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How Do Inkjet Printers Work?

Given the advances that technology has been making over the last thirty years or so it is amazing that the Inkjet printer is just now becoming a “ho-hum” sort of item. The inkjet printer has been around since the early 1980’s but needed a few fine tuning advances to make it more affordable to the average user. Since that time in the 1990’s, when the advances necessary for mass marketing were found, inkjet cartridges have become the norm. But the question of how inkjet printers actually work, and is it a good thing remains. Of course the answers to these questions are yes, no and maybe.

Two choices

The basic concept behind the inkjet printer lies in the concepts of how printers work. Right at the “ya…so” level we find an answer of; a printer puts printer ink onto a piece of paper or other material. In our case we are talking about getting ink from ink cartridges onto paper in a finely defined color.

Thermal bubble – This first choice came largely from the bubble jet era and works by generating a certain amount of heat in the printer ink cartridges. The heat causes a bubble to form which eventually collapses as the printer ink is forced through a nozzle due to the bubble formation. The collapse of the bubble then causes more printer ink to enter for the same process to begin again.

Piezoelectric – There is a significantly smaller penetration of this method due to patent rights but the general concept is the same if you are able to connect heat and vibration as thermal equivalents. In this method the printer ink is ejected by vibrating crystals within the jet nozzle as electricity is passed through the crystals. As the crystals vibrate they cause the printer ink to be ejected and replaced by more printer ink. In this particular method there are many more nozzles than in the thermal bubble method so image quality is significantly better. Unfortunately, with the rights issue in place this quality is in limited release which makes the thermal bubble method more preferred.

Costs

The costs of inkjet ink cartridges can, unfortunately, be rather high. In this case the user must look to the cost of the unit if there is to be any noticeable difference in Inkjet cartridges bought. Lower cost machines do have a tendency to have lower cost ink cartridges but quality of the copy is poor. Looking in the other direction, higher cost printers will give you high quality prints but ends up costing you more than the printer in ink cartridges over time.

How inkjet printers work and the quality/cost issues appear to have penetrated the average consumers psyche in the first years of the 21st century. Using an analogy for Americans it is sort of like buying a Chevy (car), You know what you are getting, it is basic and it will last. For an item that has essentially become a commodity this is not such a bad thing. Until the next advance is made, this has been about 30 years in coming.

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How To Refill Your Ink Cartridge

Forget about emptying your wallets every time you see the blinking light. Quit worrying and start doing it yourself! It’s an easy process that won’t take you more than five minutes.

The following is included in a typical ink refill kit: ink bottles, syringes and detailed instructions. Some kits include an air balance clip for balancing the air inside the cartridge to ensure proper ink flow. Some kits also include hand-drill tool to make a hole in the top of your empty cartridge.

Refilling Process

1. To start the refilling process, fill the syringe with one of the ink colors over the sink or several sheets of scrap paper to prevent any mess. Different printers hold different amounts of ink. In most Epson printers, the black cartridge holds approximately 17 ml and the color cartridges hold approximately 8 ml. See the instructions with your refill kit to see how much ink your cartridges can hold.

2. Before inserting the needle, make a small hole in the top of the cartridge (one for each color chamber). The hole is at the top of the cartridge near the label. Simply push the needle through the hole and press to the bottom of the cartridge towards the outlet hole. It’s important to fill the cartridge slowly so as to avoid the ink from foaming and introducing air in the chamber.

3. You do not need to seal the refill holes since there are already breather holes on the top of the cartridge.

4. Any unused ink can be put back in the bottle. You should clean the syringe with water and dry it properly to do the same process for the other cartridges or for future use. You can also label each syringe for the different colors so that each syringe is only used with one color.

5. Once you place the cartridge back in the printer, run the cleaning cycle 1 to 3 times. If there are any gaps in the printing, run the cleaning cycle again.

Don’t Forget

There are a few things to remember when refilling your cartridge. It should be refilled before the cartridge is completely empty to avoid the chamber from drying out and clogging. Also, it is a good idea to let the printer cartridge sit for a few hours (or overnight) so that the pressure in the cartridge will stabilize.

Some printers, like newer Epson models, have a green chip on their ink cartridges which is visible by looking at your cartridge. They are often referred to as “Intellidge” cartridges. The chip keeps track of how often the cartridge is used and lets the computer know when the cartridge may be low or empty. As long as you reset the chip, refilling the cartridge with ink from a refill kit will not be a problem. A resetting tool can be used to reset the memory on the chip. This allows the printer to recognize the cartridge as being full which makes printing with a refilled cartridge possible.

Refilling your own ink cartridge is easy, good for the environment, and very good for your pocket.

Marisa Pellegrino

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