Computer Basics : How Does a Photocopier Work?

A photocopier works by a light element that runs across an image, reflecting onto a drum that passes over toner particles. Find out how the drum of a photocopier affixes toner to the paper with help from an IT professional in this free video on photocopiers.

Expert: Matt Berkowitz
Contact: enduserblues.blogspot.com/
Bio: Matt Berkowitz is an IT professional specializing in end-user support for internal networking and hardware-related functions.
Filmmaker: Dimitri LaBarge

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Closed Caption:

how photocopier works well the first
step is once you put your image down the
glass you press the button ask and
basically a light elements going to run
across the phone is going to run across
your image photo whatever-it-is text
paper and what that does and when you
done while it's doing that it's
basically going to collect the results
of that onto a special drum if the light
hits white paper it's going to reflect
back if the white hit if the light hits
something else it's not basically white
paper or reflective surface although I
don't know why you would be trying to
photocopy a mirror it's going to
basically record that as you know it's
going to do an exact copy instead of
doing a photo like a photographic
negative it produces a positive copy so
let's do its direct duplicate it doesn't
do like photography where it goes photo
for workers positive to negative them
back to positive again once this image
is collected on to the drum the drum
passes over toner particles the
particles are charged in such a way that
they will stick to the areas that did
not reflect light when they passed over
the original image once the toner has
adhered itself to the charged non-white
areas on the drum paper is charged to
the opposite polarity and run in contact
with the drum so in other words so
basically the trailer will transport
transmit itself from the positive image
that's on the drum directly to the paper
once the toner is sticking to the
charged praise has adhered itself to the
charge parts of the original image on
the drum paper is charged to the
opposite polarity and passed over the
drum as its passed over the toner
particles actually what kind of jump
from the from the drum to the paper the
paper is then partially discharge that
it will separate from the drum once it's
separated from the drum the toner is
permanently affixed to the paper by one
of two processes fusing which involves a
special array of heated wires is a
little bit less common tends to be more
expensive but it's easier to maintain
you get a slightly higher quality or by
a fixing which is a little bit more
common it uses a combination of heat and
pressure from rollers to fix the toner
to the paper permanently once the copy
is finished and then sent to the tray
the toner will be swept off of the drum
and into a special hopper where will
either be discarded or reuse depending
on the model of the copier