Types of printers, their advantages and disadvantages. What types of printers exist and their main differences?

If you decide to purchase a printer, the most important thing is to decide for what purpose you need it. Do you need a color printer or can you get by with black and white printing? Do you need a laser or inkjet printer, or maybe a solid ink printer would be better for you? Do you really need additional functions, such as modules? wireless communication, copier, scanner and fax functions? Your choice will depend on what you want to print on this printer, in what volume, how many people besides you will use the device and, of course, how much money you are willing to spend on the purchase of a printing device, as well as on its further maintenance, in particular, for the purchase of consumables.

In this article we will try to give a brief description of each type of printers that exist in nature and that INKSYSTEM can offer. In addition, we will talk about additional functions some printing devices that can greatly facilitate your work.

There are three main types of printers, which differ in the way they apply the image and the material they use as ink. The first and most ancient of them is the matrix type. Such printers have practically become obsolete; they are bulky, print loudly, slowly, and most importantly, only in one color. They can only be used for printing text documents. However, the consumables for them are extremely cheap, which allows these devices to be used in offices for filling out forms and certificates, as well as for numbering.

Laser printers. Quite a common type. Such devices use fine powder - toner - as paint. Such printers can print on any type of paper, including designer cardboard, self-adhesive and transparent film. Prints made with laser printers are of high quality and durability. The toner does not fade in the sun and is not washed off with water. These printers are ideal for printing small text and fine lines, but photographs turn out unnatural and “flat”. Another positive point is the printing speed. Nothing compares to lasers here. However, such devices, as well as their maintenance, are quite expensive, so ordinary users are unlikely to be able to afford such luxury.

Inkjet printers. Printed using liquid ink. They are much more affordable than laser ones, inferior to them in printing speed and the range of paper used. However, due to the ability of ink to spread, mix and create new colors at the point of mixing, they are ideal for photo printing. The INKSYSTEM company is widely known for its wide range of inkjet printers and consumables for them.

Unlike laser printers, inkjet printers give their owners the opportunity to significantly save on printing costs. This is possible with a continuous ink supply system or CISS. By equipping your printer with this device, you can reduce printing costs by 30 times, which will make the cost of your prints literally a penny.

Progress does not stand still, and it has also affected printing technology. Today it is unlikely to surprise anyone with a device that combines a scanner, printer, copier and fax. Manufacturers have gone even further and began to produce devices that do not require a PC at all to operate. Such printers can independently access the network, download images from there, and carry out basic corrections. They are capable of printing directly from cameras and mobile phones. This is extremely relevant, given the variety of such technology today.

Hello.

I don’t think I will open America by saying that a printer is an extremely useful thing. Moreover, not only for students (who simply need it to print coursework, reports, diplomas, etc.), but also for other users.

Nowadays you can find various types of printers on sale, the price of which can differ tens of times. This is probably why there are a lot of questions regarding the printer. In this short reference article, I will look at the most popular questions that I get asked about printers (the information will be useful for those who are choosing a new printer for their home). So…

The article has omitted some technical terms and points in order to make it understandable and readable for a wide range of users. Only current user questions that almost everyone faces when searching for a printer are discussed...

1) Types of printers (inkjet, laser, matrix)

Most questions come about this. True, users do not ask the question “types of printers”, but “which printer is better: inkjet or laser?” (For example).

In my opinion, the easiest way to show the pros and cons of each type of printer is in the form of a plate: it turns out very clearly.

Printer type	pros	Minuses
Inkjet (most models are color)	1) The cheapest type of printers. More than affordable for all segments of the population.	1) Ink often dries out when you haven't printed for a long time. In some printer models, this may lead to replacing the cartridge, in others - replacing the print head (in some, the cost of repair will be comparable to buying a new printer). Therefore, simple advice - print at least 1-2 pages a week on an inkjet printer.
	2) Relatively simple refilling of the cartridge - with some skill, you can refill the cartridge yourself using a syringe.	2) Ink runs out quickly (the ink cartridge is usually small in size, enough for 200-300 A4 sheets). An original cartridge from the manufacturer is usually expensive. Therefore, the best option is to give such a cartridge for refilling (or refill it yourself). But after refilling, often the printing becomes less clear: there may be stripes, specks, areas where characters and text are poorly printed.
	3) Possibility of installing continuous ink supply (CISS). In this case, a bottle of ink is placed on the side (or back) of the printer and the tube from it is connected directly to the print head. As a result, the cost of printing is one of the cheapest! (Attention! This cannot be done on all printer models!)	3) Vibration during operation. The fact is that when printing, the printer moves the print head left and right - this causes vibration. This is extremely annoying for many users.
	4) Possibility of printing photographs on special paper. The quality will be much higher than with a color laser printer.	4) Inkjet printers take longer to print than laser printers. In a minute you will print ~5-10 pages (despite the promises of the printer developers, the actual printing speed is always lower!).
		5) Printed sheets are subject to “spreading” (if, for example, drops of water from wet hands accidentally fall on them). The text on the sheet will blur and making out what is written will be problematic.
Laser (black and white)	1) One cartridge refill is enough to print 1000-2000 sheets (on average for the most popular printer models).	1) The cost of a printer is higher than an inkjet printer.
	2) As a rule, it works with less noise and vibration than an ink jet.	2) Expensive cartridge refills. A new cartridge on some models costs as much as a new printer!
	3) The cost of printing a sheet, on average, is cheaper than on an inkjet printer (excluding CISS).	3) Inability to print color documents.
	4) You don’t have to worry about the paint “drying”* (laser printers use not liquid, as in an inkjet printer, but powder (it’s called toner)).
	5) Fast printing speed (2 dozen pages of text per minute - quite possible).
Laser (color)	1) High speed printing in color.	1) A very expensive device (although recently the cost of a color laser printer has become increasingly affordable for a wide range of consumers).
		2) Despite the possibility of printing in color, it is not suitable for photographs. The quality on an inkjet printer will be higher. But printing documents in color is just the thing!
Matrix		1) This type of printer is long outdated* (for home use). Currently, it is usually used only in “narrow” tasks (when working with some reports in banks, etc.).

My conclusions:

1. If you are buying a printer for printing photos, it is better to choose a regular inkjet printer (preferably a model that can later be installed with a continuous supply of ink - important for those who will print a lot of photos). An inkjet printer is also suitable for those who occasionally print small documents: abstracts, reports, etc.
2. A laser printer is, in principle, a universal machine. Suitable for all users, except those who plan to print high-quality color pictures. A color laser printer is inferior in photo quality (today) to an inkjet printer. The price of the printer and cartridge (including its refill) is more expensive, but in general, if you make a full calculation, the cost of printing will be cheaper than with an inkjet printer.
3. Buying a color laser printer for the home, in my opinion, is not entirely justified (at least until the price drops...).

