1. EET 450 – Advanced Digital Printers, Plotters and other hard copy output devices

2. Printers The object is to get ‘hard copy’ output from the computer Output is in a variety of forms Letters/numbers Graphics

3. Printers The competition is speed versus quality (and price) Speed determined by Characters per Second (cps) or Pages per Minute (ppm) Quality is measured by a variety of factors  Dots per inch (dpi)  ‘Letter Quality’

4. Printing Engines Historically, printers were fabricated from typewriter mechanisms Dot Matrix Characters are constructed using ‘dots’ of ink or other marks Typically a 5x7 matrix at least

5. Printing Engines ‘Letter Quality’ Originally used to describe output of the quality of a professional letter Impact LQ printers use ‘Letter at once’ technology Laser and Ink Jet printers now have high enough quality to be determined as LQ

6. Printing Engines Line Printer Prints an entire line of print at one time Used for ‘High Volume’ output Color versus Monochrome Available in each of the above technologies +

7. Printer types Impact Dot Matrix Uses a set of magnet actuated wires (pins) which strike a ribbon, leaving the imprint of the character as an array of dots Ribbons may be in a variety of (primary) colors, allowing color output.

8. Printer types Ink Jet (dot matrix) Thermal Inkjet – uses pigment bearing ink heated to steam – which is emitted to form characters Piezo Inkjet – uses piezo crystal actuator to ‘spray’ a liquid ink

9. Printer types Phase Change Inkjet – wax based inks Electrostatic Inkjet – ink droplets are charged/propelled by electrostatics Thermal & electrostatic Printers Use thermally reactive paper darkens when a very small heating element is activated Electrostatic discharge into coated paper, burns dots into the surface of electrostatic printers

10. Printer types Laser printers Image is ‘written’ using a laser LED, onto an electro statically charged surface A powdered, pigment bearing, ‘toner’ is adhered to the surface by the charge The image is transferred to paper, by pressing the powdered image to the surface The powdered toner is fused (heated) to the paper by a heating element, at the same time it is pressed into the surface of the paper. Voila

11. Laser Printer

12. Printer Types Thermal Transfer Pigment is carried on a ribbon, and melted to the paper by an element – a form of DM Dye Diffusion/Dye sublimation High quality – photo output Similar to thermal transfer, but using penetrating dyes

13. Paper handling Sheet Feeders Most printers now use some form of cut sheet feeder to supply paper to the mechanism Friction feed/continuous paper Use a roller, pressing into the platten to feed a continuous roll of paper  Not very accurate

14. Paper handling Pin Feed Generally describes a set of pins, at the sides of the platten Requires ‘tractor feed’ paper Tractor Feed Using the holes in ‘tractor feed’ paper, PULLS the paper from the head area or pushes the paper into the head area

15. Paper handling Duplex printing Usually only available in laser printers A complex mechanical mechanism, reverses the paper from output back to feed into the printer. Both sides of the paper are used Form feeders Alternate paper bins Envelope feeders

16. Consummables Ink Inkjet cartridges  Refilling Ribbons Laser printers Toner cartridge

17. Paper Quality of paper is measured by Weight - pounds per 500 sheet ream of uncut C size paper  Or per 2000 8.5”x11” sheets Brightness  Ie 84 - % of light reflected from the surface

18. Papers Coating/specialty papers  High quality – photo quality  Canvas/other surfaces  Transparencies  Cloth  Card stock, etc.

19. Plotters Uses x-y control to move paper/pen Draws the image using vectors

20. Other output devices Photo plot Photo film image created through projected light

21. Other output devices 3D – output Photo lithography  Rapid prototyping technique  UV Curable resin used to ‘build’ a 3 dimensional image Milling  Material is removed to leave the 3D image  CAD

22. Exam A short review next Tuesday Although not scheduled yet, I thought it would be good to scare the bejesus out of everyone by bringing it up.