Talking about the environment and how to save it, one will think of going green. How is it that printing and printer ink plays in saving the environment. In-fact the role is great. Just think for a minute the following question "What is the main environmental concern of modern time?". The answer is global warming caused by the accumulation of CO2 or carbon dioxide gas.
Now recalling high school science, which organism is responsible for removing carbon dioxide? Well plants. Plants like trees, all sort of trees. And it's from trees too that we get the pulp to make paper. The million of tonnes of paper are printed on each year and discarded to land fills. The printer ink on them slowly leaked out and causes pollution in land fills and water sources.
Not forgetting to mentioned the millions of printer ink cartridges disposed off too into landfills and the same thing happening to the printer ink in them that leaked out and causes pollution and placing strain on the landfills too. More land fill required menas less land for living and growing food.
Thus if we can go green on our printing, we will be doing great favors to the environment and mother earth. Less trees cut down, less paper and printer cartridges ending up in landfills and less requirement on them.
What are the printing practices that's consider green and that can save the environment?
First, use remanufactured ink cartridges. These are used ink cartridges that have been recharged with new ink after cleaning, checking and testing. By using them, these cartridges are saved from ending up in the landfills and causing all the problems stated earlier.
Secondly, use ink based on plant like the soy plant. Most modern ink are petroleum based which are toxic when leaked out. They also made use of solvent which are equally dangerous when leaked into the environment. When printer ink are of soy plant origin, they have labels on them verifying their plant origin.
Thirdly, use paper with high paper recycled content. This can be as much as 70% or more, the higher the better as this means more paper are recycled and less trees cut down. Less trees cut down is good for the environment. Then buy paper that's pure white as bleaching agents had been used to achieve the white color. Go for green paper that is certified bleaching agent like chlorine free. Bleaching agents are used during the manufacturing process and after used, these agents may end up in river. By buying chlorine free paper, this makes sure no bleaching is used.
Hence the above three simple practices of selecting printer ink, ink cartridges and paper that can help to save the environment and make mother earth happy.
Read more printing ways to save the environment.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Kinds or Types of Printer Ink
Inkjet printers store their inks in ink cartridges. Depending on the type of printers, the number of ink cartridges and the types of printer ink are different. If it is a black and white inkjet printer, then normally there is only one cartridge of black printer ink.
On the other hand if it is a colour ink jet printer, there will be a number of ink cartridges with each cartridges containing different colours of printer ink. The kinds of printer ink colours are yellow, magenta, cyan and black. These are the four basic types printer ink colours and by combining them in various combination enables the full spectrum of colours to be obtained.
How does an inkjet printer ink cartridge work?
An inkjet works by producing very fine ink droplets containing different colours of ink dots to make up a printed image.
The jets are from very fine holes that are so small that the printer ink stored in them does not leak out by surface tension. The ink can only comes out if forced and this is where pumps come in. Each hole is controlled by its own electronic pump and these pumps are available in two different types.
The first type is known as piezoelectric pumps. The name is taken from the piezoelectric crystal that is used to make the pump. The crystal is formed into a circular ring surrounding the ink channel near the hole where the ink is ejected. When an electrical pulse is produced during printing the crystal contracts and forces ink along the out of the hole as a jet of liquid ink, hence the name ink jet.
Once the electrical pulse stops, the crystal returns to its original shape and ready for the next round. All these takes place in minute scale and each drop of printer ink is very small. Also the electrical pulses are produced in rapid succession producing thousands of ink dots per second forming the image on paper.
The second type of pump is known as Bubble pump. This is very similar to piezoelectric pump except instead the ink channel is surrounded by small heating elements instead of crystal. When an electronic pulse is sent to the heating elements, they heat the ink which expands and bursts out onto the paper.
Similarly when the pulse is removed the heating element cools down which in turn allows the ink to cool, and contract and ready for the next electrical pulse again. Do note that images produced by bubble pumps will dry quicker because the ink that burst onto the paper has been heated. Hence the name bubble jet printer.
Overall the working principle of both types are similar. In both system the printer ink cartridges may have as many as 24 or more ink jets and pumps. The kinds of printer ink used is solvent based and does not dry too quickly in air. When it is at this stage the ink will not dry up and can be left for long period even when exposed to air. Hence these types of printer ink are of special formulation. Off course each ink manufacturer has got their own special kinds and types of printer ink"brew".
