Xerox Solid Ink

Xerox Solid Ink
by Gary Jones

Xerox have been around since the early 1900’s and were the leading printing manufacturer in the 60’s generating over $500 million in revenue due to their successful Xerox 914 machine. Now Xerox is looking to pioneer a relatively new printing technology in Solid Ink.

What is Solid Ink?

Solid Ink technology was developed by Xerox in 1991 and technology utilizes solid wax ink sticks instead of "liquid ink" and "toner powder" typically used in printers. Solid ink is similar to crayon or wax substance which makes it cost-effective, produces incredible print quality, easy to use and it’s good for the environment.

How does Solid Ink Printer process work?

Step 1 - Preparing to Print

The solid ink printer doesn’t need addition consumables like that of drum units or transfer belts that would be normally needed for a Laser Printer. The printing process begins with the maintenance roller, which quickly applies a microscopic layer of oil to a heated drum unit. This is a simple, reliable printing mechanism which can last up to 30,000 prints.

Step 2 - Single Pass Imaging

Solid Ink utilizes a full-width print head which gives the printer a high speed image transfer.

Step 3 - Image Transfer

Paper is then rapidly fed between the drum and a roller, which transfers the wax to the paper. The process is quicker than a laser printer. There is also no Fuser Unit, which can use a lot of energy to heat up.

Step 4 - Ink Bonding

The ink penetrates the paper’s fibres as it’s transferred from the drum; it does this without the spreading of liquid ink-jets or the scattering of toner. The ink cools and solidifies immediately, which forms a strong permanent bond to the paper. The whole print process can take as little as 5 seconds.

The wax doesn’t smear and gives a more vibrant colour quality. The great thing about solid ink is that it can print on a wider range of media (paper) than liquid ink-jet or toner.

Step 5 - Reloading the Solid Ink

With Solid Ink you can reload or remove the ink sticks without taking the printer offline. A benefit in using Ink Sticks is less waste packaging and less waste ink by-products. As the ink sticks are small and compact, they do not come in big packaging nor have plastic containers.

Solid Ink Advantages

• Print quality – is considered to be excellent with lively colours due to the way the solid ink printers process puts the ink onto the page
• Different Media Types – Solid Ink printers can print on many different types of media including recycled. Laser and Inkjet printers depend on specific media for getting the best quality
• Compatible Products – Compatible ink sticks are available and they’re much cheaper than the original xerox counterparts.
• Waste – A great thing about ink sticks is the is no waste other than the packaging. So there are no big plastic empty toner cartridges or ink cartridges to dispose of responsibly.

So now you know what a Solid Ink is and how a solid ink printer works.

More Information:

This article is written by Gary Jones who also recommends reading the article - Best Printers For Students.

Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article445972.html