Important point. Regardless of what type of printer you choose, I would also check one detail with the same store: how much does a new cartridge cost for this printer and how much does it cost to refill it (refillability). Because the joy of the purchase may disappear after the ink runs out - many users will be very surprised to learn that some printer cartridges cost as much as the printer itself!

2) How to connect the printer. Connection interfaces

The vast majority of printers that can be found on sale support the USB standard. As a rule, there are no connection problems, except for one subtlety...

I don’t know why, but often manufacturers do not include a cable with the printer to connect it to the computer. Sellers usually remind you of this, but not always. Many novice users (who are encountering this for the first time) have to run to the store twice: once to get a printer, the second to get a connection cable. Be sure to check the package when purchasing!

The LPT interface is now becoming less and less common (it used to be a standard (very popular interface)). By the way, many PCs are still equipped with this port to be able to connect such printers. There is no point in looking for such a printer for your home these days!

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Printers in more expensive price categories are often equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. And I have to tell you - the thing is extremely convenient! Imagine walking around your apartment with a laptop, working on a report - then you press the print button and the document is sent to the printer and printed out in a moment. In general, this add-on. The option in the printer will save you from unnecessary wires in the apartment (although it takes longer for the document to be transferred to the printer - but in general, the difference is not so significant, especially if you are printing text information).

3) MFP - is it worth choosing a multifunctional device?

Recently, MFPs have been in demand on the market: devices that combine a printer and a scanner (+ fax, sometimes also a telephone). These devices are extremely convenient for photocopies - you put a sheet of paper and press one button - the copy is ready. As for the rest, I personally don’t see any big advantages (having a separate printer and scanner - you can remove the second one altogether and take it out whenever you need to scan something).

In addition, any normal camera is capable of taking excellent photos of books, magazines, etc. - that is, practically replacing a scanner.

HP MFP: scanner and printer complete with automatic sheet feeder

MFP advantages:

Multi-functionality;

Cheaper than buying each device separately;

Quick photocopy;

As a rule, there is an auto-feed: imagine how much easier this will be if you are copying 100 sheets. With automatic feeding: loaded the sheets into the tray, pressed the button and went to drink tea. Without it, each sheet would have to be turned over and placed on the scanner manually...

Disadvantages of MFPs:

Bulky (relative to a conventional printer);

If the MFP breaks, you will lose both the printer and scanner (and other devices) at once.

4) Which brand should I choose: Epson, Canon, HP...?

There are a lot of questions about the brand. But here it is impossible to answer in monosyllables. Firstly, I would not look at a specific manufacturer - the main thing is that it is a well-known manufacturer of copiers. Secondly, it is much more important to look at specifications devices and reviews from real users of such a device (in the age of the Internet, this is easy!). It’s even better, of course, if you are recommended by a friend who has several printers at work and sees the work of each one with his own eyes...

Naming a specific model is even more difficult: by the time you read the article, this printer may no longer be on sale...

That's all for me. I will be grateful for additions and constructive comments. All the best :)

A printer is an external device that allows you to transfer digital representation of information onto physical material. Simply put, the printer is separately connected to the computer and transfers what is displayed on the monitor (photos, text, web pages) onto paper, film and other materials. The process itself is called “printing,” but most often they simply limit themselves to the word “printing.” The result is called a printout or copy.

There are mainly laser, matrix, sublimation, and inkjet. Another gradation is the color of the print. There are only two options: color or monochrome (only one color). In the vast majority of cases, when we talk about a monochrome printer, we mean black. However, there are exceptions. For example, the color could be red, blue or others. Due to their efficiency, monochrome printers are the most common.

Dot matrix printers

These are the very first printers that appeared on the market. They were invented by Seiko Epson in 1964. On this printer, the printing process occurs as follows. There is a special print head, which has a set of needles and electromagnets (for extending the necessary needles). This head moves along the surface to be printed. Along the entire path of movement of the head there is a tape with paint, hitting it with needles, traces of paint remain on the surface of the paper or other material. When the head reaches the edge, it returns to its original state, and the paper moves one line. The principle is like a typewriter. When it was necessary to change the color, the tape moved.

It is worth noting that most often such printers use rolls rather than individual sheets of paper. The quality of the print depends on the number of needles on the head (the more, the better the print). There are several head options: 9, 12, 14, 18 and 24 needles.

Matrix printers, although they lag behind their counterparts in a number of characteristics, are still in use.

Inkjet printers

Inkjet printers came after dot matrix printers and partially inherited the principle of dot printing. The same head that walks along the paper. The only difference is that instead of needles and tape with paint, there is a special matrix on the head where the paints are applied. There is, however, a difference here, since some manufacturers build the heads into the printer, while others build them into the cartridges themselves. Due to the fact that ink can easily dry on the head matrix, inkjet printers are equipped with their own head cleaning systems. However, in some cases you have to clean them manually.

The printing speed of inkjet printers is not so high. Sometimes it is measured at 1 page per minute. However, these printers are still in use today, as they are relatively easy to repair and have a fairly long lifespan. Such a printer can easily be found in old establishments where they are more than 10 years old.

Laser printers

With the development of electronics, laser printers from Xerox appeared in 1971. Their principle of operation was quite radically different from their predecessors - they no longer use paint, but toner. And instead of a head there is a photodrum (looks like a tube on which a special surface is applied). How printing is done. The static charge is evenly distributed over the surface of the photodrum using a charge shaft or using a corotron (scorotron). After this, using an LED laser, a pattern for printing is applied to the surface of the photodrum by removing the charge from the areas. Then toner is applied to the photodrum, which is attracted to the areas where the design was applied.

Then the photodrum rotates and comes into contact with the paper, leaving toner on it using a transfer corotron or a transfer roller (a charge is applied to the contact area and the toner falls off). After this, the toner is fixed on the paper by temperature (which is why, after printing, the paper is warm or even hot). After this, the photoconductor is cleaned of toner residues and discharged in the cleaning unit.

Despite the fact that laser printers appeared in 1971, these printers are quite popular today, since their printing speed is very high, and the printers themselves are relatively economical.

Sublimation Printers

Sublimation printers also have their own unique approach to printing. It is based on thermal sublimation - the rapid conversion of solid dye into vapor. Moreover, the less dye is used, the higher the quality of printing can be obtained. The process itself goes as follows. There is a thin lavsan tape (thermoplastic) on which the color pigment is located (sometimes multi-layer tape is used, with all the colors at once).

This tape is pressed onto the paper by a special thermal head, consisting of a large number of individual thermal elements. The required thermocouples are then heated. The solid dye quickly turns into a gas and settles on the paper. Moreover, the volume of dye depends on the intensity of heating. Residual vapors are screened out by a special diaphragm.

Dye-sublimation printers are used to print high-quality photographs, posters, and more. It is worth noting that due to the fact that the ink penetrates the paper better (due to its gaseous state), the resulting printouts are durable. In addition, due to the nature of printing, there are no dots on the resulting images (the gas is distributed relatively evenly, but the needles create dots). However, such printers are not used for printing text documents - it is simply not practical.

