Different Types of Printers

What is Printer ?

Printer is output devices which produces text graphics on a paper. Paper is in any Any Size and weight.

Why We Need Printer ?

In Older age there is a Manually engraved wood pieces of alphabet which is inverted way in a Frame and apply paint oil in wood then apply paper with some weight on it.which is a no of copy of books is slowly makes.

What are Types of Printers ?

• Impact printers
• Non-impact printers

What is Impact printers

Impact printers: This printer makes contact with paper usually forming a print image by pressing an inked ribbon against the paper using pins. Following are the examples of impact printers.

1. Daisy-wheel Printer
2. Dot-Matrix Printer
3. Line Printer
4. Drum Printer
5. Chain Printer
6. Band Printer
7. Plotter printer

What is Non-impact printers ?

Non-impact printers: A striking device is not used to produce characters on a paper in non-impact printers. Following are the non-impact printers.

1. Inkjet Printer
2. Laser-jet Printer
3. Thermal Printer
4. Plotter printer

You asked Plotter printer in both impact or non-impact so it is true 3 types of Plotter

• Pen plotters,
• Impact plotters
• Non Impact plotters

How Printing Done Before Printers ?

Before Printer there is movable pieces of metal type or Wooden which embedding text characters and theirs is 1000+ Wooden Pieces which is used to print paper.All the Printing done by hands . Rectangle box where place all Wooden Text characters And then Like Stamp apply ink on first on Wood then Wood place on paper apply force so paper absorb ink .in Old era its long process to make a single book.

Mechanical, Electronics or Computer Printers

1. Daisy-Wheel Printer
2. Dot-Matrix Printer
3. Line Printer
4. Drum Printer
5. Chain Printer
6. Band Printer
7. Ink-jet Printer
8. Laser-jet Printer
9. Thermal Printer
   • Direct Thermal
   • Thermal Transfer
10. Plotter Printer
    • Pen Plotters
    • Drum Plotter
    • Cutting Plotters
      • Sharp blade or Drill Based
      • Laser Cutting
    • Flatbed plotter or Table Plotter
    • Inkjet plotter

1. Daisy Wheel Printers

• Speed : 10 to 75 characters per second
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : No
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Ribbon

Daisy wheel printers is a Wheel type printers which is looks like a typewriter as typewriter its print only characters and symbols and cannot print graphics.They are generally slow with a printing speed of about 10 to 75 characters per second. A printer that produces letter-quality type. A daisy-wheel printer works on the same principle as a ball-head typewriter. The daisy wheel is a disk made of plastic or metal on which characters stand out in relief along the outer edge. To print a character, the printer rotates the disk until the desired letter is facing the paper. Then a hammer strikes the disk, forcing the character to hit an ink ribbon, leaving an impression of the character on the paper. You can change the daisy wheel to print different fonts.

Working of Daisy Wheel Printers

Working is very similar to typewriters. A circular printing element is the heart of these printers that contains all text, numeric characters and symbols mould on each petal on the circumference of the circle. The printing element rotates rapidly with the help of a servo motor and pauses to allow the printing hammer to strike the character against the paper.

Advantages

• Low maintenance
• Low costs
• Can create carbon copies
• Can use fan-fold paper and heavy paper grades
• Better print quality than a Dot-Matrix Printer

Disadvantages

• Noisy printing
• No graphics
• Limited number of characters/types

2. Dot Matrix Printer

• Speed : 50 to 500 characters per second
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : No
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Ribbon

Dot Matrix Printer is contains a number of tiny pins aligned in a column varying from 9 to 24 which is main Component that prints text and graphics on the paper by using tiny dots to form the desired shapes. It uses an array of metal pins known as print-head to strike an inked printer ribbon and produce dots on the paper. These combinations of dots form the desired shape on the paper. Generally they print with a speed of 50 to 500 characters per second as per the quality of the printing is desired. The quality of print is determined by the number of pins used (varying from 9 to 24). A print head, which has many pins in it, moves in the required direction and This looks quite similar to the printing mechanism of typewriters and daisy wheel printers. However, dot matrix printers are different in the sense that many different characters and graphics can be printed. A character printed by a DMP is actually an accumulation of many such dots on a small area of the paper.

