WEBVTT - How Printers Work

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com, brought to

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<v Speaker 1>you by HP Live wirelessly, print wirelessly. Hey they're kids,

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at How Stuff Works, and today I

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<v Speaker 1>have sitting across the table from me is Jonathan Strickland,

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<v Speaker 1>one of our writers. How d well you know, I

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<v Speaker 1>wanted to know if anybody out there is interested in

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<v Speaker 1>an old daisy wheel printer. I have one. Well, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that'll uh, I'll get swept up immediately on eBay. Yeah. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>we were going to talk about printers today, down about

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<v Speaker 1>different kinds of printers and how they work. And uh,

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<v Speaker 1>I actually do, indeed have a daisy wheel printer at home,

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<v Speaker 1>which is basically a typewriter. For those of you who

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<v Speaker 1>are too young to remember what a typewriter is, it

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<v Speaker 1>basically is a keyboard at type to a printer directly

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<v Speaker 1>talk about your wireless printers. Uh, you know that that's

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<v Speaker 1>about as wireless as it gets. But early printers used

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<v Speaker 1>a wheel with the letters printed in metal. Uh, sort

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<v Speaker 1>of reverse type and it would you know, as you typed. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>This the one I've got actually has a keyboard that

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<v Speaker 1>hooks up to it. If you didn't have a computer yet, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>and you could actually print it out, it would it would.

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<v Speaker 1>The daisy wheel spins and it literally does look sort

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<v Speaker 1>of like a metallic daisy because it each key has

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<v Speaker 1>its own pin and it goes and hits the ribbon

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, types out a letter for you the

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<v Speaker 1>paper that transfers the ink to the paper and woila,

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<v Speaker 1>you have the printed word. There you go and uh,

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's about as simple, I guess a printer as

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<v Speaker 1>you can get in one of the earliest types. But

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<v Speaker 1>you don't see them very often anything. No, Gully, I

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<v Speaker 1>can't imagine why my my father has a dot matrix

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<v Speaker 1>printer still at his house, which serves as a great

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<v Speaker 1>paper weight. Um, because they're quite heavy. Dot matrix are similar.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a Uh. These are the kind of printers we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about right now, are impact printers, meaning that they

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<v Speaker 1>there's a physical impact that uh that where something contacts

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<v Speaker 1>the sheet of paper and that's what makes the the

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<v Speaker 1>printed letter. With dot matrix, it's a series of pins

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<v Speaker 1>that that when they strike the ribbon, that's what forms

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<v Speaker 1>the letters. So they don't have each letter laid out

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<v Speaker 1>on a on a metal sheet or anything like that.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just little tiny pins that all hit at the

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<v Speaker 1>same time. So um, yeah, you don't see many of

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<v Speaker 1>those anymore either. These are not also these if you

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<v Speaker 1>have ever used one of these, they have a very

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<v Speaker 1>distinctive sound. Um and they also the paper tended to

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<v Speaker 1>be pretty annoying too, as I recall, most of them

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<v Speaker 1>were in those long, long, long sheets where you'd have

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<v Speaker 1>to tear it off at the end with the green

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<v Speaker 1>and yellow stripes with the right perforated the perforated edges

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<v Speaker 1>where it with the holes that would go into Yeah, exactly,

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<v Speaker 1>that was Those were nightmare to work with, trust me.

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<v Speaker 1>Although you could make some nice origami with the stuff

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<v Speaker 1>that you had to tear off those papers. But but

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<v Speaker 1>but that's that's sort of in the past. Or there's

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<v Speaker 1>still lots of industries that use impact printers because they're

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<v Speaker 1>relatively inexpensive and and uh, you know, they last for

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty long time. You do have to do maintenance

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<v Speaker 1>on them. But most people have moved to non impact printers,

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<v Speaker 1>and the two main versions of that. The two one

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<v Speaker 1>to that you find most in the in the UH

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<v Speaker 1>consumer market and even in the office environment are ink

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<v Speaker 1>jet printers and laser printers. Right, yeah, yeah, pretty much.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean there there are other types to uh. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>I'll go ahead and run through them so we can

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<v Speaker 1>get them out of the way, so other forms of

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<v Speaker 1>non impact printers. I kind of wish we had like

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<v Speaker 1>background music for this. Who knows, maybe our producer Jerry

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<v Speaker 1>will figure something out, so we'll have a little little

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<v Speaker 1>mood to here to set up the atmosphere. Actually, I've

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<v Speaker 1>I've prepared a power point so if you could all

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<v Speaker 1>imagine what it looks like as you are listening to

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<v Speaker 1>us talk, and you know that it's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful.

