible solutions you can try to fix it.
1. Reasons for Printer Printing Blurry
Whether you are printing an office document, a school report, or perhaps an announcement for the community billboard, it won’t be of any use if the print is blurry. Instead of getting stressed out, you simply need to figure out the cause behind the problem so that you can find the corresponding solution. Ask yourself, why does my printer print blurry? Here are some of the most common reasons.
Paper Is Too Thick
Printers have a limit as to the thickness of paper that they can accommodate. If you try to use a sheet of paper that is beyond the capacity of the printer, the mechanism of the printer for pushing the paper through might not work properly. This causes smearing or blurring in the print output.
Likewise, on printers that accept bigger size paper or use a rolling mechanism for feeding the paper into the machine, it is not advisable to print on both sides of the paper. If you have already printed on one side and you try to feed it into the printer for a second pass, the print on the first side might get damaged.
In order to avoid these kinds of blurring issues, it would be a good idea to check the specifications of your printer with regard to the paper that you are actually allowed to use.
Cartridge Is Contaminated
It is only natural for dust and other contaminants to build up in the internal parts of the printer over time. Even if the printer is in an enclosed and relatively clean environment, like the office or your home, minute particles can still accumulate little by little.
If there is already a considerable amount of buildup, this can spread across the paper along with the print head and cause the ink to become blurred or smudged before it gets the chance to dry.
You can’t completely prevent dust from entering your printer as they will find a way in even if you cover your printer. What you can do is clean your cartridge and print head regularly as instructed in the printer’s user manual.
Ink Is Not Yet Dry
On most regular types of paper, the drying time is quite fast and it takes just a few seconds for the ink to completely dry. But for some types of media, the ink will require a longer time to dry. If you handle the sheet before the ink has fully dried, then there is a good chance that the ink will smear, resulting in blurry print output.
You must take special caution with transparencies and other non-absorbent media that require a much longer time for the ink to bond with the surface.
Print Has Been Exposed to Liquids
Direct exposure to liquid can instantly cause a freshly printed piece of document to blur, even if the ink has already dried. There are several ways that this can happen. Your hands might be damp when picking up the sheets of paper, or there might be some condensation on the table where you laid down the sheets.
Most types of printer inks do react to moisture by blurring or spreading across the surface of the media. But there are also some special inks that have the ability to resist moisture, like laser ink or solid ink. You can use these inks if you expect that the printout might be exposed to liquids or moisture.
2. Solutions to Fix Printer Printing Blurry
Aside from the preventive measures that were mentioned for each of the reasons above, there are a few other things that you can do to fix the blurring of your printer.
Update the Printer Driver
If you have not used your printer for a long time and the print is blurred when finally do use it, you might have to update the printer driver. Just go to your computer’s Device Manager, right-click on the name of your printer and click on Update Driver. Choose the automatic update and just wait until it’s done.
Check the Ink Levels
An insufficient level of ink in the cartridges is one of the common causes of blurring in prints. Quite simply, there isn’t enough ink anymore to produce high-quality output so you have to replace it immediately. Checking the ink levels is a simple process but the steps vary among different printers. To make sure that you do it properly, you should consult your printer’s user manual.
Clean the Print Head Nozzles
As mentioned in the above section, contaminated print heads can cause problems with printing and leave you wondering, why does my printer print blurry? If you don’t clean your print head nozzles regularly, this might be the problem. Again, different printers have different methods for cleaning so you have to check the user manual for the exact steps to follow.
Check the Alignment
When you change your ink cartridges, or if you have not used your printer for a long time, an alignment check needs to be performed to ensure that it prints properly. Simply follow the instructions in the device maintenance menu in order to do this. Sometimes it takes a few tries before the cartridges are aligned perfectly, which is quite normal.
Adjust the Printer Settings
In some cases, all you have to do in order to fix a blurry print is to make adjustments to the printer setting. Your printer might be configured to produce only the lowest quality print, which may be the reason for the blurry output. Try increasing the quality to a higher setting and see if this eliminates the blurring issue.
Conclusion
There are indeed several possible reasons and solutions for blurry printing. The next time this happens to you, you know what to do. Just tell yourself – my printer is printing blurry, these are the solutions that you can try to fix the problem.