Working of Dot Matrix Printer Mechanism

Working is very similar to typewriters But in Dot matrix the characters and letters are formed by a matrix of dots. The key component in the dot matrix printer is the ‘print-head’ which is about one inch long and contains a number of tiny pins aligned in a column varying from 9 to 24.The print head is driven by several hammers which force each pin to make contact with the paper at the certain time. These hammers are pulled by small electromagnet (also called solenoids) which is energised at a specific time depending on the character to be printed.The timings of the signals sent to the solenoids are programmed in the printer for each character.Hammer is strikes against a cloth ribbon which is soaked in ink,making a mark on the paper. The dots are spaced closely in a particular shape to make the intended character. The printer receives the data from the computer and translates it to identify which character is to be printed and the print head runs back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and prints the dots on the paper. many such dots on a small area of the paper make character.
Advantages

1. Cheaper than Most Printers
2. Can Print Carbon Copies
3. Indication of Ribbon Replacement

Disadvantages

1. Output is Not High Resolution
2. Pins Can Bend Easily
3. Time-Consuming and Prone to Paper Jamming

3. Line Printer

• Speed : 3,000 lines per minute.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : No
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Ribbon

Line printers is used in Banks where no of Statements continuous form paper which is usually perforated instead of individual cut sheets. Line printers print the full width of the page, one line of text at a time, instead of a print head moving back and forth across the page.

Working of Line Printer Mechanism

Serial Dot-matrix Printer it use pins to strike against the inked ribbon, making dots on the paper and forming the desired characters. The differences are that line printers use hammer bank (or print-shuttle) instead of print head, this print-shuttle has hammers instead of print wires, and these hammers are arranged in a horizontal row instead in vertical column. A high-speed printer capable of printing an entire line at one time. These hammers are pulled by small electromagnet (also called solenoids) which is energized at a specific time depending on the character to be printed.The timings of the signals sent to the solenoids are programmed in the printer for each character. on the page and prints the dots on the paper. many such dots on a small area of the paper make character. A fast line printer can print as many as 3,000 lines per minute.
Advantages

• High speed
• low in cost and more durable
• less harmful to the environment and are less costly as well

Disadvantages

• print quality is mostly low
• it cannot print graphics.
• Line printers are very noisy while operating and may need soundproofing.

The continuous feed forms for line printers are not easily available anymore, as they are no longer in high demand.

4. Drum Printer

• Speed : 300 to 2000 lines per minute.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : No
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Ribbon

Drum Printer is known its name a rotating drum behind a complete set of characters for each print position on a line is on a continuously rotating drum behind an inked ribbon, with paper in front of the ribbon; identical characters are printed simultaneously at all required positions on a line, on the fly, by signal-controlled hammers.The paper is taped onto a drum for precise alignment to the nozzles.An old line printer technology that used formed character images around a cylindrical drum as its printing mechanism. When the desired character for the selected position rotated around to the hammer line, the hammer hit the paper from behind and pushed it into the ribbon and onto the character.

Working of Drum Printer Mechanism

A drum printer consists of a cylindrical drum in which the characters [alphabets] are embedded on the surface of the drum. One complete set of characters is embossed for each print position on a line. Therefore a printer with 132 characters per line and a 96 character set will have on its surface that is 132*96=12672 characters embossed.The hammer pushes the paper into the type slug when it rotated around to the proper position. Such printer technologies seem ridiculous compared to the quiet, high-speed workings of today’s laser printers. The hammer must strike quickly and it must be synchronised along with the drum movement. Otherwise the printing will not be uniform. The drum printers have a fixed font and cannot be changed often.

Advantages

1. Faster than others printers.
2. Allow to print more precise lines.
3. It can be looked up to any computer.

Disadvantages

1. Can take an hour to produce a print depending on the size of lines.
2. Not able to print photo quality.
3. Cost a bit more than other.
4. Character font can’t be changed.

5.Chain printers

• Speed : 400 to 2500 characters per second
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : NO
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Ribbon

Chain Printer inside a belt or Chain of character .It is the character printer. Chain Printer also called band printers, contain characters on a rotation band. The print element in a chain printer is a metallic band or chain containing the embossed characters that rotates horizontally in front of paper.

Working of Chain Printer Mechanism

Chain Printer inside a belt which is complete chain ,chain consists of the five sections; each section consists of 48 characters. The timings of the signals sent to the solenoids are programmed in the printer for each character. Hammer is strikes against a cloth ribbon which is soaked in ink,making a mark on the paper. As the print chain rotates, properly timed print hammers strike the paper along with linked ribbon, against the proper character on the chain as it passes. Then a hammer strikes the chain, forcing the character to hit an ink ribbon, leaving an impression of the character on the paper.
Advantage

1. Different languages can be changed.
2. The speed of printer is high.
3. It can also change the font style.
4. Character font can easily be changed.

Disadvantage

1. It is noisy.
2. They can also print different type of character like bold, underline, Italic etc.
3. They do not print graphics such as table, charts.