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<v Speaker 1>It's it is stunning. I don't know how he got

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<v Speaker 1>this color saturation, tell you the truth. But um, let's

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<v Speaker 1>start with all right, we have a solid ink printers um,

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<v Speaker 1>which I think you are going to talk about a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit later because you have some sort of weird

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<v Speaker 1>fascination with solid ink. Yeah. Well, it's just one of

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<v Speaker 1>those things that's sort of really cool. Anyway, you were

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<v Speaker 1>going to talk about kind of prints. We'll go back

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<v Speaker 1>to it all right. You have the die sublimation printers,

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<v Speaker 1>which uses transparent film to transfer ink to paper. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>that uses a heat to do that. Um. There's thermal

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<v Speaker 1>wax printers, which are kind of the combination of die

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<v Speaker 1>sublimation and solid inc You've got thermal autochrome printers, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's where you have the ink in the paper already

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<v Speaker 1>and you just use heat to make the income to

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<v Speaker 1>make letters visible. So these are your other forms. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>those are kind of they make up a minority of

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<v Speaker 1>all the non impact printers that are on the market.

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<v Speaker 1>Like I said, the two biggies are ink jet and

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<v Speaker 1>laser printers. Now, did you want to talk about solid

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<v Speaker 1>ink before we move on? Well, you know, solid ink

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<v Speaker 1>is fascinating to me simply because, uh, you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually pretty simple. Um, when you're loading your and

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<v Speaker 1>then we're talking about color printers here, so it's not

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<v Speaker 1>just you know, black, you can actually use a color

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<v Speaker 1>printer and instead of putting in a plastic cartridge filled

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<v Speaker 1>with a liquid ink or putting powdered toner in like

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<v Speaker 1>you were with an ink jet or a laser respectively. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>you actually use a block of solid ink it's sort

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<v Speaker 1>of it sort of looks like a giant square crayon,

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<v Speaker 1>or some of them aren't even square. Um, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a Xerox thing. I mean, it's it's Xerox's baby there

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<v Speaker 1>as far as I know. The only ones who actually

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<v Speaker 1>manufacture these, um, but they're pretty cool. They don't use

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<v Speaker 1>any cartridges. What it does is essentially it it melts

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<v Speaker 1>um this resin based non toxic ink uh and use

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<v Speaker 1>the uh. The ink it goes on the print head,

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<v Speaker 1>which transfers it onto the print drum. So when the

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<v Speaker 1>paper goes through the printer, the print drum actually transfers

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<v Speaker 1>the image onto their using heat and pressure. So that's

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<v Speaker 1>that's kind of a different technique to uh, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>spraying it, which was which is what you do with

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<v Speaker 1>ink jetsing jet printers make you know, complete sense from

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<v Speaker 1>hearing your name. It's a jet of ink being sprayed

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<v Speaker 1>onto the paper to make letters or pictures or whatever.

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<v Speaker 1>It is, right, and um, it's it's a spray that's

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<v Speaker 1>very very fine, a very fine spray. The the drops

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<v Speaker 1>are tend to be between fifty and sixty microns in diameter,

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<v Speaker 1>so that's pretty small human hair. Something I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>much about is about the diameter of seventy microns umpholically challenged.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, so so these are very tiny dots that

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<v Speaker 1>that come out in in really fast bursts, so several

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<v Speaker 1>bursts per second. I mean, it's it's it's remarkably fast.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, it's so fast that that to us usually

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<v Speaker 1>if you see a piece of paper going into an

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<v Speaker 1>inkjet printer, a good inkjet printer, it looks like it's

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<v Speaker 1>constantly moving. It's really starting and stopping, but it's doing

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<v Speaker 1>it at such a high speed that it it looks

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<v Speaker 1>like it's a constant movement. But yeah, you have all

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<v Speaker 1>these little tiny nozzles in an ink jet printer that

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<v Speaker 1>that emit the ink, and um they do it in

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of different ways. Um so, but that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>the basic principle behind it. Eventually, the the when the

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<v Speaker 1>paper comes out, the ink dries, uh and you've got

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<v Speaker 1>your your printed page. As opposed to say the solid

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<v Speaker 1>inc format where you actually let the ink cool. It's

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<v Speaker 1>it's almost like like a candle, like if you melted

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<v Speaker 1>the candle and then let the wax cool and it

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<v Speaker 1>solidifies again. That's sort of the the way solid ink works,

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<v Speaker 1>whereas the ink jet type stuff it it just kind

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<v Speaker 1>of dries. So that's what you end up with the

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<v Speaker 1>letters on the page speaking of which is not the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of thing you want to get wet, right, because

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<v Speaker 1>speaking from personal experience, if you are working on something

