New head design for very rapid printing

[Arthur Entlich]

The words 'slow' and 'inkjet' may soon not have the same affinity that
have for years now. A company called memjet, has announced they have
developed a series of inkjet heads which literally fit across the area
normally traversed by the head carriage movement.

The head therefore will no longer need to move. Memjet indicates they
have no interest in making inkjet printers and hope to sell this unique
head design to the majors for them to incorporate in their printer models.

To read all about this new product, check the following urls:

http://www.memjet.com/default.aspx#

http://texyt.com/silverbrook+memjet...sktop+photo+wideformat+hp+edgeline+comparison

Art

 

[Michael Johnson]

The words 'slow' and 'inkjet' may soon not have the same affinity that
have for years now. A company called memjet, has announced they have
developed a series of inkjet heads which literally fit across the area
normally traversed by the head carriage movement.

The head therefore will no longer need to move. Memjet indicates they
have no interest in making inkjet printers and hope to sell this unique
head design to the majors for them to incorporate in their printer models.

To read all about this new product, check the following urls:

http://www.memjet.com/default.aspx#

http://texyt.com/silverbrook+memjet...sktop+photo+wideformat+hp+edgeline+comparison

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it since they haven't
developed it themselves? It should make installing a CIS a snap. Also,
cartridge sizes could increase since they no longer have to ride along
with a print head.

 

[Ivor Jones]

[snip]

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it since
they haven't developed it themselves? It should make
installing a CIS a snap. Also, cartridge sizes could
increase since they no longer have to ride along with a
print head.

Hmm. Think I'll stick with my colour laser, thanks.

Ivor

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

A company called memjet, has announced they have developed a series of
inkjet heads which literally fit across the area normally traversed by the
head carriage movement.

The head therefore will no longer need to move.

I wonder why nobody has thought of this before. It sounds like an
interesting idea.

I could see this increasing the reliability of inkjet printers what with the
reduction of moving parts. It could also reduce noise...when my HP
Photosmart C5180 and DeskJet 5800 get going in draft mode, I want to watch
out for flying print cartridges!

William

 

[Warren Block]

I wonder why nobody has thought of this before. It sounds like an
interesting idea.

Line printers have been around for a long time. Impact line printers
are pigs to keep running because of all the moving parts.

LED printers like the Oki c5000 series work fine. They have a page-wide
LED array instead of a single moving laser. The LED array should make
the printer cheaper and more reliable than true laser printers, but in
practice they seem pretty much the same.

I could see this increasing the reliability of inkjet printers what with the
reduction of moving parts.

Clogs seem to be a bigger problem than mechanical failure in inkjets,
and with 70,400 nozzles instead of a few hundred, it'll be interesting
to see if they can overcome that.

 

[Bob Headrick]

The words 'slow' and 'inkjet' may soon not have the same affinity that
have for years now. A company called memjet, has announced they have
developed a series of inkjet heads which literally fit across the area
normally traversed by the head carriage movement.

The head therefore will no longer need to move. Memjet indicates they
have no interest in making inkjet printers and hope to sell this unique
head design to the majors for them to incorporate in their printer models.

This is not exactly new. HP announced products based on page wide array
technology last year. See:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/feature_stories/2006/06edgeline.html (and
of course there was the HP 9876(?) desktop thermal printer back in the late
70's, but that was different technology).

These products are hardly going to show up on desktop printers, either from
a size or cost perspective.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Michael Johnson]

[snip]

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it since
they haven't developed it themselves? It should make
installing a CIS a snap. Also, cartridge sizes could
increase since they no longer have to ride along with a
print head.

Hmm. Think I'll stick with my colour laser, thanks.

Different tools for different tasks. Color lasers aren't the best
choice for all color printing just as ink jets aren't either. Toner
cost has kept me away from color lasers.

 

[Ivor Jones]

[snip]

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it
since they haven't developed it themselves? It
should make installing a CIS a snap. Also, cartridge
sizes could increase since they no longer have to
ride along with a print head.

Hmm. Think I'll stick with my colour laser, thanks.

Different tools for different tasks. Color lasers aren't
the best choice for all color printing just as ink jets
aren't either. Toner cost has kept me away from color
lasers.

Ink cost has kept me away from colour inkjets..! Although I agree lasers
aren't the best choice for some applications, but for my use they are the
best. For normal day to day use with the occasional leaflet/flyer my HP
CLJ-2605dn is the ideal printer. Toner cost is high, true, but a set of
cartridges lasts for 2000+ sheets, you don't get that from any inkjet.

I have an inkjet at work, where the primary use is printing CCTV stills. I
can't convince my manager that a colour laser would be more economical,
all they look at is the purchase price. "No, you can't have a £350 colour
laser, here's a £100 inkjet instead" - they don't see that the cost of a
£30 cartridge a month adds up over the year..!

Ivor

 

[Michael Johnson]

[snip]

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it
since they haven't developed it themselves? It
should make installing a CIS a snap. Also, cartridge
sizes could increase since they no longer have to
ride along with a print head.
Hmm. Think I'll stick with my colour laser, thanks.