First printer

The very first printer appeared in 1953 and was produced by Remington Rand for the UNIAC computer. He acted as follows. There is a rotating drum the width of paper, on the surface of which letters and numbers are located, like on a typewriter (in the form of relief). For each symbol there was a separate ring with letters and numbers.

Printer(from the English printer - printer) - a device for converting information stored on storage devices (text, graphics) into a hard copy, usually on paper. This process is called printing, and the resulting document is called a printout.

Printers, depending on the type of printing, are divided into: color, monochrome; depending on the method of applying characters/dots to the media: alphabetic, matrix, inkjet, laser.

Drum printers:

The first printer, called UNIPRINTER, was created in 1953 by Remington Rand for the UNIVAC computer. Its operating principle was reminiscent of a typewriter.

The main element of such a printer was a rotating drum, on the surface of which there were relief images of letters and numbers. The width of the drum corresponded to the width of the paper, and the number of alphabet rings was equal to the maximum number of characters in a line. Behind the paper was a line of hammers driven by electromagnets. At the moment the desired symbol passed on the rotating drum, the hammer hit the paper, pressing it through the ink ribbon to the drum. Thus, in one revolution of the drum the entire line could be printed. Then the paper was shifted one line and the machine continued printing.

In the USSR, such machines were called ATsPU (alphanumeric printing device). Their printouts can be recognized by their typewriter-like font and the letters “jumping” across the line.

Daisywheel printers:

Chamomile (petal) printers were similar in principle to drum printers, but had one set of letters located on flexible petals of a plastic disk. The disk rotated, and a special electromagnet pressed the desired petal to the ink ribbon and paper. Since there was only one set of characters, it was necessary to move the print head along the line, and the printing speed was noticeably lower than that of drum printers.

Train printers:

The set of letters is attached to a caterpillar chain.

Chain printers :

They differed in the placement of printing elements on plates connected in a chain.

Dot matrix printers:

The most common type of printer, its mechanism was invented in 1964 by Seiko Epson.

The image is formed by the print head, which consists of a set of needles (needle matrix). The needles strike the paper through the ink ribbon, and the head moves line by line along the sheet. Printers were produced with 9, 12, 14, 18 and 24 needles. 9- and 24-pin printers are widely used. Print quality directly depends on the number of needles, since this way more dots per inch are obtained; printers with 24 needles are called LQ (Letter Quality).

Main disadvantages of this type printers are low speed and high noise, but due to the low cost of the copy (the consumable material, in fact, is only the ink ribbon), they are still widespread.
High-speed line-matrix printers are also produced, in which a large number of needles are evenly located on the shuttle mechanism across the entire width of the sheet.

One of the very first printing technologies remains relevant today due to the low cost of consumables.

Inkjet printers:

The first working printer using this technology appeared in 1976 - it was a printer from IBM. The principle of their operation is similar to dot matrix printers in that the image on the media is formed from dots. Instead of a head with needles in inkjet printers An ink cartridge is used, at the bottom of which there are small holes - nozzles. Further differences come in the structure of the cartridge; there are three methods of pushing liquid out of it:
Piezoelectric is the very first technology; a piezoelectric crystal with a diaphragm is located above the nozzle. When an electric current is applied to the piezoelectric element, it bends and pulls the diaphragm along with it - a drop is formed, which is subsequently pushed onto the paper. Used in Epson printers. The technology allows you to “play” with the size of the drop, for example, to draw thin lines with smaller drops.

BubbleJet - Developed by Canon. The principle of the technology was developed in the late 70s, but 8 years passed before it was implemented in a real device. In 1981, the technology was presented at the Canon Grand Fair and immediately attracted the attention of specialists. In 1985, the first commercial model of a monochrome printer appeared - the Canon BJ-80, and the first color printer - the BJC-440 (A2 format, with a resolution of 400 dpi) - appeared in 1988. To each nozzle there is a thin channel - a nozzle, in which there is a microscopic heating element, which, when passing through electric current instantly heats up to a temperature of about 500°C; when heated, gas bubbles (English - bubbles - hence the name of the technology) are formed in the ink, which push drops of liquid from the nozzle onto the media.

Drop-on-demand - developed by Hewlett-Packard in the late 70s. A lot of time also passed from the development of the technology to its implementation, and in 1985 the first printer created using this technology, the HP ThinkJet, was released. The method is similar to bubble technology, however, a lower heating temperature is used and it is not a drop that hits the paper, and it is not a drop that comes out of the nozzle, but steam. This technology is slightly faster than BubbleJet and produces sharper prints.

Laser printers:

Technology - the progenitor of modern laser printing - appeared a long time ago. In 1938, Chester Carlson invented a printing method called electrography, later renamed xerography. The principle of the technology was as follows. A static charge is evenly distributed over the surface of the photodrum by a charge corotron (scorotron) or by a charge shaft, after which the charge is removed by an LED laser (or LED line) on the photodrum in those places where dots need to be placed, thereby placing a latent image on the surface of the drum. Next, the developing unit applies toner to the photodrum, after which the drum is rolled over the paper, and the toner is transferred to the paper by a transfer coronor or transfer roller. After this, the paper passes through the fuser unit to fix the toner, and the image drum is cleaned of toner residues and discharged in the cleaning unit.

However, a lot of time passed before the technology reached the average consumer. The first device that can be called the first laser printer was EARS (Ethernet, Alto, Research character generator, Scanned Laser Output Terminal), invented in 1972 by the Xerox Corporation; mass production began in the second half of the 70s. The Xerox 9700 printer could be purchased at that time for 350 thousand dollars, but it printed at a speed of 120 ppm.

The era of home printers began in 1985, when LaserJet printers from Hewlett-Packard and LaserWriter from Apple Computer.

Ways to connect to a computer:

Initially, a parallel port or serial port was used to connect the printer to computers; data was transferred to the printer at speeds of up to 50 kb/s; in response, the printer could inform the computer about its status, readiness, paper availability, and others.

However, the speed remained insufficient, and all modern printers can connect to a computer via a USB interface. Data transfer speed via USB 1.1 is up to 12 Mb/s, the connection process is easier, the printer can communicate much more about itself.

In addition to these two connection methods, some printers have network interface and are able to connect not to a computer, but to local network companies. This connection method allows you to use the printer from several computers, while the printer will always be available, and not just when the computer to which the printer is connected is turned on.

In this way, printers differ from printing equipment and risography, which due to printed form faster and cheaper for large print runs (hundreds or more copies).

A printer is a high-tech printing device designed primarily to work with a computer. The printer is designed to convert information stored in a computing device from digital form into analog form for easy understanding of this information by the user and its subsequent long-term storage.

Other printing devices have also become widespread, such as multifunctional devices (MFPs), which combine the functions of a printer, scanner, copier and fax in one device. Such a combination is rational from a technical and economic point of view, and is also convenient to use.

A specialized type of printer is a plotter.