6.Band printers

• Speed : 300 to 2000 lines per minute.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : No
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Ribbon

A band printer is a line printer that uses a metal band, or loop,of type characters as its printing mechanism. Band Printer a metal band with character shapes imprinted on it. Also known as a belt printer. a line printer that uses a metal band, or loop, of type characters as its printing mechanism. The band contains a fixed set of embossed characters that can only be changed by replacing the band. The band spins horizontally around a set of hammers, one for each print column. When the required character in the band has revolved to the selected print column, the hammer pushes the paper into the ribbon and against the embossed image of the letter, digit or symbol.
Band printers can print up to approximately 2,000 lpm and can exist in very harsh industrial environments, although they are mostly used in data centres. Band printers and line matrix printers are the two surviving line printer technologies.

Working of Band

Band Printer is a type of impact printer which contains a metal band with character shapes imprinted on it. during output, the band rotates horizontally past the paper, and a hammer strikes the band opposite the appropriate character the band rotates horizontally past the paper, and a hammer strikes the band opposite the appropriate character, pressing it through an inked ribbon and onto the paper. Band printers can print from 300 to 2000 lines per minute. Also known as a belt printer. Hammer is strikes against a cloth ribbon which is soaked in ink,making a mark on the paper. As the print chain rotates, properly timed print hammers strike the paper along with linked ribbon, against the proper character on the chain as it passes. Then a hammer strikes the chain, forcing the character to hit an ink ribbon, leaving an impression of the character on the paper.
Advantages

• Less expensive
• Fast (some types)
• Can make multiple copies with multi part paper

Disadvantages

• Noisy!
• Print quality lower in some types.
• Poor graphics or none at all.
• Not Available now

7.Inkjet printers

• Speed : 3,000 lines per minute.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : Yes
• Ink Support : Liquid Black / Colour RGB and CMYK
• cartridge : Black cartridge and Colour cartridge

Inkjet printers are most popular printers for home and small scale offices as they have a reasonable cost and a good quality A Representational Image of Inkjet Printers to Produce Full Colors Hard Copies

Its is now Three Type In Market

1. Cartridge
2. Cartridge Ink Tank (DIY)
3. Ink Tank

Inkjet printers are mainly used liquid ink in CMYK C = Cyan. M = Magenta. Y = Yellow. B = black for home its is difficult to avoid ink become dry and cartridge head is block its is mainly used small scale offices they used regular printer to avoid ink dryness.

Inside Cartridge is In Two Types :

• Thermal Technology
• Piezo-Electric Technology

Working of Inkjet Printer Mechanism

a inkjet printers having cartridge where ink is store and small chamber which is allow to make drop of ink push down to paper there is two technology which allow to push one is Thermal Technology its thermal activity which created heating the ink to create a bubble until the pressure forces it to burst and ink hit the paper.and others is Piezo-Electric Technology is act like loudspeaker cone which forces a drop of ink out of the nozzle. both technology is allow to push | Ejected | Fire ink on paper by creating vacuum .

inkjets have print heads containing a total of between 300 and 600 nozzles, each about the diameter of a human hair (approx. 70 microns). These deliver drop volumes of around 8 to 10 picolitres (a picolitre is a million millionth of a liter), and dot sizes of between 50 and 60 microns in diameter. A ink is combined three-colour (cyan, magenta and yellow) print head make Several colour ink

A typical inkjet printer can print with a resolution of more than 300 dpi and some good quality inkjet printers are able to produce full colored hard copies at 600 dpi. An inkjet printer can print 100 to several hundred papers depending on the nature of the hard copy before the ink cartridge need to be replaced.

Advantage

1. Less cost
2. Create image and document with high quality.
3. It does not require time to heat the machine.

Disadvantage

1. Cartridge can exceed machine cost.
2. Moisture also effect .
3. Unexpected problem with cartridge.

8. Laser-jet Printers

• Speed : 3,000 lines per minute.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : NO
• Ink Support : Black
• cartridge : Toner

Laser printer is support dry ink , dry ink is carbon based ink which is printed on paper with the help of heavy duty laser pointer it is 300dpi . The cartridge called toner , Inside toner is cabin of dry ink where store , it is easily understand when paper is become light so it means to change dry ink. Its refill easily. But ink so tiny harmful if we inhale , it impact directly but we regularly inhale it is harmful so where Mask.

a printer support 300 dot per inch but a image requires 90,000 dots per square inch, or 8 million dots for a sheet of paper. Up the resolution to 600 dots per inch and that number rises to 360,000 dots per square inch or 32 million per page.

Working of Laser Printer

one of the most regular used in Xerox , printing machine there almost same working inside size may be variy ,the printer’s get data from computer then printer processor turns the data into (what’s called a raster image) which is millions of tiny dots on a line by line basis.a precise laser beam scans back and forth over the printer’s photo conductive drum as the printer draws in a clean sheet of paper. A special rotating mirror does the hard work of sending the beam to where it needs to be.The key is that wherever the laser’s beam hits the drum, it selectively removes the static charge on the drum on that exact spot.the drum next selectively picks up toner where the drum remains charged. This creates a reverse image of what was on the drum. This image is then transferred to the paper.

