PRINTERS

Made by: Yousuf Naeem

Presented by: Ahmed Munir and Abdul Rasheed
General Information about printers
Definition:
A machine for printing text or pictures, especially one linked to a computer

● The two types of printers that are most frequently used in homes are inkjet and laser.
● Can print out documents which are stored in computer.
● E.g.: PDF files, Word documents, text documents, etc.
Types of printers

LASER PRINTER
Laser Printer

● These printers produce color dots using dry powder ink rather than liquid ink and print text and
graphics using the characteristics of static electricity.
● Unlike inkjet printers, these printers print the page in one go.
● Color laser printers use 4 toner cartridges: blue, cyan, black, magenta.
What happens behind the scenes when a user sends a printout
to a laser printer?
Types of printers

INKJET
PRINTER
Inkjet printers
● A print head: consisting of nozzles that spray droplets of ink onto the paper.
● Ink cartridges: either separate cartridges for each of the 4 colors (blue, yellow, magenta, black) OR one cartridge for
the 3 colors (blue, yellow, magenta) and separate one for black
● A stepper motor and belt: moves the print head assembly across the page from side to side
● A paper feed which automatically feeds the printer with pages as they are required.

The ink droplets are currently produced using one of two technologies: thermal bubble or piezoelectric.

PIEZOELECTRIC
THERMAL BUBBLE
a crystal is located at the back of the ink
Tiny resistors create localized heat which
reservoir for each nozzle. The crystal is given
makes the ink vaporize. This causes the ink to
a tiny electric charge which makes it vibrate.
form a tiny bubble, as the bubble expands
This vibration forces ink to be ejected onto
some of the ink is ejected from the print head
the paper and at the same time more ink is
onto the paper. When the bubble collapses, a
drawn in for further printing.
small vacuum is created which allows fresh
ink to be drawn into the print head.
What happens behind the scenes when a user sends a printout
to an inkjet printer?
How an Inkjet printer works:
A fun video:
Types of printers

3D PRINTER
3D printers
• 3D printers are used to produce working, solid objects.
• They are primarily based on inkjet printer technology.
• The solid object is built up layer by layer using materials like powdered resin, powdered metal,
paper, and ceramic
• They use additive manufacturing (building an object layer by layer) rather than subtractive
manufacturing (removal of material to make the object)

• Direct 3D printing uses inkjet technology: a print head can move left to right as in a normal printer;
also, the print head can move up and down to form layers.
• Binder 3D printing uses two passes for each of the layers; the first pass sprays dry powder and then
on the second pass a binder (a type of glue) is sprayed to form a solid layer.
Short Quiz
1. Explain the difference between additive manufacturing and subtractive
manufacturing. (2)
Additive manufacturing is when objects are built up layers by layers; A 3D printer uses additive manufacturing. Whereas,
subtractive manufacturing is to remove unneeded parts of a material to form an object.

2. Describe the internal operation of a laser printer (3)

The revolving drum is initially given an electrical charge • A laser beam (bounces off moving mirrors) scans back and forth
across the drum • ...discharging certain points (i.e. ‘drawing’ the letters and images to be printed as a pattern of electrical
charges) • The drum is coated with oppositely charged toner (which only sticks to charged areas) • The drum rolls over
electro-statically charged paper // Electro-statically charged paper is fed (towards the drum) • The ‘pattern’ on the drum is
transferred to the paper • The paper is passed through the fuser to seal the image • The electrical charge is removed from
the drum // the excess toner is collected
The end! Any questions? 🙂