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Classification

1. If possible, print graphic information printers are divided into:

• alphanumeric, otherwise symbolic or symbolic (with the ability to print a limited set of characters);
• graphic.

2. According to their design and the principle of image formation, printers are divided into:

Impact printers:

• letter (standard) printers;
• dot matrix (needle) printers;

Non-impact printers:

• inkjet printers;
• plotters (felt-tip pens or inkjet)
• laser printers (a type of LED printers);
• thermal printers;
• solid ink printers;
• sublimation printers;
• photonic printers;
• offset printers

3. By the number of flowers issued:

• black and white (monochrome, monochrome)
• colored (multicolor, color).

Color printers use CMYK colors as the basis for the color model:

Cyan - blue

Magenta - purple

Yellow - yellow

Kobalt (option blacK) - black (the English name corresponds to the name of the heavy metal (cobalt), which is part of black dyes)

In addition to basic CMYK colors, a color printer can be equipped with lights (Light Cyan and Light Magenta), which increase the visible resolution, low fill and color gamut of the image. In addition, orange and green colors are sometimes used, slightly expanding the color fields of the print. Printers designed for printing on colored materials are additionally equipped with white color.

Printers that have advanced color gamut capabilities for high-quality color printing of photographs and other images are also called photo printers.

4. By type of connection interface, that is, by connection to the data source (from where the printer can receive data for printing):

Wired printers (via wired channels):

• via SCSI interface
• via serial port (COM)
• via parallel port (LPT)
• via Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• via local network (LAN, NET)
• using two ports, one of the ports controls the CNC drive, the other port sends data to the print heads

Wireless printers (wireless):

• via infrared (IRDA)

An IR connection is only possible with a device that is only in line of sight up to 1-2 meters, while the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi interfaces using radio waves can function with obstacles already at a distance of up to 10 meters and up to 100 meters, respectively.

Network printer - a printer that allows you to receive print jobs (see. Print queue) from several computers connected to a local network. There is a software-configurable network printer (that is, this is any connected printer with a special network setting on the computer) and a hardware-supported printer (this is a printer with an IP address that has a built-in network adapter and connected directly to the local network without necessarily connecting to a computer). Software network printers supports one or more special data transfer protocols, such as IPP. This solution is the most universal, as it makes it possible to print from various operating systems, which cannot be said about Bluetooth and USB printers.

Letter printers

Chamomile printer

Chamomile printers are similar to typewriters. At one time, such printers were widespread in the 50s and 60s of the XX century, however, with the advent of higher-speed matrix impact devices, as well as laser printers, daisy printers practically disappeared, and currently this printing method is used only in electronic and mechanical typewriters.

The printing mechanism is quite simple. In mechanical typewriters, each key is connected to a specific lever, at the end of which is the corresponding letter. When you press the key, the matrix hits the paper through the ink ribbon. In later typewriters, instead of a set of levers, a single wheel in the shape of a daisy is used, at the ends of the petals of which there are matrices of letters, numbers and other symbols, one or two per petal.

The chamomile is put on a special wheel. The wheel is connected through a drive to a stepper motor. Typically, this entire mechanism, together with the tape winding motor, cartridge with ink and correction tape, is carried out on a carriage. When you turn on the machine, the initial positioning of the wheel occurs. This is very important point in the operation of the machine, since each subsequent letter is counted from the initial position. Typically, for positioning, the wheel is rotated a full revolution and locked mechanically. After this, the printing process is very simple. The user presses a key. The processor processes the press and counts how many steps need to be taken to the next letter. After this, the stepper motor turns the wheel and stops it at the desired letter. An electromagnetic hammer is used to strike the daisy petal. The petal hits the paper through the ink ribbon.

The carriage is placed perpendicular to the cylindrical shaft, with the help of which the paper is fed. The carriage moves along the shaft. In this way, each subsequent letter in the line is formed. To move to the next line, the shaft is rotated one step. All motors used are stepper motors.

It is possible to change daisies, which allows you to print in different fonts or character sets.

There are two types of dyeing ribbons: rag, dyed, and plastic with dye applied.

The plastic tape produces a clearer print, but after each hit the dye is completely transferred to the paper. After the tape is completely used, it needs to be replaced. The rag tape is made in the form of a ring, which allows you to use the same sections of the tape several times.

There were also plastic correction tapes - with white dye. The adjustment occurs as follows: the mechanism returns the carriage back. After this, the regular ink ribbon is replaced with a corrective one, for example, by raising the carriage mechanism or lifting the tensioned correction tape. After this, the letter that needs to be corrected is printed again, but using the correction tape.

Drum printer

Drum type printers are very fast, printing up to 600 lines per minute. In them, instead of a carriage moving along the paper feed shaft, there is a drum made up of disks across the entire width of the paper, on the end surface of which there are letter matrices. Behind the paper at drum level there is a row of hammers controlled by electromagnets. The drum rotates at high speed, but at the moment the matrices of the required characters pass by the ink ribbon, the hammers at the corresponding acquaintances move out, pressing the paper through the ink ribbon to the matrices on the drum, and imprints of the letters from the drum remain on the paper. In one revolution of the drum, the entire line is printed, and the paper is shifted to print the next line. Due to the lack of precision in the timing of the impact, such printers gave the characteristic appearance of letters “dancing” in a line.

Chain (crawler) printer

There were printers whose matrixes of letters were located on plates connected in a chain. Such a chain moved along the printed line, and the hammers behind the paper pressed the paper against it at the right moment. It is much easier to change a chain with a set of matrices in such a printer than a heavy drum in a drum printer. To speed up printing, the matrices of more frequently used characters were repeated more times on the chain.

Dot matrix printers

Among them, printers that print the entire line stand out - Line printers. Line printer)

Ink ribbon.

The ink ribbon of a dot matrix printer is designed to store dye supplies and deliver dye to the print head.

The ink ribbon of a dot matrix printer is slowly rewound during the printing process, delivering fresh dye to the print head, and there are two types of ribbons - closed in a ring (rewinded only in one direction) and ribbons of limited length, equipped with a reverse rewind mechanism. On some dot matrix printers, if the rewinding mechanism is destroyed, the finished tape can be rewound manually.

Over time, the ink ribbon wears out mechanically - the print head literally cuts the ink ribbon lengthwise, in two. In some cases, you can extend the life of the ink ribbon by turning it the other way. If the ribbon is not yet worn out, but the image has faded significantly, you can soak the ribbon with fresh ink and the color will be restored. When a dot matrix printer is used extremely rarely, the ink ribbon suffers more from simple drying out of the dye than from mechanical wear. Printed images appear faded. It is enough to soak the dried ink ribbon with oil for lubricating household sewing machines, and the color is restored.

