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Tables of test pages of laser printers. How to test the quality of inkjet ink at home. Printing a test page without a PC

Testing finished products is one of the most important tasks in the production of remanufactured cartridges. The amount of marriage that is inevitable in any work and, accordingly, the amount of money lost depends largely on how correctly this operation is staged.

For testing cartridges laser printers often used is to print the printer's built-in demo or configuration page. This method is very simple and allows you to see catastrophic defects with which the cartridge cannot be returned to the client. But there are a number of problems that simply cannot be seen in this way.

(pdf, 435KB) will identify most existing and potential problems in remanufactured monochrome cartridges. Each of these pages has its own functional purpose. Also, for correct diagnosis, great importance the order of the pages in the series. The series pages are designed for use in printers that print A4 in portrait orientation, i.e. short edge forward.

The main purpose of the first page in a series is to measure print density and background level in accordance with the standard ASTM F2036. To do this, there are five black and four white squares on the page. We will not tell here how to measure these quantities correctly, because There is a text for this. We only note that measurements require a densitometer with a division value of 0.001, immediately before printing this page, at least 10 pages with 5% coverage must be printed, and the measurement data must be averaged taking into account the logarithmic nature of the densitometer readings. For those who do not need or have access to densitometer measurements, this page provides an overall visual evaluation of the print, including the print quality of text at various sizes, halftone reproduction, and the presence of conspicuous print defects.

Next page in series « empty". Its purpose is visual detection of defects such as " black on white» (black on white defects - BOW). On this page, the background, dark stripes, dots and spots are clearly visible, as well as the repetition of the image from the previous page. In order to be able to see the repeat, and also to avoid "false alarms", such as toner smudges that are often "skimmed" from various printer components by the first sheet passed through the printer, this page comes second in the series.

Further, after a blank page is printed solid black page. On this page, defects like " white on black"(white on black defects - WOB) - light stripes of dots and spots. Also, on this page, you can determine the uniformity of the solid fill, the quality of fixing (rub the page with your finger), and whether the "fluidity" of the toner used is sufficient. Toner with insufficient "fluidity" on this page gives a characteristic lightening of the print after a distance equal to the circumference of the magnetic shaft (developer shaft) from the leading edge of the sheet to the trailing edge. An example is shown below. If this page is the first in a series, or pages with high page coverage are printed before it, then this pattern can often be seen with normal toner. Therefore, its location immediately after a blank page makes practical sense.

Insufficient "fluidity" of the toner (the stripe per rotation of the magnetic roller at the top of the page is darker)

The fourth page allows you to define text print quality over the entire area of the sheet and allows the magnetic shaft (developing shaft) to collect enough toner after the previous "malevich" for normal printing of the fifth page - a solid gray fill.

On the gray page defects of the dosing blade (longitudinal light stripes), unstable contacts or beats of the rotating components of the cartridge (alternating light and dark transverse stripes), as well as defects such as " black on black» (black on black defects - BOB), which are associated with the accumulation of static charge on the components of the cartridge, or with damage to the magnetic shaft (developing shaft), PCR, drum. Below are some typical defects that can only be seen on a page with a gray fill.

Unstable contact of the magnetic shaft (transverse light stripes).

Using the latest pages for early diagnosis of charge rollers already described in the PCR article. Again, one or two faint repetitions of the letter "G" in the gray boxes is normal, more clearly visible repetitions at an interval equal to the circumference of the drum, indicates a problem with the charge roller (in rare cases with the drum). Again, in order to avoid “false alarms”, the drum must make a sufficient number of charge-discharge cycles before printing such a page, respectively, the location of this page is the last in the series is not accidental. Also on this page you can often see repetitions with an interval of the magnetic roller, indicating the inability of the system to fully restore the required amount of toner on the magnetic roller. More than two such distinct repetitions on a page are usually an additional signal to replace the magnetic roller sheath and doctor blade, but may also indicate the use of the wrong toner.

To connect to a computer at the same time a large number of test printers, you can use the USB hub. Currently, there is a wide range of such devices available at affordable prices. It is important that the hub and connection cables comply with the USB2.0 specification.

