Wednesday 27 February 2013

Different Printers, Different Inks

By Keren Kipfer


Without ink, our lives would be vastly different. We see it on everything from our food containers to our books and periodicals to our clothing. Ancient forms of ink were made from native plants, as well as tar, pitch and even burned bones. The inks of today are highly precise mixtures that ensure a quality finished product.

There are many different types of inkjet printers, and each uses a specific type of ink. The printers we typically have at home or at the office are the type that contains cartridges of ink. These cartridges contain pre-mixed solutions of ink, and the consumer simply inserts a new cartridge whenever it is needed. However, industrial printers are a bit more complicated, and the operators must learn how to add the precise mixture of ink and make-up fluids.

Aside from the general printing needed in an office or the large-scale printers used for publishing, many companies use special inkjet printers to imprint product ids on all the items they sell. These product ids are crucial, as they list information such as the batch number or perhaps the expiration date or specific product identification number. Food items, beverages and pharmaceutical products have an obvious need for these product ids, but also automotive parts and electronic equipment needs to be imprinted with product ids. These businesses use either high quality continuous inkjet printers, known as CIJ printers, or they use a drop-on-demand (DOD) printer when adding a product id to goods.

With continuous inkjet printers, produced by companies such as Maxima, a pump moves liquid ink through a gun body and then a tiny nozzle, which creates a constant stream of ink droplets. A CIJ printer can move more than 150,000 droplets per seconds. These printers are very fast and the inks dry very quickly. Both CIJ and drop-on-demand printers can be used to print many types of materials such as glass, metal, cardboard and plastics.

These drop-on-demand printers, which are simply called DOD printers, are either thermal or piezoelectric. Thermal DOD printers work by using heat which causes a quick vaporization of ink and forms a bubble; this increases pressure and then pushes a droplet of ink onto the paper or product. Thermal DOD printers use less expensive ink, but there are only a few types of ink you can use. A piezo DOD printer, on the other hand, uses an electric charge to force out the ink droplets, rather than heat. There are more varieties of inks that can be used, but they do tend to cost a bit more. Domino and Altima are two brands of DOD printers.

Rather than purchase a printer, ink or the necessary make-up fluids directly from a manufacturer, such as Domino, it is wise to consider finding a company that specializes in product id services. These companies sell refurbished coders, printer parts and ink and make up at considerably lower prices than a manufacturer. This will help you cut costs, but you will still maintain the highest level of product id quality.




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