Thermal Inkjet Printer: Benefits and How to Operate

Over the years, the development of printing technologies has brought many benefits to diverse industrial sectors. Due to government regulation that requires businesses and manufacturers to mark and code their products for traceability, many choose to use advanced printing technologies to do the work.

One of the most popular choices is thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers. These printers are widely available worldwide. They have become the prime choice of many industrial sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, logistics, cosmetics, and more. Created to meet the standard of the regulation, a TIJ printer can produce clear and readable codes, images, and texts. 

What is a Thermal Inkjet Printer?

A thermal inkjet printer is an industrial printing technology of cartridge-based. It uses thermal or electrical energy to heat the liquid ink and apply it to a substrate. A TIJ printer prints texts, graphics, and images on various product materials or packaging in an industrial setting. 

Many industries pick TIJ printers due to their versatility in printing biosensors. For example, a TIJ printer can produce various films and tablets for personalized medications in the pharmaceutical sector. In other industrial sectors, the printer can create various alphanumeric texts, barcodes, QR codes, and logos for porous and non-porous surfaces. 

Components of Thermal Inkjet Printer

A thermal inkjet printer has several components to make the printing process run smoothly without any problem. Below is the explanation of each element.

The Printhead

A TIJ’s printhead is the core component that puts ink to substrates. It has a string of nozzles that spray ink droplets onto a substrate to produce clear images, texts, or barcodes. The resolution and quality of the prints depend on the sizes and number of the nozzles. The printhead is separated from the ink cartridges. It’s either replaceable or attached to the printer.

The Ink Reservoir

A TIJ printer uses ink cartridges as the reservoirs for the printhead. They have many combinations depending on the model of the printer from a manufacturer, such as a cartridge separating black and other colors, placing black and different colors in one cartridge, and each color in each cartridge. Ink cartridges are replaceable.

The Stepper Motor

The stepper motor functions to move the printhead and ink cartridges. With a back-and-forth movement, it guides the printhead to create precise prints. Some TIJ printers use another stepper motor to place and rest the printhead while it’s not functioning.

The Belt

The belt functions to securely attach the printhead to the stepper motor.

The Stabilizer Bar

The stabilizer bar ensures the movement of the printhead is accurate and controlled.

Depending on the manufacturer producing thermal inkjet printers, other components might be essential for the printer to deliver a clean and accurate finish. Don’t hesitate to ask for detailed information to ensure you know what kind of maintenance is needed for the printer.

Advantages of Using Thermal Inkjet Printer Technology

There are many advantages of using thermal inkjet printers over other printing technologies. Check the points below to know more about this.

• Cost-efficient printing technology with a high-quality print and finish.
• The printing quality of texts, barcodes, and images is clear and precise.
• Still deliver good prints even though a TIJ printer isn’t used for quite a while.
• Easy to set up for indoor use. You don’t need any training for setting up and using the printer.
• Easy to use and clean. The moving parts of a TIJ printer are quick to replace and repair.
• The moving components are widely available on the market, making the repair easy.
• Little to no maintenance is required for a TIJ printer as you can quickly replace the ink cartridge or other moving parts.
• A TIJ printer is versatile as it can print on various applications and materials such as cardboard, paper, cartons, metals, plastics, and wood for many industrial packaging.
• A TIJ printer has no cool-down cycle. Thus, it’s ready at any time.

With these many advantages, a TIJ printer can be the right choice for your industrial packaging needs. Besides, anyone involved in the coding and identification process can easily set up and use a TIJ printer to print the necessary variable information without any changeover.

Types of Thermal Inkjet Printers

A thermal inkjet printer is an excellent industrial printing technology if your operations are required to make durable and accurate labels for various substrates. Yet, the two types of thermal inkjet printers differ in their work.

They are thermal transfer printers and direct thermal printers. Both can produce high-quality images and labels. However, the former has a larger size than the latter. It uses a thermal ribbon, either made of resin or wax, to transfer the design of labels or images onto a substrate. 