Finally, a hot roller squeezes the page, melting the toner’s polymer to fuse it with the surface of the paper. This creates a permanent image on the page.

Advantage

1. They are very fast.
2. The quality of print is high.
3. It also print colourful print.
4. For there quality they used in offices and universities.

Disadvantage

1. It is also costly.
2. They also have heating problem.
3. Cost of cartridge is expensive.
4. Not capable for high resolution pictures.

9.Thermal printer

• Speed : 3,000 lines per minute.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : No
• Ink Support : Black
• Cartridge : Ribbon

Thermal printer uses colour waxes and heat to produce images on special paper. The colour wax sheets are not required for black-and-white output. Thermal printers are expensive and require costly paper. These printers are used to create the highest-quality colour printing. businesses are using thermal printing for their transactions including airline tickets,ATM Machine, Movie Ticket , Mall Stores. It has increased popularity because of its graphic capabilities, quality of print, speed and technological advances.

Working of Direct thermal and thermal transfer printers Mechanism.

• Direct thermal printers use chemically-treated paper that darkens when heated by a thermal print head. Direct thermal printers do not use separate ink, toner, or ribbon supplies. Direct thermal printers are most commonly used to print items such as receipts and shipping labels.
• Thermal transfer printers use a thermal print head to transfer a solid ink from a ribbon onto a label supply (usually made from vinyl, polyester, nylon, or other thicker materials) to produce a permanent print. Ribbon is usually made from wax, resin, or a combination of the two, and is bonded to the label supply surface with heat and pressure.

Advantages

• No need to buy Ink , Just buy paper
• Ink-less no Hand Dirty.
• No issues with ribbons wrinkling when printing
• Less physical Space
• Eliminates cartridge size
• Less maintenance inside fewer moving parts, thermal printers tend to last longer, are easier to maintain.

Disadvantages:

• Printing on paper is not permanent is exposure to sunlight or extreme heat. it fade from the exposure.
• Even without sun exposure, printing will be fade over long periods of time. For labelling boxes kept in inventory for years, direct thermal is not the best choice.
• Print speeds is slower.
• Paper is costly
• Putting acrylic adhesive tape over a direct thermal label will cause the label to fade.

10. Plotter Printer

• Speed :4000 lines per minute with 100 characters per line.
• Characters : Yes
• Graphics : Yes
• Ink Support : Colors
• Cartridge : RGB ,CMYK

The plotter is a computer printer for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were used in applications such as computer-aided design,now its used to print banner poster , magazines wide-format conventional printers which covered lot of space as Compare to normal printer. A plotter gives a hard copy of the output. It draws pictures on a paper using a pen.Computer Generated Random & vector graphics in onto paper .

Plotters is 3 Types

• Pen Plotters,
• Impact Plotters
  • Drum Plotter
  • Cutting Plotters
• Non-Impact Plotters
  • Flatbed plotter is also known as Table Plotter
  • Inkjet plotter

Pen Plotters

While pen plotters are electromagnetically devices that draw the images onto paper. with electromagnetically Pen is push down on paper so pen is draw on paper and push up from when it not need to Print Anything, pen Plotter is Single colour used while drawing

Drum Plotter

Impact Plotters is a drum plotter is also known as Roller Plotter. It consists of a drum or roller on which a paper is placed and the drum rotates back and forth to produce the graph on the paper. basically is used newspaper,Printing Press where numbers of copies is more than 1000  The Robotic Drawing Arm moves side to side as the paper are rolled back and forth through the roller. In this way, a perfect graph or map is created on the paper. This work is done under the control of computer. Drum Plotters are used to produce continuous output, such as plotting earthquake activity.

Cutting Plotters

• Sharp blade or Drill Based
• Laser Cutting

Another type of plotter is the cutting plotter, which replaces the pen with a sharp blade. This allows the plotter to cutting things like plywood,Plastic etc. Smaller cutting plotters that can fit on a desktop are available for the home market, for crafts and other hobbyist applications. Although cutting plotters are still widely used,also laser cutters are starting to replace them as units fall in price, which are faster and can cut through a wider range of materials.Steel,Iron,Aluminium etc.

Flatbed Plotter

Flatbed Plotter is spread and fixed over a rectangular table. The flatbed plotter uses two robotic drawing arms, each of which holds a set of coloured ink pens or pencils.arms move over the stationary paper it drawing on the paper.Typically, the plot size is equal to the area of a bed. The plot size may be 20- by-50 feet. It is used in the design of cars, ships, aircraft, buildings, highways etc. Flatbed plotter is very slow it takes several hours to print. It printing vector graphics.