Comparison with other types

• Print quality. Very low, comparable to typewriter quality. However, graphics are possible. 9-needle printers were marked NLQ ( near letter quality, “almost like a machine”), 24-needle - LQ ( letter quality, “like a typewriter”).
• Color rendition. There were color matrix printers with a four-color ribbon, they could print in seven fixed colors. The yellow part of the tape became dirty very quickly, and the color rendition further deteriorated. However, in the 1980s, this was the only way to print desktop in color.
• Print speed. For conventional 9- and 24-needle printers in text mode - tens of seconds per page, in graphic mode - several minutes. High-speed printers are several times faster. Printing via carbon paper and on self-copying forms is possible. Where you need to quickly print one copy (for example, at the box office), dot matrix printers still have no equal - until the laser one heats up, the dot matrix printer will produce a printout.
• Cost per print. Extremely low ( consumables- ink ribbon). They print excellently on extremely poor quality paper, which further reduces the cost. Non-standard paper formats are possible, this is important for strict reporting forms that are made from high-quality paper (for example, the ASU Express train ticket, 2011).
• Printing on non-traditional materials. Some printer models (with direct path) allow you to print, for example, on passports.
• Resistance of the print to external influences. Very good; prints are resistant to water and friction. Needle marks make it even more difficult to forge documents. Over time, the prints fade, but not critically and even after decades they remain readable.
• Possible print length. Not limited. There may be restrictions on the print spooler (as, for example, in Windows - printing only occurs in pages). Paper feeding can be manual (piece by piece) or roll.
• Environmental friendliness. Low energy consumption, small volume and ease of disposal of consumables, low paper requirements. Loud noise.
• Easy to maintain. Works in the most spartan conditions. Before it runs out, the cartridge warns about this with non-contrast prints. As a last resort, you can print using carbon paper instead of a cartridge. When feeding from a roll, the paper practically does not jam.
• Main use today. Printing documents. A matrix printer can be found in banks, ticket offices, various offices, laboratories, medical institutions, and as part of cash registers.

Inkjet printers

The operating principle of inkjet printers is similar to dot matrix printers in that the image on the media is formed from dots. But instead of heads with needles, inkjet printers use a nozzle matrix (that is, a head) that prints with liquid dyes. The print head can be built into dye cartridges (this approach is mainly used on office printers by Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Canon). Other models of office printers use replaceable cartridges; the print head cannot be removed when replacing the cartridge. On most industrial printers, ink is supplied to heads mounted in a carriage through an automatic ink supply system.

There are two ways to technically implement the dye spraying method:

• Piezoelectric (piezoceramic) (Piezoelectric Ink Jet) - a piezoelectric crystal is located above the nozzle. When an electric current is applied to the piezoelectric element, it (depending on the type of print head) bends, lengthens or pulls the diaphragm, as a result of which a local area of ​​​​increased pressure is created near the nozzle - a drop is formed, which is subsequently pushed onto the material. In some heads, the technology allows you to change the droplet size.
• Thermal (piezoplastic) (Thermal Ink Jet) (also called BubbleJet, developer - Canon, the principle was developed in the late 1970s) - a microscopic heating element is located in the nozzle, which, when an electric current passes, instantly heats up to a temperature of several hundred degrees (heating to 500 degrees Celsius will cause a hydrodynamic shock of 25 tons), when heated, gas bubbles (English bubbles - hence the name of the technology) are formed in the ink, which push drops of liquid from the nozzle onto the media (gas bubbles are formed as a result of the inverse piezoelectric effect with ultrasound radiation , in this case it is possible to heat up to 40 degrees C and lower the pressure, which pushes the bubbles out; the size of the bubble is equal to the size of the nozzle, and not, as Epson believes, the size of the molecule).

Inkjet printer printheads are created using the following types of ink supply:

Comparison with other types (for photo printers)

Classification

By type of printed material:

• Roll - equipped with systems for rewinding and rewinding roll material, designed for printing on self-adhesive, paper, canvas, banner fabric
• Flatbed - for printing on PVC, polystyrene, foam board. The sheet of material is fixed to the frame using a vacuum clamp or clamps. The carriage (equipped with a drive along the X axis) is mounted on a portal, which, together with the carriage, moves over the material (along the Y axis).
• Souvenir - movement of the workpiece relative to the head, along the Y axis, is ensured by a servo drive of the movable table; in addition, the table is equipped with a mechanism for adjusting the distance between the workpiece and the carriage (for printing on workpieces of different heights). They are used for printing on disks, phones, and for marking parts.
• Hybrid (roll+flatbed) - for printing on paper and film of standard formats (A3, A4, etc.). Equipped with a mechanism for capturing and rewinding sheet material.

In addition, there are inkjet printers for 3D printing of three-dimensional forms.

By type of ink used:

• Water-based based on water-soluble dye. They are used in the vast majority of household and office inkjet printers and in some interior wide-format printers. The main disadvantage is poor light fastness, that is, rapid fading in the sun.
• Water-based textile - active, sublimation, acid-based are used for direct or thermal transfer printing on fabrics, followed by processing in calenders.
• Aqueous UV curable (curable) - used mainly by the Japanese company Komori in digital printing machines.
• Solvent ink. Solvent inks are used in large format and interior printing. They are characterized by very high resistance to water and precipitation. They are characterized by the viscosity of the solvent, grain size and the pigment dye fraction used.
• Solvent UV approved (curable) - produced by FujiFilm using Smart-UV technology.
• Alcohol inks (based on ethyl alcohol) are not widely used, since heads that print with alcohol ink dry out very quickly.
• Oil-based - used in industrial marking systems and for testing print heads.
• Water-pigment (or water-oil) - used to obtain high-quality images in interior and photo printing.
• UV-curable ink - ink is cured by light in the UV range, used as an environmentally friendly replacement for solvent ink and for printing on rigid materials.
• Latex ink - in which chemical crystallization of water occurs due to heating of the material, the inventor is HP.

By purpose:

• Large format - the main purpose of large format printing is outdoor advertising. Large-format printers are characterized by a large print width (most often 3200 mm), high print speed (from 20 m² per hour), and not the highest optical resolution.
• Interior - scope of interior printing - printing of interior design elements, printing of posters, information stands, drawings. The main format is 1600 mm. Main manufacturers of interior printers: Roland, Mimaki.
• Photo printers - designed for printing photographs; they print on small format materials (usually on rolls up to 1000 mm wide). The color model is no worse than CMYK+Lc+Lm (six-color printing), sometimes the color model is supplemented with orange, white paint, silver (to obtain metallic effects), etc.
• Souvenir - used for printing on small parts, for printing on disks and blanks of complex shapes. Manufactured by many companies: TechnoJet, Epson, Canon, HP, etc.
• Office printers differ from photo printers in their cheaper design, in most cases in the absence of lights and sheet-fed material. Major manufacturers of office printers: Epson, HP, Canon, Lexmark.
• Marking - included in production lines. The print head, fixedly mounted above the conveyor belt, applies markings to moving products.
• Manicure - used for applying complex designs to nails in nail art salons.
• Industrial - for printing books and newspapers.