Thermal transfer printing uses heat to the printhead. This heat melts the ink of the resin or wax ribbon onto the substrate, thus transferring the image. Thermal transfer printers are versatile and create high-resolution labels suitable for harsh environments.

Many industries use thermal transfer printers to print road signs, floor marking signs, product identification, identification cards, UL labels, outdoor applications, circuit board tracking, and many more.

Meanwhile, direct thermal printers are smaller and more compact. They don’t need ribbons, ink, or toner to create images or labels. Like the thermal transfer printer, a direct thermal printer applies heat to the printhead, which blackens or darkens the chemically treated paper that passes through underneath the heated printhead.

In that way, an image or label is directly produced onto the substrate. Due to this process, however, the prints are unsuitable for harsh environments because they are sensitive to abrasion, heat, and light. Many industries use direct thermal printers for producing shipping labels, tickets, receipts, and visitor identification.

Substrates that Can be Used by Thermal Inkjet Printer (TIJ)

Before, thermal inkjet printers could only print labels, images, barcodes, or texts on specific substrates such as cardboard and paper. The TIJ printer’s ability then changes through continuous development. You can now print variable data on diverse packaging materials using a TIJ printer. 

Depending on the model of TIJ printers, they can be used to produce high-quality prints on:

• Porous substrates include cardboard, gypsum board, paper, fabric, untreated wood, sponge, etc.
• Semi-porous substrates include waxed surfaces, certain types of plastics, plaster, coated paper, etc.
• Non-porous substrates such as plastics, glass, metals, leather, varnished woods, etc.

A TIJ printer can print various variable data for diverse types of industrial packaging. Depending on your needs, you can change the printer’s ink cartridges since they are replaceable to find the correct ink suitable for your packaging operations and designs. Ask the manufacturer about the available ink cartridges and printer model options before you buy one.

How Does Thermal Inkjet Printing Work and How to Use a Thermal Inkjet Printer?

A thermal inkjet printer is easy to use. Since its size is on a smaller scale than other printers, you can put the TIJ print in any indoor space directly linked to your packaging operations. 

To further understand this topic, you need to know how TIJ printers that use replaceable ink cartridges work. Here are the steps explaining the process.

Heating the Ink

The ink cartridges of TIJ printers can produce high temperatures to 300 degrees Celsius. This heats the ink to its optimal boiling point.

Changing the Ink Form

The high temperatures then change the ink’s physical state, liquid to gas, which generates a vapor bubble due to the expansion of ink volume. 

Generate Pressure to Propel the Ink

The expansion of ink volume generates high pressure that propels the ink droplets out of the nozzle. It delivers an accurate pinpoint of ink droplets to the substrates.

After these three steps are finished, the remaining bubble is propelled by collapses. Then, the vacuum effect caused by the negative pressure pulls new ink into the nozzle, repeating the entire process.

To gauge the quality and resolution of the prints, you can check the printer’s dots per inch (DPI). The DPI shows how many ink droplets can be produced for one inch on the page. A higher DPI measurement makes smaller ink dots, creating finer images and vice versa.

Read about: Discover Marking and Coding Technologies for Improved Traceability

Markcom’s Best Thermal Inkjet Printer (TIJ)

Still unsure which thermal inkjet printer is the right one for you? Check out the latest products at Markcom Global. Here, we specialize in thermal printers, which provide suitable solutions for your industrial packaging needs.

Our best Thermal Inkjet Printers come in two series, Mark I and Mark II, ranging in designs, uses, and capabilities. Each TIJ printer is easy to set up with a friendly interface, increasing your operational efficiency and productivity. Mark I and Mark II series are the perfect picks for printing primary and secondary packaging. 

If you want to know more, please contact our thermal printing experts anytime to decide which printer suits your needs. Don’t hesitate to ask us about the printers’ details and specifications. In addition, we provide after-sales service to support your product warranty. Give us a call or send us a message at your convenience.