The Printer Cartridge Review
By Martin Smith
Years ago computers were huge and their accompanying
printers were huge as well. Instead of ink
cartridges like those used now, they had toner
reservoirs and later toner cartridges. Filling a
toner cartridge was not easy and it was messy. The
toner cartridges were better. Some printers ran on
print wheels and some used ribbons.
Now our computers are more compact and the printers
do more than just print in some cases. Printers use
cartridges with self-contained reservoirs. Some can
be refilled and it isn't as messy as adding toner
was.
There are two types of printer cartridges. Primarily
Hewlett-Packard and Epson printers use the first,
the Piezo Electric. A small crystal is subjected to
an electric current that causes the crystal to
expand about every 5 microseconds (20,000 per
second. This expansion causes the inkjet ink to be
squirted out through the print heads very rapidly
and precisely. Piezo Electric has fewer print heads
than bubble jet/thermal printers but can do more
precise action and tend to last longer.
Bubble jet print cartridges heat the ink rapidly
into a bubble and is squirted through ink nozzles
thousands of times per second. Bubble jet printers
are quieter than the Piezo based printers. It gives
you extremely high resolution color printing.
Ink jet not megapixel method has the ink squirted
through nozzles as they move over a variety of
media. Liquid ink in various colors is squirted at
the paper to create an image. The print head scans
the page horizontally using a motor assembly that
rolls the paper in vertical steps.
A strip of an image is printed, then the paper moves
on ready for the next step. For speed, it doesn't
just print a strip across the page; it prints
vertical rows of pixels in each pass.
There are various types of inkjet technology. DOD or
drop on demand squirts small drops of in ink onto
the paper through tiny nozzles. It is like turning a
hosepipe on and off 5,000 times per second. The
amount of ink dropped on the page is controlled by
the driver software that says which nozzles fire and
when. A problem with ink jet technology is the
tendency for the ink to smudge right after printing.
This is improving with the development of new ink
compositions.
Thermal Technology of printing fires the ink onto
the paper. There are three stages in this process.
In stage 1 the squirt is started when the ink is
heated to create a bubble. Initial pressure bursts
the bubble and hits the paper. The bubble breaks as
the heating element cools. The vacuum that is
created draws the ink from the reservoir to replace
the ink that was ejected.
Printers' years ago used to be very expensive and
the reason for this was because the print heads that
would stamp the image on paper was within the
printer. Ink and/or toner were added to a reservoir
or the printer used ribbons to stamp the image on
paper. Now printers are fairly cheap, the cost comes
when you have to purchase the ink cartridges for it.
One would think that it would almost be worth it to
buy a new printer instead of the cartridges because
the price of the cartridges is often more than some
of the more basic ink jet printers available.
The current price of cartridges while currently
expensive have some technology in them that is
complex and actually over the long haul will end up
being cheaper than it would be to replace print
heads often. Print heads are now contained within
the cartridges themselves. The exciting thing about
that is you could have your printer for a very long
time if you use the correct cartridges for your
printer.
Color cartridges work the same as black cartridges
by squirting the ink through tiny nozzles onto the
paper in horizontal strips as the cartridges move
back and forth across the page. The color cartridge
however, has three reservoirs with cyan, magenta,
and yellow ink, each in a separate reservoir.
The image quality can depend on a number of things.
Paper quality can affect the image you get.
Brightness and absorption of the ink are the two
main things that affect image quality. Brightness is
exactly how bright the color or print image is while
absorption is how effectively the paper absorbs the
ink. For inkjet printers it is best to use paper
made specifically for inkjet printers. You will get
the best possible image with the proper paper. Also
check the settings of your printer and/or your
display properties, these things can also affect
your printing project.
Depending on the paper you use and your printer, you
may want to leave your documents alone for a little
while so the ink can dry. Some printers have an ink
saver setting that will put out less ink, which will
dry faster, and still give you a near perfect image.
Get to know your printer and how it works.
(c)
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About the Author
Martin Smith is a successful freelance writer
providing advice for consumers on purchasing a
variety of
Printer ink cartridges
which includes
Cheap ink cartridge.
Article Source:
EzineArticles.com
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