Different tools for different tasks. Color lasers aren't
the best choice for all color printing just as ink jets
aren't either. Toner cost has kept me away from color
lasers.

Ink cost has kept me away from colour inkjets..! Although I agree lasers
aren't the best choice for some applications, but for my use they are the
best. For normal day to day use with the occasional leaflet/flyer my HP
CLJ-2605dn is the ideal printer. Toner cost is high, true, but a set of
cartridges lasts for 2000+ sheets, you don't get that from any inkjet.

I have an inkjet at work, where the primary use is printing CCTV stills. I
can't convince my manager that a colour laser would be more economical,
all they look at is the purchase price. "No, you can't have a £350 colour
laser, here's a £100 inkjet instead" - they don't see that the cost of a
£30 cartridge a month adds up over the year..!

I have Canon inkjets that use BCI-6 carts that I can buy for about $1.70
each shipped to my door. Refillers spend maybe half that amount per
cart. For me ink cost is irrelevant.

 

[Ivor Jones]

Ivor Jones wrote:
[snip]

I have an inkjet at work, where the primary use is
printing CCTV stills. I can't convince my manager that
a colour laser would be more economical, all they look
at is the purchase price. "No, you can't have a £350
colour laser, here's a £100 inkjet instead" - they
don't see that the cost of a £30 cartridge a month adds
up over the year..!

I have Canon inkjets that use BCI-6 carts that I can buy
for about $1.70 each shipped to my door. Refillers spend
maybe half that amount per cart. For me ink cost is
irrelevant.

Maybe, but unless you're printing *very* high quality photographs, I still
maintain that a colour laser gives a far better quality print. Also the
output doesn't smudge if you touch it too soon..! I've printed
flyers/leaflets that (to me, anyway) are indistinguishable (in print
quality if not content..!) from commercially produced ones.

Ivor

 

[Michael Johnson]

Ivor Jones wrote:
[snip]

I have an inkjet at work, where the primary use is
printing CCTV stills. I can't convince my manager that
a colour laser would be more economical, all they look
at is the purchase price. "No, you can't have a £350
colour laser, here's a £100 inkjet instead" - they
don't see that the cost of a £30 cartridge a month adds
up over the year..!

I have Canon inkjets that use BCI-6 carts that I can buy
for about $1.70 each shipped to my door. Refillers spend
maybe half that amount per cart. For me ink cost is
irrelevant.

Maybe, but unless you're printing *very* high quality photographs, I still
maintain that a colour laser gives a far better quality print. Also the
output doesn't smudge if you touch it too soon..! I've printed
flyers/leaflets that (to me, anyway) are indistinguishable (in print
quality if not content..!) from commercially produced ones.

I'm not trashing color lasers by any means. Just that for my use their
consumables are too expensive to justify. For certain tasks they are
superior to inkjets. IMO though, for most home use, and small office,
an inkjet is more than up to the task. Also, when considering the use
of compatible inks or refilling, they are far more economical to operate
than color lasers.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I wasn't aware of HP's earlier announcement of such a product.

If the flash movies on Memjet's website are accurate, I'd expect these
printers will first end up in production lines, but apparently the cost
is not very high to produce the heads, and with ramp up of production,
some have estimated letter size printers for about $200... but I guess
we'll have to wait and see.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

This printer head technology allows for continuous output on a roll
paper, allowing for various lengths, panoramic images, etc. These
printers may replace wet lab photo printers assuming they can print with
stable inks.

I have no idea how "honestly" the flash movies portray the printer at
work, but if they are accurate, this is a brave new world of inkjet
printing. The output on the wide carriage model is zipping through the
paper so fast, they will need some special paper handling system to
catch the output and keep it from getting damaged.

The cartridges are definitely going to have to be a LOT larger also...

Art

[snip]

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it since
they haven't developed it themselves? It should make
installing a CIS a snap. Also, cartridge sizes could
increase since they no longer have to ride along with a
print head.

Hmm. Think I'll stick with my colour laser, thanks.

Different tools for different tasks. Color lasers aren't the best
choice for all color printing just as ink jets aren't either. Toner
cost has kept me away from color lasers.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Color Laser printers are great, for the correct application. They don't
have nearly the color gamut that an inkjet can provide, they are limited
in terms of paper quality and thickness, and size (yes, I am aware of
some banner printing lasers), and laser quality, while always improving,
is still not as good as inkjet can provide.

Cost of print production (in terms of ink/toner) in the "real world"
would be much less costly for ink than color toner. As new inkjet
papers are introduced which do not require coating, the image will
become less vulnerable to damage, and the costs will also go down.

Most importantly, look at the size and resources required for wide
output laser printers. Printers such as the one being proposed, could
literally replace small offset presses.

Anyway, inkjet is far from replaceable with color laser, and with a new,
more sane business model, output would be cheaper than laser.