However during printing, the ink is deposited onto paper which drawn off the the solvent. When this happens the image dries quickly. Ina sense this is good so we don't get smudges but if the printer ink ends up in your shirt or elsewhere it will be difficult to remove as the ink, once dried is indelible.
More saving money tips on printing
On the other hand if it is a colour ink jet printer, there will be a number of ink cartridges with each cartridges containing different colours of printer ink. The kinds of printer ink colours are yellow, magenta, cyan and black. These are the four basic types printer ink colours and by combining them in various combination enables the full spectrum of colours to be obtained.
How does an inkjet printer ink cartridge work?
An inkjet works by producing very fine ink droplets containing different colours of ink dots to make up a printed image.
The jets are from very fine holes that are so small that the printer ink stored in them does not leak out by surface tension. The ink can only comes out if forced and this is where pumps come in. Each hole is controlled by its own electronic pump and these pumps are available in two different types.
The first type is known as piezoelectric pumps. The name is taken from the piezoelectric crystal that is used to make the pump. The crystal is formed into a circular ring surrounding the ink channel near the hole where the ink is ejected. When an electrical pulse is produced during printing the crystal contracts and forces ink along the out of the hole as a jet of liquid ink, hence the name ink jet.
Once the electrical pulse stops, the crystal returns to its original shape and ready for the next round. All these takes place in minute scale and each drop of printer ink is very small. Also the electrical pulses are produced in rapid succession producing thousands of ink dots per second forming the image on paper.
The second type of pump is known as Bubble pump. This is very similar to piezoelectric pump except instead the ink channel is surrounded by small heating elements instead of crystal. When an electronic pulse is sent to the heating elements, they heat the ink which expands and bursts out onto the paper.
Similarly when the pulse is removed the heating element cools down which in turn allows the ink to cool, and contract and ready for the next electrical pulse again. Do note that images produced by bubble pumps will dry quicker because the ink that burst onto the paper has been heated. Hence the name bubble jet printer.
Overall the working principle of both types are similar. In both system the printer ink cartridges may have as many as 24 or more ink jets and pumps. The kinds of printer ink used is solvent based and does not dry too quickly in air. When it is at this stage the ink will not dry up and can be left for long period even when exposed to air. Hence these types of printer ink are of special formulation. Off course each ink manufacturer has got their own special kinds and types of printer ink"brew".
However during printing, the ink is deposited onto paper which drawn off the the solvent. When this happens the image dries quickly. Ina sense this is good so we don't get smudges but if the printer ink ends up in your shirt or elsewhere it will be difficult to remove as the ink, once dried is indelible.
More saving money tips on printing
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The types of Printer Ink Cartridges
When the mentioning of printer ink cartridges, these are about the ink cartridges for inkjet printers. What are the types of printer ink cartridges available?
In fat there are three types. They are:
Brand Names : - These are cartridges from brand name printer manufacturers like HP, Epson, Lexmark, Dell, canon and many others.
Compatible Ink Cartridges : - These are cheap one and very often sold without any brands. Sometime sellers may place their names on the cartridges.
In fat there are three types. They are:
Brand Names : - These are cartridges from brand name printer manufacturers like HP, Epson, Lexmark, Dell, canon and many others.
Compatible Ink Cartridges : - These are cheap one and very often sold without any brands. Sometime sellers may place their names on the cartridges.
Refurbished or remanufactured Ink Cartridges : - These are ink cartridges recycled by third party companies. The remanufacturing process is of high standard and even exceed OEM ones.
The above are the three types of printer ink cartridges briefly explained. All of them have their own advantage and disadvantage. For example if you buy brand names then you have the peace of mind using them but on the other hand these brand name printer ink cartridges are very expensive. In the long run the cost of replacing these ink cartridges can buy a new set of printer. So if you are cost consious is best to look for other options.