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<v Speaker 1>and you like a spill your coffee on it or

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<v Speaker 1>something or glass water, you're pretty much going to ruin

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<v Speaker 1>an ink jet printed page. I think they've gotten. It

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<v Speaker 1>depends on paper and and things that you know, depending

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<v Speaker 1>on how well it soaks in, and of course, depending

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<v Speaker 1>on how well it soaks in, you can really splotchy

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<v Speaker 1>pages just from the ink jet printing on it. Early

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<v Speaker 1>ink jet that was bad about that. I had to

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<v Speaker 1>use a certain quality of paper with a certain amount

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<v Speaker 1>of clay content for it to actually show up and

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<v Speaker 1>not uh completely seep in and make a giant blob

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle of the page. Yeah, you can see

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<v Speaker 1>that in even high quality printers. If you don't, if

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<v Speaker 1>you don't maintain them and clean them often enough, then

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<v Speaker 1>you're going to have some some smearing issues. With ink jets,

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<v Speaker 1>the nozzles can clog to exact problems. And there's two

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<v Speaker 1>different two different kinds of of nozzles. We might as

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<v Speaker 1>well those as well. There's the thermal bubble nozzle, which

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<v Speaker 1>of course bubble jet right exactly. The bubble jet for

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<v Speaker 1>the subset of the ink jet family creates a small

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<v Speaker 1>bubble with the bubble burst that creates a vacuum, draws

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<v Speaker 1>in through the nozzles, sprays on the paper. Really exciting

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<v Speaker 1>science stuff. The other one is even more science if

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<v Speaker 1>you can believe it. Settle yourself here it goes the

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<v Speaker 1>piezo electric crystal method um. Now, piece of electric crystal.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the kind of crystal that if you run an

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<v Speaker 1>electric charge through it, it changes shape and vice versa.

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<v Speaker 1>If you change the shape of the crystal, it emits

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<v Speaker 1>an electric charge. These are the sort of crystals that

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<v Speaker 1>are in things like like like watches to keep time

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<v Speaker 1>because they're they're very they're very predictable. You know, depending

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<v Speaker 1>on the material you're talking about, you can you know

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<v Speaker 1>exactly how it's going to change shape depending on how

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<v Speaker 1>much of an electrical charge you pass through it. So

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<v Speaker 1>in this case, these crystals kind of act as a

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<v Speaker 1>valve for the nozzle and as the printer runs an

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<v Speaker 1>electric charge through it, it it allows inc to pass through

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<v Speaker 1>or blocks inc from passing through and that's how those work. So, um,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess we can move on over to the most

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<v Speaker 1>dangerous printer in the world, the laser jet laser printer.

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<v Speaker 1>These also use UH positive and negative electrical charges to

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<v Speaker 1>help with the printing process. Um i've i've actually a

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<v Speaker 1>little uncertain as too much charge. But the initially the

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<v Speaker 1>drum inside the printer, which is a smaller version of

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<v Speaker 1>the one you might see if you watch a video

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<v Speaker 1>about how they make UH newspapers or magazines. You see

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<v Speaker 1>these giant H drums rotating on a press. Well, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a smaller version of that inside your the laser printer

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<v Speaker 1>sitting on your desk or you know, down the hall

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<v Speaker 1>at your at your workplace. And basically they charge the

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<v Speaker 1>drum and put toner on the drum and a laser

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<v Speaker 1>passes over it and when the paper goes through, it

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<v Speaker 1>gets the opposite electrical charge and that helps transfer the

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<v Speaker 1>image onto the paper. Right, the laser just provides the

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<v Speaker 1>the correct charge to the right spots on the toner,

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<v Speaker 1>so that way the toner that has charged that way

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<v Speaker 1>will will transfer. All the rest of the toner won't transfer,

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<v Speaker 1>because otherwise all you would end up with is you know,

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<v Speaker 1>sheet completely covered in toner. So it's kind of neat

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<v Speaker 1>that they're using lasers to do this. That it's this

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<v Speaker 1>this really precise way to um to transfer inc from

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<v Speaker 1>the drum onto the page. And then after the that

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<v Speaker 1>that goes on the drum rotates another lamp, a very

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<v Speaker 1>powerful lamp is shown on the drum itself, which clears

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<v Speaker 1>the charge, so it prepares it for the next page.

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<v Speaker 1>Because if you didn't do that, then you would end

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<v Speaker 1>up with ghost images of previous pages. So you would

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<v Speaker 1>end up seeing like everything on page page two, you

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<v Speaker 1>would start to see a little ghost images of stuff

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<v Speaker 1>from page one, and then page three, the page one

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<v Speaker 1>images would be slightly lighter, but then you'd also have

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<v Speaker 1>the page two and it would be a big mess.