By ink supply system:

• Continuous, with subtanks and heads located at the same level (the pressure at the inlet of the heads is regulated by the height of the subtanks).

Structure: ink canisters → pump → filter → flexible path → carriage → check valve → subtank equipped with ink level sensors → head.

• Continuous, with subtanks, located above the heads. The pressure of the high column of ink on the heads is balanced by a vacuum system consisting of a vacuum pump and vacuum adjustment devices.

Structure: ink canisters → pump → filter → flexible path → carriage → check valve → subtank equipped with ink level sensors and connected to a vacuum system → heads.

• By gravity. The heads and ink canisters are connected by tubes passing through a flexible path. The only intermediate element is a damper that filters ink and dampens pressure fluctuations that occur when the flexible path moves.
• Ink supply from cartridges moving with the carriage. The main advantage of this system is its low cost. Disadvantages: small supply of ink in the cartridges, weight of the carriage with cartridges, slow drop in pressure at the inlet of the heads caused by a decrease in the level of ink in the cartridges.

The main characteristics of the printer are the speed and quality of printing, depending on the printing principle, ink, mechanical component, and country of manufacture.

Photo and office printers rarely come with more than one head per color. This is due to low requirements for printing speed; in addition, the fewer heads, the simpler and more efficient the system for calibrating and mixing them.

Wide-format and interior printers are equipped with two to four heads for each color.

To effectively dry and prevent material sticking, inkjet printers are equipped with systems for heating the printed field and blowing the printed material. On UV printers, ink is fixed under the influence of radiation from lamp or LED emitters moving along with the carriage. To reduce fading of the surface of the printed material under the influence of UV radiation, when the carriage moves over unprinted areas, the emitters are turned off or covered with opaque curtains.

Currently, there is a tendency to replace A4 and A3 format inkjet printers with color laser printers from the market. It is due to a decrease in the cost of laser color printers, on the one hand, and the use of non-original CISS by inkjet printers, on the other, which causes frequent complaints from users.

Sublimation Printers

Thermal sublimation (sublimation) is the rapid heating of the dye once the liquid phase has passed. Steam immediately forms from the solid dye. The smaller the portion, the greater the photographic latitude (dynamic range) of color reproduction. The pigment of each of the primary colors, and there can be three or four of them, is located on a separate (or on a common multilayer) thin Mylar ribbon (thermal sublimation printers from Mitsubishi Electric). The final color is printed in several passes: each tape is sequentially pulled under a tightly pressed thermal head, consisting of many thermal elements. When they heat up, they sublimate the dye. Thanks to the short distance between the head and the carrier, the dots are positioned stably and are obtained in a very small size.

To serious problems sublimation printing The sensitivity of the ink used can be attributed to ultraviolet radiation. If the image is not covered with a special layer that blocks ultraviolet light, the colors will soon fade. When using solid dyes and an additional laminating layer with an ultraviolet filter to protect the image, the resulting prints do not warp and withstand humidity, sunlight and even aggressive environments, but the price of photographs increases. For the full-color quality of sublimation technology, you have to pay for the long printing time of each photo (printing one 10x15 cm photo with a Sony DPP-SV77 printer takes about 90 seconds). Manufacturers write about a photographic color width of 24 bits, which is more desirable than actual. In reality, photographic color latitude is no more than 18 bits.

The most well-known manufacturers of heat-sublimation printers are Canon and Sony.

Comparison with other types (for photo printing)

• Print quality. A good image, without a raster (to produce a light color, the printer evaporates less ink). The lineature is close to that of a magazine photograph.
• Color rendition. Very good.
• Print speed. About a minute per 10x15 photo. Professional printers 2-3 seconds.
• Cost per print. On a household printer - 13-15 rubles per print. On a professional one - less than 3 rubles.
• Printing on non-traditional materials. Not provided.
• Resistance of the print to external influences. Covered with film after printing. Water and fade resistant.
• Possible print length. Only in photo format, usually 10x15.
• Environmental friendliness. Low noise.
• Easy to maintain. More reliable than inkjet; Downtime is not a problem for sublimation printers. They are afraid of dust.
• Main use today. Photo printing.

Photonic printers

Prominent representatives of photonic printers of the past are photo laboratories from Durst, FujiFilm, MCI, Ricoh and many others, which expose images on photographic paper. Today, this printing method is considered the highest quality and professional on a par with offset. Allows you to print with quality up to 4000 dpi without banding and raster. Unfortunately, it prints only on specially prepared materials and at a low speed of 20 to 60 cm per minute. Wherein:

color reproduction 16.7 million shades,

color depth 36 bit,

transmission of 256 shades per color (RGB)

Image of high durability - indoors 10 years, in the sun 1 year. Prints only on roll media. Used mainly for printing photographs and high-quality reproductions, as well as photo books.

The printer itself is very expensive, but the cost of a full-color single-sided A3 print, regardless of quality, is 1 euro.

A modern representative of LumeJet photonic printers.

Laser printers

The technology - the progenitor of modern laser printing - appeared in 1938 - Chester Carlson invented a printing method called electrography, then renamed xerography.

The principle of the technology was as follows. A static charge is evenly distributed over the surface of the photodrum by a charge corotron (or a charge shaft), after which an LED laser (in LED printers - an LED line) removes this charge in the right places by illumination - thereby placing a latent image on the surface of the photodrum. Next, toner is applied to the photodrum. The toner is attracted to the discharged areas of the drum surface that retain the latent image. The paper is then pulled under the drum and the toner is transferred to the paper by the transfer coronator (or transfer roller). After this, the paper passes through a fusing unit, where the toner is fixed in the paper structure under temperature (previously, the method of direct mechanical indentation was used, without the use of electrical heating). Next, electrostatics are removed from the paper and it goes to the output of the device. The photodrum is cleaned of toner residues in the cleaning unit and the printing cycle resumes.

The first laser printer was EARS (Ethernet, Alto, Research character generator, Scanned Laser Output Terminal), invented and created in 1971 by the Xerox Corporation, and their mass production began in the second half of the 1970s. The Xerox 9700 printer could be purchased at that time for 350 thousand dollars, but it printed at a speed of 120 ppm.

