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I've got LaserJet P1005 that needs to have its print heads cleaned. hplip is installed with the gui but I don't find an option to clean the print heads. I'm on 12.04 64bit.

H3R3T1K
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    Do laser printers even have heads? – Oli Apr 10 '13 at 11:36
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    nope, they have a print roller. And if they get dirty, you generally just swap the whole unit I think – Journeyman Geek Apr 10 '13 at 11:39
  • My toner is not empty yet as confirmed by hplip. But the pages come out extremely "dirty" with patches of toner all over them. If I pull out the whole unit I don't see any exposed areas that look like they need cleaning. Maybe a faulty unit? – H3R3T1K Apr 10 '13 at 12:10
  • In case someone finds this question and has a compatible printer, this can be done on Linux with the tool hp-clean: https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/tech_docs/man_pages/clean – baptx May 10 '22 at 11:32

1 Answers1

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This is not supported by the HPLIP driver for this printer.

In most cases I might say that this is a feature omission, but in this case, because we're dealing with a LaserJet, I think it's just not a feature the hardware has.

Laser printers don't have "print heads". A laser etches into a drum covered in ink, toner tones things (alright, I'm a little sketchy on how they work exactly) and a static charge applies all of that to paper.

If you've got a mucky print, there are things you can clean but it's very different lingo from inkjet printers. And it's all manual work.

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Oli
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