Printer Ink – What are the Options?
If you’re in the market for a printer for your home or office, you will need to do a little research and decide which print technology is best suited to your needs. Printers employ fundamentally different technologies to produce an image or alpha-numeric information on paper or whatever substrate they are designed to print on. Although the consumable substances used by the various technologies are commonly referred to as printer ink, most of them do not really fit the definition at all.
The Oxford dictionary defines ink as a coloured fluid or paste used for writing, drawing, printing, or duplicating. By this definition, laser toner is not an ink, and neither are the solid wax blocks used in the so-called “hot melt ink” units. Inkjet ink definitely qualifies though. Perhaps for ease of description, it is acceptable to group the different print consumables into a loose category and call them “inks”. Understanding the benefits of each type will help you make the right choice for your specific requirements.
Liquid Ink
Liquid printer ink, with about the viscosity of water, is used by machines using inkjet technology to produce text and images. Microscopically small droplets are sprayed onto the paper, in a precisely controlled manner, which then soaks into the surface. This type comes in two forms, namely dye-based and pigment-based inks. Dye-based cartridges are less costly, but images produced with dye-based inks are prone to fading over time or when exposed to ultraviolet light. The pigment-based options cost more but produce fade-resistant prints because they contain tiny particles of colour (pigment) which is deposited on the print surface. Inkjet units produce more vivid colours and blend colours better than other print technologies, which make them great for producing photorealistic images and high-end graphics. If the bulk of your output will be photographs and graphics, this is the technology that you should go with.
Toner-Based Printing
Laser and LED printers use a dry powder called toner to create an image or text on the print substrate (typically paper). Toner is made up of extremely small particles of polymer (plastic) mixed with pigment. Intense light from a laser or LED is used to charge a spinning drum. The toner particles are attracted to the drum where the light has formed a charged area corresponding to the image or text to be printed. The image or text is then transferred onto the paper which is fed through heated rollers where the plastic particles and pigment are melted into the surface. Laser and LED machines are typically capable of much higher print speeds than inkjets but cannot produce the same print quality, especially when colour is required. If high volumes of mostly black-and-white prints are the bulk of the work in your office, this is the technology best suited to your needs.
Are There Any Other Options?
Up until 2016, Xerox produced and sold a range of machines which used solid wax blocks mixed with pigment as printer ink. Picture a wax crayon being melted and millions of small droplets of molten wax, of each of the primary colours plus black, being sprayed onto a piece of paper. When they were first launched, solid printer ink machines were aimed at graphic designers because they produced prints with brilliant colour definition, especially colours such as oranges and yellows. The melted wax also produced a very glossy surface finish on the paper. This technology also had the advantage of producing less waste, no empty cartridge, and having very long shelf life, wax blocks do not dry out or leak. On the downside, the wax was prone to being scratched accidently, spoiling the finished print. The printer ink, being solid, had to be melted, which required the print head to get up to temperature. This took time and made the wait for the first print lengthy. Print output could also not be laminated as the lamination heat melted the wax and ruined the print. The limitations of this technology have resulted in inkjet and laser superseding it.
Ribbon-Based Printer Ink
Impact and dot matrix printers employ a fabric ribbon or tape to deliver a thick pigmented ink to the page. This technology is only really suited to black or black and red text printing where speed is the primary requirement. Ribbon-based printer ink cannot produce full colour prints.
Get Professional Advice
While it’s always good to do one’s own research at the end of the day, advice from professionals is going to be the best. Engage with Raydian for professional advice on anything to do with printers and printing and make an informed decision.
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