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13.3.4 Inkjet Printer Facts

Inkjet printers are popular with home users and small businesses. They are more affordable than other types of printers and provide excellent quality printouts. The biggest drawback is that the cost of the ink is high, resulting in a high cost per printed page.

This lesson covers the following topics:

Inkjet printer components
Inkjet technology
Maintenance

Inkjet Printer Components

Inkjet printers are affordable, reliable, and produce high-quality prints. They are light, easily portable printers. The following table describes inkjet printer components.

	Component Description
Ink supply system	The systems that supply the ink. The systems can be: Ink cartridges. The two types of ink cartridges are: All-in-one ink cartridges include printhead, circuitry, and ink. Ink-only cartridges. Continuous Ink Supply System (CISS) A method for delivering ink to the printhead from a tank much larger than ink cartridges can supply. CISS greatly reduces the cost of replacing ink cartridges and reduces the cost per printed page. Some manufacturers offer CISS printers for small business and home office users. Inkjets use the 4-color, cyan, magenta, yellow, black (CMYK), color model which can produce 16.7 million colors.
Printhead	The mechanism that sprays tiny dots of ink onto the paper using microscopic jets with nozzle openings (tiny holes). One or more printheads move back and forth on a carriage and belt assembly. Different printers can use different types of printheads: Disposable printheads are integrated with all-in-one ink cartridges and are meant to last as long as the cartridge has ink. Fixed print heads are mounted in the carriage of some printers and are built to last a longer time.
Carriage	An assembly that carries the printhead(s) and ink cartridges back and forth with precise, controlled movement during print job.
Stabilizer bar	A sturdy metal bar that guides the carriage during a print job.
Belt	The pulley system that helps move the carriage back and forth along stabilizer bar. The belt connects the stepper motor to the carriage.
Stepper motor	A motor that helps move the carriage back and forth. A stepper motor advances paper rollers one print line at a time.
Feeder	The mechanism that single-cut sheets are fed from a tray (or by hand) into printer.
Rollers	Plastic or rubber rollers that tightly pinch the paper and move it through the printing process. The stepper motor advances the rollers.
Duplexing assembly	An optional printer attachment that automatically turns over paper and reroutes it back through the printer for two-sided printing.

Inkjet Technology

Inkjet printers use one of the following technologies in the printhead to spray tiny ink droplets onto the paper.

Technology Description

Drop-on-demand (DOD)

The technology commonly used in inkjets by printer manufacturers. The two types of DOD technology are:

Thermal bubble technology (often called bubblejet) — uses heat to create a vapor bubble inside the jet’s ink chamber that expands and pushes a droplet out.
Piezo electric technology — uses an electrical signal to vibrate a thin, flexible film attached to the jet’s ink chamber. The pressure forces a droplet out.

Continuous inkjet (CIJ)

Early inkjet technology that is still used commercially for marking or coding products and packages.

Ink is continually pumped through a nozzle and droplets are electronically charged. Some drops are deflected to the receptor material by electronic deflector plates; other droplets are not deflected and become waste.

Printer resolution is measured in dots per inch (DPI), the number of tiny droplets that can fit along a single inch on the page. A printer with a higher resolution means it makes smaller dots and a sharper image. Inkjet printer resolution can range from 150 dpi up to 4800 dpi (for photo-quality prints). Normal resolution is typically about 300 dpi.

Maintenance

Here are some common solutions if you find the printer is not working properly.

	Solution Description
Calibrate	Calibrate the inkjet printer if the printout is degraded, misaligned, or unclear. Calibration ensures printhead and paper are properly aligned and often resolves multiple issues. Printers commonly have calibration programs to perform electronic adjustments.
Clean printheads	Run a printer test page to check for printhead failure. The biggest single cause of printhead failure is nozzles blocked with dried ink or dust. If the test page quality is poor, smudged, or blotchy, clean the printhead(s). If a specific color is not printing, clean the printhead(s) for that color. Many printers have separate printheads for different colors. For all-in-one cartridge printheads, use a printhead cleaning kit to manually clean the printhead. Follow manufacturer's guidelines. For fixed carriage printheads, use the utility cleaning cycle provided by the printer manufacturer.
Replace cartridges	Observe expiration dates of printer cartridges and replace cartridges in a timely manner to avoid dried ink. Preserve the life of the printer cartridges by leaving them in the vacuum-sealed bag until you’re ready to install them in the printer.
Clear jams	Clear jams by removing jammed pieces of paper in the feeder or rollers. Use firm, steady pressure when clearing paper jams. This will help to avoid tearing and leaving pieces of paper inside the printer.