thermal printer / thermal inkjet printer?

[spiffy]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to follow some of these threads concerning printers and printable medias, and I'm still pretty confused. Please correct me if I'm wrong; from what I've read, even pigment inkjet is still not waterproof. But is thermal inkjet waterproof? Is that for use with media labeled "Thermal Printable"? Or is thermal printer something entirely different?

Seems like there are some all-in-one office machines that are thermal inkjet printers. But I have no idea if any of them is capable of printing directly onto the discs.

Lastly, has anyone written any FAQs or guides (for the unintiated like me) about printers and printable medias? Links will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Spiffy

[trotter2k]

We have used both at work for mass printing and experience at follows fwiw:

Inkjet - high quality images (on inkjet printable white media), pigment can rub off but for low volumes sprays are available to protect the surface. I think you can also now get thin films that stick over the top - but might as well stick with labels that way!

Thermal - these use colour films (plastic) that is transferred to produce colour images, quality is much lower but output is permanent. Wenow tend to use balck only thermal onto plain silver discs - results look very professional, but we have very few graphics (simply a logo).

From my usage - inkjets are best for full colour and thermals for permanent text. IJs also much cheaper and consumable costs much lower

HTH

[jaxxboss]

An inkjet printer places extremely small droplets of ink onto paper/disc to create an image. A thermal uses a hot print head that causes the resin of a ribbon to form a high quality image on a label/disc.

Inkjet is better quality, thermal is more economical.

[The village idiot]

In other words, themal inkjet is NOT the same as thermal printing. Keyword is inkjet!

[jurynel]

And even the blokes that manufacture printers are guilty of gobblegook. I have noted the use of the word "Thermal Inkjet" in other places also. Now everybody that knows something of anything knows that there are no such thing as that, BUT if would seem that they throw in such nonsense to confuse potential customers into buying their printers. Some "Thermal" printers are capable of printing photo's that are almost impossible to see the difference between it and a real photo. So the manufacturers of some inkjet printers want you to believe that their printers print just as good, and adds the word "thermal" to their already known "inkjet".

Here comes the tecnical point upon wich the case gets thrown out - Inkjet works on the principal that the ink gets heated so that a bubble forms. The bubble "spits" out a drop of ink onto the paper, and a lot of this happens across the paper as the print head moves. BUT some printers uses a mechanical pizo cristal to make a "shockwave" that spits an inkdrop on the paper. It uses no "thermal" effect!!!!!.

A lot of technical stuff, more elaborate than what everybody has correctly said up to now, so pay attention to the salesman comes up with - some of them are pretty slick . . .

[gmatov]

I don't see where there is "gobbledegook", here.

There is the thermal, and the peizo inkjet, 2 distinct , means of doing basically the same thing, delivering a 2 or more picoliter droplet of ink onto paper.

Confusion might set in if you add the term "Bubblejet", Canon's term, without knowing it too is a thermal inkjet.

Canon built the print engine for HP's Inkjets and Deskjets and may still do so.

I assume they patented the device and copyrighted the name, so the other makers had to use the generic term inkjet.

Cheers,

George

[jurynel]

Exactly my point. Inkjet is inkjet. It does not concern the average user if it is thermal or Piezo. But there is a big difference between a thermal printer and a inkjet printer. Check the threads by trotter2k and jaxxboss. Adding the to names together and there is bound to be confusion.

[gmatov]

No, you're missing the point.

Check thevillageidiot's posts and look for the ones talking about Epson's pigmented inks. They work fine in a "Peizo" inkjet, may clog and cake in a thermal, from the heat of forming the bubble that ejects the ink droplet.

As is, most thermals will, on large print jobs such as full page photo printing, pause every so often to let the heads cool down.

I am unfamiliar with Epson peizos, so don't know if they have to cool or not.

There is also, again tvidiot's suspicion, that the heat may cause a color shift in the pigmented inks.

So, if you require/desire pigmented, fade resistant, moisture resistant inks, and would think of using Epson's or an aftermarket ink, not knowing the difference between thermal and peizo could cost you a brand new printer that the company would surely reject under warranty, at least so far as the printheads are concerned.

I say this because I do believe it was settled years ago that you did have the right under trade laws/rules to use aftermarket inks/cartridges. Prior to that the mfgs all stated in their warranties that "the use of......would void your warranty".

Clear?

Cheers,

George

(as mud, probably, sorry to go on so )

[jurynel]

You are completley correct with what you say, and I agree completely. But you missed two points.

1) AVERAGE user. Most people are content with getting a printer and having the vendor supplying the correct consumables for it. I doubt if anyone in the industry is going to use a Epson 7600 or a HP5500 to print on CD's. And the AVERAGE user wouldn't know ot care whether if there are faries in the printer spattering the ink on the paper.

2) The difference between a INKJET printer and a THERMAL printer. An inkjet printer doesn't run on thermal tape, nor does a thermal printer work with liquid ink.

By the way, to answer your point on cooling, I have a Epson 980 running on a bulk ink system, and it is normal for it to print 10 hours straight. I have put more than a litre of ink through it in the last year, and it is still going strong.