Basic knowledge about ink

Basic knowledge about ink

Buying a printer is often not easy, as there are too many technologies, manufacturers, models. To make the right decision, you need to take into account costs beyond the price of the machine, considering factors such as speed, number of prints, and especially ink technology.

To make the right decision, you need to take into account factors other than price and other costs for the printer and focus on factors such as speed, number of prints, and technology of the ink.

Particular attention should be paid to the ink; The terms used to refer to ink are often difficult to understand and manufacturers do not always make clear about the advantages and disadvantages of the ink you choose.

The following guide will help you understand the most common ink technologies, and provides some basic information on how to use ink, which ink is suitable for which job. Hopefully, this guide will help you stay on track and less on the many types of printers that focus on what works best for you.

Ribbon ribbon

Better yet, let's start with the oldest mechanical ink technology, the ribbon ink used by many people. The remnants of the typewriter era have not completely disappeared anyway, despite other modern ink technologies appearing.

Today's ribbon ribbons are limited to special applications. For example, vintage-style ribbons are still used in high-quality, quality-assured environments, such as receipts or invoices.

However, other types of ribbons, such as thermal ribbons, can print very high quality and can often be printed with special dyes, such as metal foil, which can hardly be replaced by Other art.

Thermal paper

Thermal paper is impregnated with a chemical and the substance turns dark when exposed to heat. This paper has many advantages compared to traditional printing technologies because there is no need for a toner cartridge. This makes the mechanical design and use of the printer very simple and very smooth.

For this reason, thermal paper is commonly used in applications where reliability and ease of use are important; For consumers, this machine is a sticker, like the ones produced by Dymo and Brother.

There is a limit to the expensive thermal paper and usually only one color. Another disadvantage is that the quality of the printing paper drops off fairly quickly when it is hot, such as a car dashboard.

Liquid inks

If you use inkjet printers, you must use liquid ink - a method that is not so different from what you see in the ink pens of previous years. In the printer, the ink is pumped through a variety of different methods through very small nozzles in the print head, "drawing" onto the paper the spots that ultimately form the image or text.

Most consumer ink is watercolor, ideal for applications that focus on high-quality prints, such as photographs and drawings. However, due to the preparation, these inks have two defects: one is that they are often licked; The two are not durable and often fade over time.

The easiest way to solve this problem is to use the right kind of paper. Special inkjet paper is made so that it does not become water-prone, thus forcing the ink to dry on paper and for sharper images.

For the second issue, you need to consider high quality inks, prepared with anti-fouling and use non-water solutions to make water resistant. In addition, there are paper materials specially designed to prevent yellowing and degradation for storage. These materials are often sold with high quality and expensive photo printers.

Solid ink

The solid ink was previously developed by Tektronix, a company that Xerox later bought, and Xerox today produces printers based on this technology.

Solid ink is a wax-like substance that is sold in small blocks for each color used to make the image on paper (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, or CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). . Inside the printer, the ink is melted and sprayed onto an oiled roller liner with the same technology in offset printers.

The main advantage of solid ink technology is that it is fast, reliable and environmentally friendly, non-toxic and safe to use. However, the initial investment cost is often higher than the investment cost for laser printers.

Although image quality is not as good as inkjet printing, solid ink can be used to print high-resolution color graphics and is often used in offices because of low maintenance costs.

Powder inks

Powder inks for laser printers; This ink is made by bonding a pigment with a polymer to form a special electrolyte powder.

Inside the printer, a laser "draw" the image to be printed on a drum, charging it with an electrostatic charge. Empty drum will rotate on the toner box, sucking in toner which is then transferred to the paper and flowed to the place where the printing is to be made.

Powder inks are superior in durability and quality, especially for applications such as text printing and single drawings. When printed on paper, the powder is not faded and hard to peel. However, this ink is not good for photo printing, while inkjet printers can print high resolution and thus produce better pictures.

Technology ink sublimation dye

The last type of ink technology that we will consider is the dye dye technology, whereby a special dye is rapidly heated to convert solid to vapor without passing through the phase. Liquefied. The "cloud" of ink collected on paper forms a color dot.

Unlike inkjet printing, color dots are printed with dye-sub printers that blend in with the blends, producing high-quality prints, especially when used with specialty print media. right.

However, along with the high price, the feature makes dye-sublimation technology not ideal for printing sharp-edged content, such as text or vector drawings.

Printer for all purposes

An interesting aspect of the printer market is the growing number of specialized ink technologies used by consumers and businesses. This makes owning many specialty printers no longer a crazy idea like before.

However, not everyone has the budget or patience (not to mention the desk space) to buy multiple printers. In this case, the best way is to find the most suitable printer for your printing job. For jobs that are not compatible with your general technology choices, you can refer to specialized print shops or print services over the network.