Happy Tuesday, office warrior!

I see you have come back for even more words of wisdom from your friendly local copier geek. Let’s dive into a subject that I am sure EVERYONE loves to hate: Paper Jams.

Yes, you read that right. We’re gonna talk about paper jams and WHY they happen.

There you are, printing out all your documents. You see, you’re in a rush to print out everything you need because you forgot to earlier, and the deadline is staring you right in the face. You’re almost done, down to the last few pages when…………

……….Grrrrrrrrr……….CLUNK! Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep! PAPER JAMMED!

You look at the copier, seemingly defeated, you drop to your knees, and let out a “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” loud enough to be heard round the world. You start to panic, looking for the nearest colleague or phone to call for help.

BUT WAIT! You read the CopyLady blog! You draw on the knowledge you gained from the various posts! You look at your faithful copier, and it happily tells you where that jam happened, and how to clear it out! You do that, knowing that there’s a 50/50 chance that it’ll either finish your document that you’re now mere seconds away from the deadline on, or it’ll just jam again.

You pray to the office Gods as the machine continues the task, asking them to let the rest of your document print without another jam. The Gods smile upon you, and your document finishes successfully without another jam. You manage to make the deadline with mere seconds to spare. You wipe the sweat from your forehead, and conclude your day.

Now with that harrowing tale of office adventures out of the way, let’s dive into WHY jams happen. One common misconception about paper jams is that there is usually something wrong with the copier itself.

While an equipment issue can be the cause of a jam, that is not always the case. Let’s go over a few things that can cause a copier or printer to get stuck or try to eat your documents.

1. BAD PAPER – This one doesn’t make itself apparent to most, but the paper itself can cause jams. Take the paper out of the tray, and fan it out from all sides. Ensure none of the sheets are sticking together. Inspect the ends of the paper. They should be perfectly flat. If they are wavy, then the paper has retained moisture. This can cause it to jam up. Ensure that there are no folds, tears or other damage to the sheets.

2. WRONG PAPER SETTING: Jams can also happen if you have the paper size or type set wrong, either on the copier itself, or even in your print driver settings. Ensure that the settings for a specific tray match the paper size and type that you have in the tray.

3. PAPER IMPROPERLY LOADED: Improper loading of a paper tray can also cause jams, along with other issues such as skewed prints. Ensure that all paper is loaded in an even stack, and that the tray guides are set tight against the paper.

4. PAPER TRAY OVERLOADED: Just because it fits, does not mean you should do it. Putting too much paper in a tray can not only cause jams, but can also damage feed components. All paper trays have a max fill line that you must observe to prevent issues.

5. WRONG PRINT DRIVER: Having the wrong print drivers on your PC can also cause jams, among a whole host of other errors and issues, such as quality problems. Be sure you have the manufacturer supplied print drivers installed for your make and model.

6. DEBRIS IN PAPER PATH: Foreign objects in the paper path, such as bits of ripped paper, staples, etc, can cause jams. Paper chunks are the most common thing to find clogging up the works, especially after clearing a previous jam where the whole sheet failed to come out. If you cannot easily or safely remove stuck debris, call CopyLady.

WATCH OUT: Do NOT attempt to remove debris from the fuser. This part of your copier is EXTREMELY HOT. Mishandling can result in burns and damage to the equipment. Let our highly trained technicians address this. If you are removing paper that is stuck in this area, power the machine OFF and allow it to cool.

7. PAPER NOT DESIGNED FOR COPIER: You can’t just feed any type of paper into your machine. While plain copy paper is 100% acceptable, as well as types such as cardstock, thick, colored, and some gloss papers, there are some that can cause issues, such as wax coated paper, some types of labels, and oddly shaped pieces of paper.

As for labels, you must use Copier labels. Copier labels are designed for use in high speed copy machines, whereas standard laser/inkjet labels are not. Running standard labels in your copier can not only cause jams, but the labels can come off in the machine and get stuck to various components, such as imaging drums, which can lead to degraded print quality. Avery’s 5351 and 5353 labels are specifically designed for high speed copy machines.

8. MECHANICAL ISSUES: This is something that you would call CopyLady for. Issues such as worn feed rollers, etc are something that our technicians will address. Call us if you have exhausted all other options.

And there you have it. Some of the most common causes of paper jams that you will encounter. With this knowledge, you too can conquer the evil that is the paper jam. You can fight paper jams by simply referencing this post.

Soldier on, warrior of the office!