How does an inkjet printer work?

Inkjet printers are cheap, insensitive and versatile. Therefore, hardly any other types of printers are used in the home. Many offices also rely on inkjet printers. However, only a few users know how an inkjet printer actually works. The most important elements are the print head and the stepper motor.

How an inkjet printer works

An inkjet printer works on a simple principle. The printer is filled with cartridges in the basic colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black. When you start a print job, a so-called stepper motor moves the paper through the printer via rollers. The motor moves the paper in precisely defined steps so that exactly one line is printed at a time. The closer together these lines are, the better the print result. Since printing in individual lines takes time, inkjet printers are slower than laser printers. Inkjet printers can use moving or static ink cartridges. With static cartridges, a single print head moves across the paper; with dynamic models, the cartridges move across the sheet on a track, each dispensing ink from individual print heads.

Die Vorteile von Tintenstrahldruckern

• Günstig in der Anschaffung
• Geringer Stromverbrauch
• Hochwertiger Fotodruck auf Fotopapier möglich
• Platzsparend
• Leicht zu bedienen

Die Nachteile von Tintenstrahldruckern

• Können nicht alle Papiersorten bedrucken
• Kürzere Lebensdauer als Laserdrucker
• Tintenpatronen und Druckkopf können eintrocknen, wenn lange nicht gedruckt wird
• Langsame Druckgeschwindigkeit
• Ausdrucke haben geringere UV-Beständigkeit als bei Laserdruckern