If a check is installed in the cartridges, then to check it is necessary to pour the toner directly onto the magnetic roller and evenly distribute it over the surface. To do this, it is convenient to use a funnel with a narrow neck. TOOL---SC-TPS90, which is screwed onto SCC toner bottles. The proposed test series of pages in terms of coverage is equivalent to approximately 38 pages with 5% coverage, i.e. its printing consumes 0.7 - 1.5 g of toner. A test dose of about 2 g of toner is sufficient for testing, and 3-5 black pages sent after printing the test almost completely removes the toner from the magnetic roller.

If a chip is installed on the cartridge, in order to prevent the test printer from writing various information to the chip, installation of a new chip must be done AFTER the test , and when testing on the cartridge, either the old chip or the chip must be removed. The error message on the printer will need to be reset in this case.

To check the print quality of printers in our laboratory, a special set of tests has been developed, used in various combinations, depending on the type and class of the printer.

For testing monochrome and color laser printers, the complex looks like this:

1. Print speed. Where applicable, the print speed of the printer is measured using the Xerox recommended 5% coverage sample (PDF sample ).

A job is sent to the printer from several copies of the above document (to improve accuracy as a rule, 2N + 1 or 3N + 1 copies, where N is the print speed declared by the manufacturer), then the first print output time is subtracted from the result, and then the “net” print speed is calculated .

2. A set of control fonts. The original file in the vector CDR format of the Corel Draw program can be obtained

3. Universal test set of vector elements. Especially for testing color laser printers in raster gradient modules of each color, a 512-step fill is used. Radial lines serve to check the quality of the combination of yellow (Yellow) and turquoise (Cyan) colors for the synthesis of green shades. A 1 pt thick helix is placed in the center of the 90-point star. The original file in the vector CDR format of the Corel Draw program can be obtained

4. Comprehensive Test Color Chart IT8 Reference Target for a comprehensive check of the quality of printing raster images. Printable TIFF image placed

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To evaluate the quality of inkjet ink, three types of test pages: TF1, TF2 and TF3.

TF1 test page used to test the quality of color inks. It allows you to analyze the ability of ink to produce accurate color reproduction of shades and midtones.

Sample TF1 Test Files

The TF1 test page is printed on standard A4 paper. It is a combination of monochrome and color images, multi-colored square "dice" and areas with a gradient fill from zero to one hundred percent.

Using the TF1 test page, you can objectively evaluate the color reproduction of any one inkjet ink, as well as organize comparative testing of several types of ink.

To determine the color quality of the inkjet inks, the resulting TF1 test pages are digitized using a color scanner. The resulting files are used to determine the RGB components in certain areas of the page. For this, using graphic editor Adobe Photoshop fixes the result of the transmission of the primary colors of the ink, and the resulting data is entered into the color table. The resulting table allows you to determine the coefficient of correct reproduction of ink of various colors and shades. This coefficient is calculated by the formula:

The formula for determining the coefficient of correctness

The lower the correctness factor for the reproduction of colors and shades, the more accurate color reproduction will be provided by inkjet ink for the printer.

The data from the inkjet color quality test allows us to plot a graph where we plot distance on the x-axis and pixel values on the y-axis. We connect the dots and get a single line, the dips and peaks on which indicate an unbalanced color reproduction. If dips and peaks are absent, then the color reproduction is balanced. The recommended range of deviations for RGB values should not exceed 255.

The next test page that is used to evaluate the quality of inkjet ink is the TF2 page.

TF2 test page

TF2 test page is a PDF file consisting of several groups of elements, which, in turn, include six independent parts, located vertically and horizontally. The groups of elements of the TF2 test page are numbered, with each previous element slightly larger than the next. The print quality of the smallest elements of the test page determines the resolution of the ink jet.

The TF2 test pages are used to test monochrome and color inks for inkjet printing. TF2 pages are printed on A4 paper. In this case, when testing monochrome inks, standard office paper is used, and when testing color inks, photographic paper is used.

The third type of test pages are TF3 files used to determine the quality of monochrome black ink.

As a rule, immediately after purchasing a brand new printer, users need to check it for quality. To check the quality and performance of the printer, there are special test pages. In addition, these same sheets can also be used to clean the print head, which is prone to clogging over time.

A test page is a special image for checking the black and white or color printing of the printer, which you just need to print on your device.

To use the test page, select the desired image in the article, right-click on it and select "Open image in new tab" .

The screen will display the picture in full size, on which you need to right-click and select the item "Save Image As" .

Next, connect your printer to your computer, installing the necessary drivers if necessary, and then turn it on. Right-click on the saved image and select "Print". In the window that appears, select your printer and start printing.