These options are the cheap printer ink cartridges and the refurbished ones. The cheap ink cartridges are cheap but then their is the fear of quality. Then may be there are compatibility problems too. These could be serious as these can damage the printer. Also there could be even counterfeit ones being pushed into the market under the disguise of cheap printer ink cartridges. So using cheap ink cartridges can post a lot of risk and if buying one has to be extra careful.
Next, the recycled printer ink cartridges. Well since they have to undergo very strict and high standard remanufacturing process, their performance is not affected. Furthermore the manufacturers do provided additional guarantee to end users. Thus they can use these ink cartridges with peace of mind. When I mentioned the performances are not affected, I meant the print quality and compatibility. Cost wise they are cheaper than the brand OEM ones.
Hence if one is to save money, I would think the recycled printer ink cartridges offer the best deal.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Popularity of Printer Ink
Printer ink as known today will mostly likely to mean inkjet printer ink. Off course printer ink does not only mean is the ink use by inkjet printers. There are others which uses printer ink, for example newspaper printing, professional printers, etc. However, for this site and blog, printer ink meant it’s ink used by inkjet printers.
Inkjet printers are mostly used by home users with PCs or Mac computers. Printers are used for printing stuffs like documents, web pages, photographs and a whole lot more. Laser printers though they give great printing quality, they are of a different class from inkjet printers. For one, laser printers do not use ink but rather toner. These are in powder form unlike ink which is in liquid form.
However I am in the opinion that the print quality of inkjet printers are as good as laser printers. Well others may not agree with me but I am more concern with dollars and printer ink is cheaper than laser toners.
Printer ink has come a long way since the chinese invented printing many centuries ago. They reach further advancement when Johannes Gutenberg printed the first bible. As far as computers, I do remembered that when I first used them, printers are luxury items and they don’t use ink in liquid form but ink ribbon. Yes I am talking about dot matrix printers. These printers work like type writers where force which is impact force matters. Dot matrix printer is great for printing documents with word but not so for graphic or in color. But they pretty good for dot matrix art. Don’t know what’s that just go to google and do a search.
These is where inkjet comes in. I can’t remember when the first inkjet printers came into the market but it change the printing landscape. Behold we can get or print documents in all their glorious colors. Then when digital cameras came around, this marked the end on film cameras and film studios. Why, well with the powerful and versatile ink jet printer, one can print our own photographs at home. Now speak of independent and creativity, this is it, we can go on taking shots after shot with our digital cameras and not to worry about wasting “film”. Don’t like a particular shot, just press delete. Love the shot, print it out with a printer.
So printer ink had comes a long way but I see a bright future for it. Printing is not going to end anytime soon like the film scenario but there is still great thing in store for printing and printer ink included.
More saving money tips on printing
Inkjet printers are mostly used by home users with PCs or Mac computers. Printers are used for printing stuffs like documents, web pages, photographs and a whole lot more. Laser printers though they give great printing quality, they are of a different class from inkjet printers. For one, laser printers do not use ink but rather toner. These are in powder form unlike ink which is in liquid form.
However I am in the opinion that the print quality of inkjet printers are as good as laser printers. Well others may not agree with me but I am more concern with dollars and printer ink is cheaper than laser toners.
Printer ink has come a long way since the chinese invented printing many centuries ago. They reach further advancement when Johannes Gutenberg printed the first bible. As far as computers, I do remembered that when I first used them, printers are luxury items and they don’t use ink in liquid form but ink ribbon. Yes I am talking about dot matrix printers. These printers work like type writers where force which is impact force matters. Dot matrix printer is great for printing documents with word but not so for graphic or in color. But they pretty good for dot matrix art. Don’t know what’s that just go to google and do a search.
These is where inkjet comes in. I can’t remember when the first inkjet printers came into the market but it change the printing landscape. Behold we can get or print documents in all their glorious colors. Then when digital cameras came around, this marked the end on film cameras and film studios. Why, well with the powerful and versatile ink jet printer, one can print our own photographs at home. Now speak of independent and creativity, this is it, we can go on taking shots after shot with our digital cameras and not to worry about wasting “film”. Don’t like a particular shot, just press delete. Love the shot, print it out with a printer.
So printer ink had comes a long way but I see a bright future for it. Printing is not going to end anytime soon like the film scenario but there is still great thing in store for printing and printer ink included.
More saving money tips on printing
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