Comparison with other types

• The print quality is high, models are available with a resolution of 2400 dpi.
• Color rendition. The toner produced on the basis of paraffins has stable characteristics. Since the printing unit for each color is large and expensive, only four colors are used in the CMYK scheme, and the photographic image is obtained with a large raster (about 80 lpi), especially in light colors. Color laser printers produce high-quality color images, but photo-quality models are not currently available. Dot gain is usually negative: toner is poorly attracted to the edges of the charged area.
• Print speed. Modern personal printers operate at speeds of 10-20 pages per minute. Office and industrial printers can have speeds of up to 400 pages per minute. It should be noted that before the first sheet is output, some time passes, which is necessary to warm up the fusing unit (from several seconds to tens of seconds). Most personal printers (Canon and ) use low-inertia fusing units with ceramic heaters that do not require heating, resulting in a significantly reduced time for the first sheet to come out.
• Cost per print. The smallest among all types of printers (units of US cents per page for black and white printing and tens for color). Personal printers use relatively expensive cartridges (designed for a capacity of 1.5 to 3 thousand pages), which seriously increase the cost of a print. Refilling cartridges allows you to reduce the cost of a print, but the standard possibility of refilling is not provided by manufacturers (and even artificial obstacles are created, for example, memory chips are installed in cartridges). The print quality on refilled cartridges is often low due to the apparent simplicity of the refilling process, which was not carried out professionally. Many mid- and high-end office printers are provided with standard refilling with toner located in special containers (tubes); these printers have the lowest cost per print.
• Printing on non-traditional materials. Some types of printers can print on glossy paper, envelopes, labels, and transparencies. All materials must be resistant to high temperatures, have a certain structure, density, thickness, and flexibility. All printers are designed to work with standard office paper with a weight of approximately 80 g/m². Any other material types should be used only from the list recommended by the manufacturer.
• Resistance of the print to external influences. They hold color well and are water resistant, but do not withstand friction well. Therefore, documents issued for a long time (for example, a passport) are printed either on other types of printers, or in a very bold and clear font.
• Possible print length. Laser printing is a continuous process, and the raster image for an individual sheet must be fully prepared in memory before printing begins. Therefore, the size of the printing area is usually limited, and the paper feed mechanism is designed to work with packs of a certain identical format (usually A4 or A3). Large-format printers are designed to feed paper from rolls (up to A0 format), with automatic cutting.
• Environmental friendliness. Almost silent. Contaminates the air with ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and toner. According to modern data, toner is dangerous as an inert dust and due to pyrrole (a by-product in the production of soot) [ ] . Moderately emits in the UV and IR ranges
• Easy to maintain. Works reliably in normal home and office environments. The printer usually “warns” about the imminent replacement of the cartridge with stripes on the printout. However, toner gets dirty and is difficult to wash, so you should not refill an empty cartridge at home. The print drum (the resource is about 10 thousand pages, but can be reduced when using low-quality paper, non-original toner, frequent printing of one page per job; in the cheapest printers it is built into the cartridge), and automatic paper feeder rollers also require regular replacement. Contains a powerful (up to 1000 W) electric heating element and therefore cannot operate from.
• Main use today. An indispensable assistant in any office. In the 2000s, the prices dropped so much that they became available to home users. Because of their high-quality single-color images, laser printers are used in printing for phototypesetting.

Thermal printers

The printing process consists of forming an image with a thermal print head on special heat-sensitive paper, which turns black where it is heated, forming characters. They are simple and cheap, do not require a dye, but the printing quality is low.

Comparison with other types

• Print quality. Reaches 300 dpi.
• Color rendition. Only black and white.
• Print speed. Very fast, faster than dot matrix and inkjet printers.
• Cost per print. Extremely low, 1 m² of cash register tape costs approximately twice as much as 1 m² of office paper. It's cheaper than laser prints.
• Printing on non-traditional materials. Print on thermal paper only. They also produce films and self-adhesive labels with thermal coating.
• Resistance of the print to external influences. Prints are not resistant to friction or pressure; fade within a few years. The prints are resistant to heating by the temperature of a human hand (36.6°), but do not always withstand exposure to household heating devices. For example, if you heat a product with a label printed on a thermal printer in a microwave oven, the label will turn black and become practically unreadable. In addition, blackening of the label can occur when interacting with certain household cleaning products.
• Environmental friendliness. The thermal print head does not create any noise; the operating noise of the printer is limited only by the noise of the material feeder. Virtually no pollution. However, thermal paper contains the harmful substance bisphenol A.
• Easy to maintain. Extremely reliable; The only consumable material is thermal paper.
• Main use today. They are widely used in small-format and small-sized printing devices: faxes, cash registers, ATMs, service terminals.

Solid ink (or solid ink) printers

These printers keep paraffin-based ink in a molten state.

Comparison with other types

• Print quality. 300 or more dpi.
• Color rendition. Similar laser printers; It’s only because of the different physical state of the paint that the colors come out richer.
• Print speed. ??? [ ]
• Cost per print. Even cheaper than laser ones.
• Printing on non-traditional materials. ??? [ ]
• Resistance of the print to external influences. Resists any “everyday” impacts: waterproof, does not fade, and withstands friction. You just can’t laminate a solid-color sheet or print it on a laser printer.
• Possible print length. Limited by software only.
• Environmental friendliness. The printer is quiet and does not create harmful fumes. In the mid-1990s, the president of Tektronix ate a brick of paint to demonstrate that it was harmless.
• Easy to maintain. It is advisable to keep the printer turned on at all times; The hardened portion of paint is used for processing. The printer can be refilled even during operation. But it is forbidden to move it without starting the cooling cycle.
• Main use today. It is used where large volumes of color printing are interspersed with long downtimes (for example, when printing educational or advertising materials).

3D printer (digital additive manufacturing device, prototyping device)

Other printers

Internet printers

Printer manufacturers recommend refilling their printers with their own ink/toner, but it is technically difficult to prevent the use of ink/toner from third-party manufacturers (just like making a car run only on gasoline from the car manufacturer). Buying so-called branded cartridges is more expensive than refilling cartridges with ink or toner from third-party manufacturers.

There is a whole industry of ink manufacturers that supply them to printer manufacturers under OEM agreements, as well as directly to users under their own brand, for example, inktec, ink-mate. Modern Canon printer models use Fine cartridges with a built-in chip that controls ink consumption levels. But this does not prevent the refilling of such cartridges, even without reprogramming the chip; if after refilling there remains information that the ink has run out, the printer does not refuse to print, it only reports that the ink level is low.

Cartridges can be refilled multiple times, subject to certain requirements. This requires compatible inks and often requires head cleaning measures.

A cartridge is often understood as a combined (monolithic) head plus ink tank system. However, there is also a distributed system, where only a replaceable ink tank acts as a cartridge. Some third-party manufacturers produced replaceable ink tanks in the form of refillable cartridges (RCCs), where a special hole was provided for convenient refilling. The material of such a PZK is usually transparent plastic for convenient control of the ink level. The idea of ​​the PZK was subsequently transformed into the idea of ​​the so-called. CISS.

Classification:

• Thermal (piezoplastic) print heads. Used primarily in office inkjet printers, used in Chinese water-pigment interior printers. They are distinguished by their simplicity, low cost, and low reliability.
• Piezoelectric (piezoceramic) print heads. Used in office inkjet printers, in most types of inkjet printers for industrial purposes.