Art

Ivor Jones wrote:

[snip]

I have an inkjet at work, where the primary use is
printing CCTV stills. I can't convince my manager that
a colour laser would be more economical, all they look
at is the purchase price. "No, you can't have a £350
colour laser, here's a £100 inkjet instead" - they
don't see that the cost of a £30 cartridge a month adds
up over the year..!

I have Canon inkjets that use BCI-6 carts that I can buy
for about $1.70 each shipped to my door. Refillers spend
maybe half that amount per cart. For me ink cost is
irrelevant.

Maybe, but unless you're printing *very* high quality photographs, I still
maintain that a colour laser gives a far better quality print. Also the
output doesn't smudge if you touch it too soon..! I've printed
flyers/leaflets that (to me, anyway) are indistinguishable (in print
quality if not content..!) from commercially produced ones.

Ivor

 

[thoss]

Hi!



I wonder why nobody has thought of this before. It sounds like an
interesting idea.

I could see this increasing the reliability of inkjet printers what with the
reduction of moving parts. It could also reduce noise...when my HP
Photosmart C5180 and DeskJet 5800 get going in draft mode, I want to watch
out for flying print cartridges!

Very expensive when a jet gets blocked and can't be unblocked.

 

[Michael Johnson]

I just watched the video and that is impressive. It certainly will
revolutionize inkjet printing if their heads are adopted and they
perform anywhere near what that video shows.

This printer head technology allows for continuous output on a roll
paper, allowing for various lengths, panoramic images, etc. These
printers may replace wet lab photo printers assuming they can print with
stable inks.

I have no idea how "honestly" the flash movies portray the printer at
work, but if they are accurate, this is a brave new world of inkjet
printing. The output on the wide carriage model is zipping through the
paper so fast, they will need some special paper handling system to
catch the output and keep it from getting damaged.

The cartridges are definitely going to have to be a LOT larger also...

Art

[snip]

Interesting. I wonder if the majors will adopt it since
they haven't developed it themselves? It should make
installing a CIS a snap. Also, cartridge sizes could
increase since they no longer have to ride along with a
print head.


Hmm. Think I'll stick with my colour laser, thanks.

Different tools for different tasks. Color lasers aren't the best
choice for all color printing just as ink jets aren't either. Toner
cost has kept me away from color lasers.

 

[Mickey]

Bob Headrick wrote:
.....

This is not exactly new. HP announced products based on page wide array
technology last year. See:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/feature_stories/2006/06edgeline.html
(and of course there was the HP 9876(?) desktop thermal printer back in
the late 70's, but that was different technology).

These products are hardly going to show up on desktop printers, either
from a size or cost perspective.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Right on Bob, as soon as I saw the title of this thread the first thing
that came to mind was a couple printers my son was working on at
Vancouver. These were not consumer products.

As has been mentioned, cost of printhead and likelihood of plugged
nozzles will keep this tech out of the home market for a long time IMO.

Mickey

 

[Taliesyn]

Bob Headrick wrote:
....


Right on Bob, as soon as I saw the title of this thread the first thing
that came to mind was a couple printers my son was working on at
Vancouver. These were not consumer products.

As has been mentioned, cost of printhead and likelihood of plugged
nozzles will keep this tech out of the home market for a long time IMO.

Mickey

They already indicated they weren't interested in producing printers.
But I think if they had machines ready to ship it would make current
printers as obsolete as yesterday's dot matrix technology.

-Taliesyn

 

[Ivor Jones]

[snip]

They already indicated they weren't interested in
producing printers. But I think if they had machines
ready to ship it would make current printers as obsolete
as yesterday's dot matrix technology.

Nothing obsolete about dot-matrix printers. For certain applications
they're still the best. I have an Epson LX400 sitting as a call logger on
my internal telephone system. Uses fanfold paper and ribbons last forever.


Ivor

 

[Taliesyn]

[snip]

They already indicated they weren't interested in
producing printers. But I think if they had machines
ready to ship it would make current printers as obsolete
as yesterday's dot matrix technology.

Nothing obsolete about dot-matrix printers. For certain applications
they're still the best. I have an Epson LX400 sitting as a call logger on
my internal telephone system. Uses fanfold paper and ribbons last forever.

Yes, but obsolete as general printers. I agree that there are still some
limited uses for that old technology, as you indicated. However, my main
use for a color printer is printing digital photos, colorful greeting
cards, nifty 50 to 90 page booklets, stunning CD liners/inserts.... not
to mention printing dazzling color right onto blank CDs inserted right
into the printer. Just think, if they hadn't invented ink jet technology
we'd be firing little dot matrix "bullet holes" into our CDs... That
couldn't have been too good for the dot matrix print head pins - or the CD!

I used to have a Star NX-24. A solid printer, built like a tank. I'd ink
up (home reinking begins!) about a dozen ribbons and then proceed to
print a half dozen 400-page novels. The print head would be hot as hell,
it was rather slow, very noisy - you didn't print with it at night when
people were sleeping! But it never burned out. It would probably still
work today if I hadn't junked it about a dozen years ago when inkjets
came along and, pardon the word, made it obsolete for my purposes.

-Taliesyn