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<v Speaker 1>So you have to have a way to clear the

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<v Speaker 1>drum after each sheet, and that's how they do it.

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<v Speaker 1>They use this um this lamp to to to clear it.

0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.960
<v Speaker 1>And then as one last step before the page leaves

0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.160
<v Speaker 1>the printer, it goes through what's called a fuser, which

0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.600
<v Speaker 1>essentially melds the I really wanted to use the word

0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:04.960
<v Speaker 1>meld um. That melds the toner on into the paper fibers,

0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.480
<v Speaker 1>so basically it you know, fuses it together, glues it

0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.959
<v Speaker 1>together on there, so it appears in those letters until

0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.240
<v Speaker 1>you put it in a vinyl notebook, leave it there

0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:14.840
<v Speaker 1>for a while, then peel it off to find all

0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:16.480
<v Speaker 1>the dinner and stuck on the vinyl, and now you

0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:22.840
<v Speaker 1>have it when your notebook and reverse. Wow again. I

0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:27.080
<v Speaker 1>know this from personal experience. I was detecting a little

0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:31.520
<v Speaker 1>note of bitterness in that which one is better for which? What?

0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.920
<v Speaker 1>If you if you're looking for crisp colors, if you're

0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:37.200
<v Speaker 1>looking for speed, you know what which printer is best

0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.360
<v Speaker 1>for which application? In general, I think laser printers tend

0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.800
<v Speaker 1>to be the fastest. Um. They're the you're they're usually

0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.400
<v Speaker 1>faster than your ink jets. Uh. Although if you're printing

0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.840
<v Speaker 1>a lot um and you're printing in a hurry, you

0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.559
<v Speaker 1>should also be careful because those pages come out awfully

0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:54.920
<v Speaker 1>hot from the user. If you're if you're running a

0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.760
<v Speaker 1>pretty powerful printer, I speak from personal experience of the press,

0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.000
<v Speaker 1>Yes exactly, it is literally hot off the press. You

0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.720
<v Speaker 1>can you could actually scort yourself a little. Um. Now,

0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.880
<v Speaker 1>the paper is moving really fast with the fuser, so

0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:13.520
<v Speaker 1>it won't. It won't normally scort, unless, of course, something

0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:15.640
<v Speaker 1>has gone horribly wrong with your laser printer, in which

0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:20.480
<v Speaker 1>case that could theoretically happen. Um. But yeah, I seem

0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:22.960
<v Speaker 1>to I find laser printers to be to be the

0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:27.520
<v Speaker 1>best if you're looking for something like a high quantity

0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.400
<v Speaker 1>print job. If you're printing something that's like, say you're

0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:32.559
<v Speaker 1>printing reports, and you're printing out a hundred reports, and

0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.480
<v Speaker 1>each reports sporting pages long, a laser printer is gonna

0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.120
<v Speaker 1>do it a lot faster than an ink jet. Um

0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.520
<v Speaker 1>or your local copy center, Well, your local copy center

0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.719
<v Speaker 1>is very likely using a laser printer, so so it's

0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.480
<v Speaker 1>still the same. I doubt that they've got the Guttenberg

0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.040
<v Speaker 1>press back there, so um, so I would go with

0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.040
<v Speaker 1>laser most of the time. I mean now, granted, for

0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.360
<v Speaker 1>my own personal use, I have an ink jet because

0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.360
<v Speaker 1>I don't tend to do high volume print jobs, so

0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.760
<v Speaker 1>it's and a jet. The qualities nice. Uh um. The

0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.720
<v Speaker 1>cartridges aren't too terribly expensive, so that's what I stick with. Yeah,

0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.440
<v Speaker 1>they can. That's what you find for your your photo printers,

0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.720
<v Speaker 1>your digital photo printers, exact. The quality of the images

0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:20.120
<v Speaker 1>is considerably better. Well, I think we've we've we're all

0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.160
<v Speaker 1>printed out. I think we should we should lay this

0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.440
<v Speaker 1>one to bed. So, if you guys want to learn

0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.640
<v Speaker 1>more about printers, you should read how inkjet printers work

0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.480
<v Speaker 1>and how Laser printers Work, both of which are live

0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.920
<v Speaker 1>right now on how stuff works dot com. I didn't

0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.080
<v Speaker 1>even know Steve Gutenberg had a prints. I'm gonna hit

0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:43.680
<v Speaker 1>you so hard. Let us know what you think. Send

0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:50.400
<v Speaker 1>an email to podcast and how stuff works dot com,

0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.080
<v Speaker 1>brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:54.600
<v Speaker 1>It's ready, are you