Classification of piezoelectric (piezoceramic) print heads:

• Heads for printing with water-based and water-pigment inks.
• Heads for solvent printing. Used for printing with solvent-based inks and other aggressive solvents. The body and all parts of the heads intended for solvent printing are maximally resistant to chemically aggressive substances.
• Heads for UV printing. Unlike heads intended only for solvent printing, in most cases they have a built-in ink preheating module (UV ink easily liquefies when heated). UV heads are equipped with two inlets for supplying ink to the ink chamber and through flushing the ink chamber in the event of solid ink sediment settling (in UV printing, white ink containing zinc (zinc oxide) or titanium pigment (Titanium(IV) oxide) is often used) or lead salts, distinctive feature which is the ability to produce sediment, so recirculation is usually attached to the white channel.

Conditions for high-quality operation of the print head:

• When printing, there should be no contamination on the outer surface of the print head, since dirt may cover part of the nozzles, and instead of being injected onto the material, some drops will be trapped against an obstacle. In addition, lint (hair) stuck to the head can crawl across the undried paint, leaving dirty streaks.
• There should be no air bubbles in the ink chamber of the print head. The filter is responsible for degassing. The head, like any liquid pump, is not capable of pumping air effectively and air bubbles entering the nozzles freeze there and are not pumped further.
• The pressure at the inlet to the print head should be negative, small. If the negative pressure is excessive, the head sucks in air (into the return line, through the nozzles). At the slightest positive pressure of ink, drops immediately form on the head. The adjustability and method of adjusting the negative pressure depend on the design of the ink supply system. On cheap desktop printers with plug-in cartridges, in many cases pressure adjustment is not provided.
• The print head must be close enough to the printed material so that there is little ink droplet scattering.
• The voltage on the piezo elements of the print head must be sufficient to ensure that the droplet scattering angle is minimal. It all depends on the equipment manufacturer and the quality of maintenance and service of the printer.
• The voltage on the piezo elements should not be higher than the value at which the cavitation effect occurs from excessively sharp operation of the piezo elements in the ink chamber of the head (the paint literally boils, airing the head). A similar effect is observed when the head begins to emit ultrasound, which indicates overheating of the piezoelectric element, and also in the inkjet head this is the basis of printing.

Comparative characteristics of some print heads:

The Specta 128"SkyWalker" and Xaar128 heads have a single ink input and do not have built-in heating elements or sensors that can regulate the external heat of the head required to dilute the UV ink. They are of little use for UV printing.

Epson DX5 and DX7 heads are in some cases used on UV printers, but only because they are very cheap. When using UV paint, they fly much more often than Konica or Spectra heads, but the cheapness of Epson heads minimizes the difference in the financial cost of replacing heads.

Inkjet printer ink pump

Definition:

• An ink pump is a printer part designed to stabilize the vacuum in the ink path.

Ink pumps are used in both various systems ink supply, and in systems for automatically cleaning the print head(s).

The pump operating in the ink supply system works in conjunction with an ink level sensor located in the subtank - the container from which the print head is powered. Algorithm for turning on the pump: the printer is printing - the print head consumes ink from the subtank - the ink level in the subtank drops - the level sensor is activated - the pump is turned on, pumping ink from the main tank (ink canister) into the subtank. Algorithm for turning off the pump: a working pump has filled the subtank with ink - the level sensor turns off - the pump turns off. The signal from the sensor is supplied either directly to the pump or through intermediate electronic devices that perform various auxiliary functions: amplifying the level sensor signal, monitoring the ink level in the original container, turning off the pump if the sensor sticks, counting ink consumption, adjusting the pump rotation speed, etc. P.

The pump used in the automatic print head cleaning system works in conjunction with a sealed tray, which is pressed against the bottom surface of the print head during cleaning. The pump pumps ink and air out of the tray, creating negative pressure in the tray. Under the influence of negative pressure, ink begins to flow from the print head nozzles into the cap. This cleans the head, breaks through the dried nozzles, and removes air from the ink chamber of the print head.

Ink pumps are characterized by:

• maximum pressure
• ink pumping speed
• operating voltage range
• power consumption
• resistance of the pump design to chemical influences of various types of ink.

Ink pumps are characterized by fairly high maintainability. The main reason for pump failure is contamination of the pumping mechanisms, which can be easily cleaned.

Ink filter

The ink filter is designed to clean ink from insoluble impurities and sediment, as well as dust that accidentally gets into the ink.

Filters are characterized by:

• resource
• fineness of cleaning
• chemical resistance of filter construction materials to components of various types of ink.

Printers that print with UV-curable ink use filters with an opaque body, this prevents the ink in the filter from curing if accidentally exposed to light.

On many indoor printers, filters are built into dumpers connected between the ink path by the print head.

Filters are replaced when the assigned resource expires or when switching to another type of ink. When switching to another type of ink, the newly refilled ink may be chemically incompatible with the previously used one. To prevent mixing different types ink, the system should be washed with flushing liquid, and the filters should be replaced, since remnants of old paint can linger on them for a long time. The filter life depends greatly on the operating conditions of the equipment; when the equipment is placed in a very dusty room or when low-quality paint is used, the filters become clogged much faster. When several identical filters are connected in series, there is no significant increase in the quality of cleaning, since all filtered impurities remain on the first filter, while impurities that the type of filter used is not capable of filtering pass freely through both filters.

Sometimes printers use air filters to prevent dust from entering the ink along with the air entering the cartridge or subtank.

Inkjet printer carriage drive

Definition:

• An inkjet printer carriage drive is a set of mechanisms designed to move the inkjet printer carriage.

The inkjet printer carriage drive consists of:

• Mechanisms for attaching the carriage to the beam, ensuring free movement of the carriage along the axis of the beam and rigidity under loads applied in other directions. A typical inkjet printer carriage is attached to the beam using a linear rail and linear bearing(s), some printers (such as the older Mimaki JV2) use two circular guides instead of one rail. Office inkjet printers use a carriage mount on rollers or two round guides or a combination of rollers and one round guide. Rail linear guides are not used on office printers due to the high cost of this type of mounting (the price of just one linear rail bearing can exceed the average cost of a desktop printer several times). In addition, it is possible to mount the carriage on a linear motor.
• Carriage drive belt. On some printers, instead of a toothed belt, you can find a flexible steel belt. The belt does not have teeth that create vibrations when entering the drive gears and ensures smoother movement of the carriage, but in comparison with the belt it has a shorter resource, the consumption of which is impossible to track, since the belt, unlike the belt, does not begin to crumble before breaking, but breaks right away. On some printers, the carriage is driven by a steel cable wound on a two-piece spool.
• Carriage drive motor. Typically a servo motor is used feedback, or a linear motor (magnetic levitation) from more expensive manufacturers. Office printers often use conventional stepper motors or gear motors. (NRG Group; since 2007 - part of the Ricoh Company corporation)
• Toshiba
• Panasonic (International)
• Kuocera

Manufacturers of guides and slide bearings for printer carriages:

• Hiwin

In addition, many printers are equipped with a roller carriage mount. It is possible to use linear stepper motors (limited by high cost).

Manufacturers of servo motor controllers and stepper motors used in printers:

• Delta electronics

Small printers do not have a separate motor controller; the controller is built into a common control board.