13.3.2 Inkjet Printers

Learn about inkjet printers.

Inkjet printers are popular for small businesses and home offices because they produce good quality prints at a cheaper price than laser printers. In inkjet printers, ink is jetted or sprayed onto the page using microscopic jet nozzles. This makes the inkjet printer capable of 3000 DPI (dots per inch) resolutions.

Thermal Bubble

A common method used to shoot ink from the jet nozzle. Each jet has a tiny ink chamber with a heating element attached. Heat will be applied to the ink in the chamber until a vapor bubble forms, and the growing bubble forces a droplet of ink to shoot out of the chamber and through the nozzle opening. Then the ink chamber is reloaded with ink.

Ink Cartridges

Most small business or home office inkjet printers use all-in-one cartridges. These cartridges have a built-in printhead, circuitry, and one or all of the ink tanks together.

The built-in printhead houses all of the tiny nozzles to shoot ink from, and it covers the bottom end of the cartridge. On the end of the cartridge sits the flexible copper electronic circuit. The contact pins connect the printhead to the printer when the cartridge is installed into the printer. The circuitry also tracks ink levels to let the user know when it's time for a replacement or refill.

Each brand of inkjet printer has its own cartridges, and they aren't cross-compatible. It's up to the end user to make sure they're using the right cartridge for their printer.

CMYK Color Model

Color inkjet printers use four different colors known as the CMYK color model:

• cyan
• magenta
• yellow
• black This color model is used in almost every piece of modern color print media. By layering different ratios of these four colors, an inkjet printer is capable of creating 16 million unique colors on a page.

Troubleshooting

The most common cause of inkjet printer malfunction is blocked jet nozzles. You'll know whether or not they're blocked if printouts look streaked or smudged. Remember to follow manufacturer guidelines when cleaning the nozzles so you don't damage the printer.

Another issue is called device drift, and it can be detected when fuzzy lines start appearing in colored pages. The fix for this is to calibrate the printer, which realigns the inkjet nozzles and printer paper. Each manufacturer has different calibration controls, so follow the manufacturer-given guidelines when calibrating the printer.

You can clear printer jams by removing jammed pieces of paper from the feeder or rollers. Use firm, steady pressure when clearing paper jams, avoiding tearing reducing the risk of leaving pieces of paper inside the printer.

Inkjet Technologies (Raw Lesson Content)

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