Printer paper transport issues are a pain to troubleshoot because there are any number of things that can cause an inkjet printer not to feed paper correctly. More often than not when you start having transport issues, it’s the rollers, and there are a few tool-free things you can try to get rollers working again.

Now before continuing, a few points:

1. Don’t touch the inside of your printer (other than changing ink cartridges) if your printer is still under warranty. If something is wrong with the paper transport, have it serviced since it’s free.

2. Rollers are obviously not the same as gears. You know there’s a gear issue when you hear chattering/grinding noises even when there’s no paper in printer and it’s just trying to reset itself. Unless you’re a printer tech, I don’t recommend bothering with gear replacement because it’s usually more trouble than it’s worth.

3. Be willing to accept the fact your printer’s rollers may be simply worn out or will soon become worn out if your printer is an older model.

Here are the things you can do that may get your rollers working right again.

Understand that dust kills rubber rollers

The type of printer that is most susceptible to this are the kind where paper is loaded from the top and left in the open. What most people do with a top-load printer is load paper in it, then just let it sit there and print when needed.

What happens here is that if you only print infrequently, a thin layer of dust will collect between the paper and the rollers, and then the dust is squashed on to the rollers when you go to print. When this happens enough times, dust is squashed on the rollers over and over again until they don’t grab anymore.

What you can do to prevent this:

When the printer is not going to be in use for an extended period of time (1 week or more), take the paper out and pull down the plastic flap so no dust gets on the rollers. If you don’t have a flap, cover the paper insert area with something so dust does not get in there (ex: a small hand towel, magazine, or whatever you have on hand).

Use proper “grabby” printer paper

I’ve mentioned this before but will say it again – don’t use cheap paper and always be sure to read the paper packaging and make sure it states that it will work with inkjet/laser. You would think all printer paper would be like this, but that’s not true.

I especially recommend better-quality grabby (as in slightly textured) printer paper for older printers since the rollers are already somewhat worn down from general use. It’s cheaper to buy better paper than a new printer, so it’s worth a try.

Print something at least once a week

Non-use of a printer is basically what makes rollers go bad faster than anything else.

If you notice when you print that the first few pages “have a hard time” going through the printer and the rest go through OK after that, chances are you’re not using your printer enough. What’s happening here usually is that the rubber rollers are slightly warped, and after sending a few pages they’re put back into the round shape they should be and grab paper normally.

Rubber rollers if left sitting too long will warp because of the nature of how they’re made. To keep them properly round, just print more often. Send at least one 3-page job to a printer once a week and that will keep the rollers in good condition.

Clean your rollers

Again I have to say here if your printer is under warranty, don’t do this and have it serviced.

Cleaning your rollers will either be easy or difficult depending on whether you can actually get to them or not. If you can get to them, they can be cleaned.

To clean rubber rollers, you use cotton swabs and water. You physically unplug the printer from the wall, dip a cotton swab in water, squeeze the excess water out of the tip, then gently clean the rollers. The best practice to use is rub the roller with the wet side of a cotton swab, then rub again with the dry side, then move on to the next part of the rubber until completed.

Important note: The moistened tip of your cotton swab must be “barely moist” so no water drips down into the printer when cleaning. Should you notice any water dripped inside, you’ll have to wait a day for it to dry before you can power up the printer again.

“I see tiny white cotton fibers getting on the roller when I do this…”

You’re pressing too hard when drying.

“Wouldn’t it be best to use a solvent?”

No. Cleaning solvents (ex: Windex) will almost always make the rubber more smooth when you clean it, which is exactly what you don’t want to happen.

“What about rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol?”

This can be used but I always suggest using water first. If you must use the rubbing alcohol, purposely use a ‘weak’ mix – as the lower-alcohol-by-volume mixture.

Also bear in mind the cotton swab will always “look dirty” because the rubber is black. This is not something where you “rub it until it’s clean” because that will never happen. The best you can do here is give a few passes, shine a flashlight on the rubber you cleaned, and if it looks clean visually, it probably is.

“What about rubber cleaning solvent?”

Don’t use this because that stuff is way too strong for this application.

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