Lines on Copies and Scanned Documents? It's Time to Clean the Slit Glass, Here's How

Alright, let's cut to the chase. 

A very common, extremely  frustrating issue when it comes to copiers is the ongoing occurrence of getting lines on your copies or scans!

If you are experiencing black lines on your copies when using the automatic feeder on your copy machine chances are your machine has a dirty slit glass.

The slit glass area on your copier can get dirty for multiple reasons. In my experience as a service tech, the most common culprits are:

• Wet ink, especially from gel pens
• White out
• Dirt/grime gathering over time

Slit glass? 

Where's that?

Lift the lid as you were to make a copy off of the main large piece of glass. Look to the left (on the majority of copiers) and there will be a smaller piece of glass about a inch wide. That's the slit glass.

Now that you've found it. It's time to look for any grime, white out, smudges, dust, etc. on the glass. A  tip to making spotting anything easier is to use the flashlight on your smartphone. The light really helps small smudges and pen marks pop out more than just using the naked eye. 

OK, now that you've located the offending smudge/dirt, what's next?

There are a couple of ways to clean your slit glass.

First, try a spray of glass cleaner into a paper towel or rag. Once the glass cleaner is applied to your rag scrub away! When you feel you have cleaned the slit glass try running a copy through the automatic feeder and see if the lines on your copies have gone away.

If glass cleaner doesn’t cut it, grab a piece of copy paper and scrub away again. It might sound silly to use a piece of paper to clean glass, but with the coarse texture it makes for a great tool to destroy gunk and grime! Try another copy through the feeder and see if the line/s are gone.

Be careful of rubbing anything abrasive or hard (like a diamond ring) on the glass. If you scratch the glass, the line could become permanent until the slit glass is replaced.

If after you've scrubbed the glass clean and you're still getting lines on your copies or scans; it's time to call for reinforcements!

Call our service team for some assistance! Get in touch online or by calling 800.852.9084. 

Not a Coordinated customer (yet)? Get in touch with one of our copier experts.