Face Off: Ribbon Printer Cartridges Vs Ink-Based Printers

When one hears the word ribbon nowadays, it is often interpreted as one of the many awareness ribbons or ribbons as strips of cloth that are used as ornaments. Technology in the modern world has advanced so much that some people are probably unfamiliar with its roots. Case in point: ribbon printers.

Almost all printers in today's modern homes and offices make use of laser and deskjet printer, both of which use liquid-based printer inks instead of ribbon cartridges. The two most dominant printing equipments that utilize ribbon cartridges are typewriters and dot matrix printers. Ribbon cartridges are very practical to use since its cheap and economical especially when print quality is not the utmost concern.

Printers with Ribbon Cartridges

The Dot Matrix

Dot matrix printers create an image by striking tiny dots on the paper once pins come into contact with a cloth strip soaked in printer ink. That strip of cloth is the printer's ribbon. Dot matrix printers may be a passé but there are other printing technologies that are still making use of ribbon printer cartridges. Most of these are thermal printers, commonly seen in fax machines, cash registers, card terminals, and other similar devices. People often say that dot matrix printers are easy to maintain since no printer ink has to be dried. However, dot matrix pins can be very sensitive to damage and can be noisy while in use.

The Thermal Technology

With thermal technology, the ribbon cartridges contain wax-like printer ink that come into contact with heat-sensitive papers with the help of a platen roller. The heat in thermal printers is used to melt the wax-like printer ink which then transfers to the paper.

The Daisy Wheel

There are times when people refer to printers that utilize ribbon cartridges as daisy wheel printers. This is a low-cost printer perfect for processing documents although having slow speed. With all characters molded on "leaves", the wheel spins the leaves then a "hammer" pushes the leaf forward the paper to print the character.

Ribbon Printers in Comparison With Ink-Based Printers

All Ink-Based Printers can now be refilled. This allows users to save a lot of money but there are times when printers are damaged due to incompatible ink refills. Ribbon printers are the slowest compared to laser inks and ink jets. In terms of cost, laser inks are the most expensive since it is capable of printing quality images already. It will be a challenge to pick out the best option. When choosing, think about what you can maximize the most, what your needs demand, and also the budget.

This Article is written by John C Arkinn from News.PrintCountry the contributor of Printer & Printer Ink Cartridges News More information on the subject is at News.PrintCountry.com, and related resources can be found at Ribbon Printer Cartridges.

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