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The print head, which is the engine of your printer
and which may or may not be located inside the cartridge, houses
hundreds of tiny, delicate nozzle assemblies. Each nozzle assembly
consists of a tiny ink chamber, a resistor that controls the flow
of ink, walls that guide the ink to the right position, and a nozzle
plate with a hole, from which the ink will be sprayed onto the printer
paper.
After each time a nozzle fires, a new supply of
printer ink is automatically drawn into its chamber, to be ready
for the next time. When the printer is told by the computer to print
a page, the copper circuits on the end of the ink cartridge send
a message to the nozzle’s resistor, which then heats the nozzle’s
ink supply just enough to cause it to expand and to force a drop
of ink through the nozzle onto the printer paper.
Avoiding print head burnout
The ink which flows through each nozzle assembly functions as a
lubricant and coolant for the nozzle: if there is no ink in the
chamber when the resistor turns up the heat, the nozzle assembly
will quickly warp and break apart -- the resistor can reach a temperature
of hundreds of degrees very quickly!
If the print head is allowed to begin this process
of burnout (i.e. if the ink cartridge is not refilled or replaced
promptly), the damage may range from poor print quality (streaks
or lines across the page, bad coloration, light or dark patches
on the page) to serious damage to the printer.
It is very important never to attempt to print
with an empty ink cartridge. If in doubt, top off your cartridges
frequently (the leftover ink from your inkjet refill kit can be
stored until the next time you top off).
Back to General Printer Tips
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