Printer Ribbon
What Is a Printer Ribbon?
Technological advancements in the field of printing has drastically developed, technologies such as laser jet, ink jet and thermal inks are now common and very popular in the market, however, regardless of technological changes, there are tried and tested things that never change, and that is impact printing.
Impact printing has been around since the dawn of computer printing technology, however, at this day and age, impact printing is considered for special purpose printing such as printing in 2 or 3 plies computer forms for sales invoices, billing, delivery receipt. Passbook printing, cheque printing, receipt printing or any other printing that requires impact which laser jet, ink jet and thermal technologies simply cannot do.
A Dot-matrix ribbon is an ink-coated element present inside an impact printer, printing is done by the printer head striking the paper, causing the ribbon and paper to make contact. The printer head has an array or matrix of pins or dots that is responsible for forming the character, leaving an imprint of that character to paper.
Dot Matrix Ribbon is another popular term when referring to the ribbons inside dot matrix printers, although serial dot matrix ribbons and dot-matrix cartridge ribbons are also used.
Modern day use of Printer Ribbons
Since dot matrix printers print via impact printing, printing in duplicates or triplicate are easily done on a continuous form. While the original copy is printed using the printer ribbon the other sheets are printed using carbon copy inks. This kind of printing can be used for printing invoices, delivery receipts, receipts, and other business forms.
Corporate billing centres use impact printers and ribbons to generate a large amount of output quickly and with little maintenance. Ink-coated ribbon and the paper are pushed against the drum or chain as the drum or chain is rotated over the paper, marking the paper with the shape of the character. Multiple characters can be printed simultaneously on one line of the printer due to its mechanism.
Banks use passbook printers that have ink-coated ribbons to print on passbooks, checks and demand drafts, while in retail, printer ribbons are still used for transaction receipt printing.
Other Printer Ribbon Information
- Dot-matrix ribbons usually have blue, black or red inks.
- Its array design makes it well suited for printing without heating since it uses a sturdy ribbon that provides lubrication.
- Laser Inkjet printers use toner cartridges to reduce operating costs, but dot matrix printers use inexpensive ribbons that require little maintenance and last a long time.
- Depending on the printing need, the printer ribbons can print up to 50,000 characters in its lifetime.
- Dot matrix ribbons are environmentally friendly. They consume a lot less power and electronic parts as compared to laser printers, thereby significantly reducing your organization’s carbon footprint.