CD/DVD printer confusion

[pijetro]

I was handed an old Fargo Signature series colour CD printer..

I'm a bit confused between inkjet terminology..Is there a difference between thermal inkjet, colour inkjet, and thermal printing??
Page 48 of the .PDF states print method is Thermal Inkjet..

Oddly though, I found an old Lexmark 13619HC standard print cartridge inside the printer.
Am i correct to assume that any DVD with white printable tops should be good enough for this printer...
I wanna take this for a spin, but don't wanna get stuck with the wrong media..

Thanx...

[drjtech]

I have used the Fargo Signature printer before and it is definitely inkjet and not thermal. The "Thermal Inkjet" on page 48 is not correct. You must use inkjet printable discs in this printer. If you use thermal printable discs you'll just get blobs of smearing ink.

-drj

[pijetro]

Oh, thanks so much.....
I figured that such an old printer wouldn't be thermal...

Two more questions:
After reading the manual, i'm under the impression that the drivers won't allow for hub printing..
Is this correct, or have you actually used hub printable disks?

Is the above mentioned cartridge the same one that you use??

Thanx so much....

[drjtech]

We only had non-hub printable CDs at the time we had that printer. My recollection is that it was not capable of hub printing.

I don't recall the cartridge id, but a quick Google confirms that the Lexmark 13619HC is the proper cartridge for the Fargo Signature.

-drj

[kschang]

There's no such thing as "thermal inkjet" any way.

There are two kinds of thermal printing: direct thermal, and thermal transfer. Direct thermal means the head actually burns the material to create the image (requires special paper or material). Thermal transfer means the head burns the ribbon, which transfers the pigment onto the printed material. In both cases, heat is used.

Heat does not cause ink to fly out though, so there can be no such thing as "thermal inkjet". HP / Canon / Epson / Lexmark use slightly different variations of the same principle: microscopic nozzles that ejects measured amounts of ink using probably piezoelectric principles. HP was first to introduce the tech, in their THINKJet, and Canon marketed theirs as the Bubblejet. Epson for a while ignore the market and kept going dotmatrix, but when it finally entered the market it did so with gusto and gained back quite a bit of their shares. Lexmark is a late comer.

[drjtech]

There's no such thing as "thermal inkjet" any way.

After a little research I discovered that this is not true. "Bubble-Jet" technology is in actuality Thermal Inkjet. The bubble is created when heat vaporizes the ink.

Advantages of HP thermal inkjet technology

How Inkjet Printers Work

-drj

[SCDVD]

"Thermal Inkjet" printers is a word game intended to deceive dummies who don't know any better. It is a word-play off of the way the inkjet printer works. Tiny droplets of ink are heated in small chambers in the print head. The heat causes the ink to be expelled by essentially steam pressure. Heat. - Thermal. - Thermal printer? Buzzz! - WRONG! The reason these jokers played this word-e-poo game was to take advantage of the notion that a thermal printer is better than an inkjet printer. It's from the, "You want a blue suit? Then turn on a blue light.", sleeze ball school of marketing. It's a deliberate deception intended to deceive people into thinking they are buying a thermal printer.

[kschang]

Useful link, especially this one:

http://www.hp.com/oeminkjet/reports/techpress_11.pdf

Where it actually explains the difference between the HP technology, the Canon technology, and the Epson piezo technology.

However, I stand by my original comment: even though the heat expels the ink, the ink itself does not need any heat to "color" the paper. Thus, the therm "thermal" is a description of the technology, rather than the "printing" process. I know, I'm splitting hair here.

[SCDVD]

Useful link, especially this one:

http://www.hp.com/oeminkjet/reports/techpress_11.pdf

Where it actually explains the difference between the HP technology, the Canon technology, and the Epson piezo technology.

However, I stand by my original comment: even though the heat expels the ink, the ink itself does not need any heat to "color" the paper. Thus, the therm "thermal" is a description of the technology, rather than the "printing" process. I know, I'm splitting hair here.

The printer market is very competitive. All of the major inkjet printer manufacturers produce printers that print high-resolution color very well. Each manufacturer argues that their products and technology is the best. I wasn't impressed by HP's .pdf. They used older Epson print head test data to justify why HP's technology is better. The fact is that Epson's current printer model print heads use smaller droplets than HP's presentation suggests. Epson makes their own pitch here http://www.epson.co.jp/e/technology/print_tech.htm HP is misleading people when they compare somebody else’s older technology with their newer technology. Personally, I don't buy products from companies who play that game. It makes me feel like they playing their customers for fools and are trying to con them.

The best way to choose a printer is to evaluate the various brands and models for yourself. Go to the store and do some test prints on various models and make up you own mind. Another factor to consider is the relative cost of ink when one printer is compared to another. The one thing that all of the printer manufacturers have in common is usury pricing on their ink cartridges. Any printer than doesn't allow third party cartridges to work in their printer deserves to be rejected by the market.

[kschang]

The general technology comparison is apt. The actual level refinement is something else.