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How do I tell if my rollers need cleaning / replacement on my scanner?
Steve Polasky – Senior Customer Support Specialist
So your scanner is mis-feeding, double-feeding, jamming, etc. What are you to do?
Mis-Feed: The scanner rollers spin and spin but no paper is being drawn into the automatic document feeder (ADF). The “pick” or “feed” roller (PA03289-0001) is either dirty or worn-out and needs replacement. The feed roller is the roller that is touching the first page of the batch to be scanned. If it is dirty, clean it with an emulsifier cleaner (853-5981) to remove the toner and paper dust from the pores of the roller without harming the rubber / plastic material. If it is smooth and shiny, or has tears, holes, gouges in its surface, then it is time for replacement.
Double-Feed: The scanner rollers spin and more than one page will feed in at the same time. The feed roller is fine, but the “separator” roller (Y004100, 828-0604) is dirty or worn-out and needs replacement. The separator roller is the one that is holding back the rest of the pages of the batch to allow the feed roller to pull-in just one page at a time. . If it is dirty, clean it with an emulsifier cleaner to remove the toner and paper dust from the pores of the roller without harming the rubber / plastic material. If it is smooth and shiny, or has tears, holes, or gouges in its surface, then it is time for replacement.
Jamming: The scanner rollers spin and only one piece of paper is being drawn into the automatic document feeder (ADF), but it either stops, or makes a crunch / loud noise and stops the scanner. The rollers are fine, but there is some debris somewhere in the path that the paper travels between the ADF and the exit tray of your scanner. It might be small pieces of paper, staples, paper clips, hole punch remnants, rubber bands, stickers, string, etc. and needs to be carefully removed.
Cleaning: Clean the rollers first with an emulsifier cleaner (853-5981). Then, clean the camera lens or imaging glass of your scanner with an optical quality anti-static cleaner. Use canned air carefully and sparingly so as not to damage the camera lens. Some scanner manufacturers will recommend using isopropyl alcohol to clean the rollers and glass. This is fine for roller materials that can stand it without deteriorating; some of the rollers will breakdown and experience reduced life with alcohol. Check your manual or scanner website recommendations. Transport Cleaning Sheets (S003391, 169-0783) can be used for a light roller when you do not want to spend a lot of time taking apart rollers to clean them.
How often to Clean: Clean whenever the image quality / paper feeding is negatively effected by dirt and debris. This may be every 5,000 to 20,000 pages depending upon how dirty your documents are. It could be once a month, once a week, or several times a day depending on the volume and frequency of your scanning.
