The principle of the matrix printer

Dot matrix printers are one of the oldest printers in use today. Printing is done thanks to the print head and a set of needles, which are driven by electronic magnets. The head moves along the sheet, at this time the needles hit the paper through the ink ribbon, thereby printing the text. Dot matrix printers, despite the almost complete displacement from various fields, are today widely used in certain areas. On the forums you can often find a message: "get the work of the matrix device". The article will consider exactly the operation of such a device.

Dot Matrix Printer

It is not difficult to describe the actions of such a device. The most expensive element in any matrix printer is the head, which is located on the carriage. Different parameters of this device will depend on the design of the carriage. In the case there are electromagnets capable of drawing in or pushing out the core, where the needles are. For a passage, this part can print only one line of text.

The ribbon cartridge is a plastic box where the ink ribbon is located inside. During the transfer of the text, the tape is constantly brought to the head with new sections, which leads to high-quality printing. In the design of the broaching mechanism of the tape there are 2 rollers, between them the head is stretched.

The printer is equipped with a paper drawer to feed paper and hold it when printing. To ensure reliable adhesion to the paper, the drum is coated with rubber or plastic. In addition, at the same time there are rollers that support and clamp the sheets to the drum. The movement of the latter is carried out using a stepper motor.

Reference! Also in the case is a device that is responsible for feeding the sheet, which ensures that the paper is held until it is pulled by the drum. Another objective of this element is the normal layout of the sheet. If you print using roll paper, then the device is equipped with a holder.

Another important part is the control board, which includes a buffer memory, a control device, interface circuits, which are designed to provide communication with a computer. That is, its main purpose is to help the equipment produce all its basic functions. The controller board is a microprocessor that decrypts the commands that come from the PC.

The principle of the matrix printer

Text using a matrix printer is formed by the head. This element consists of a set of needles, the movement of which is due to electromagnets. The head moves along the guides along the paper. When printing needles in a certain order hit the sheet. But before they pierce the paper, they pierce the ink ribbon located in the matrix cartridge.

The carriage is driven by a belt drive. The stepper motor acts as an electric drive. This type of printer is called a dot matrix printer. However, there are still linear matrix devices characterized by high printing speed. Here hammers are installed, evenly located on the shuttle mechanism. This equipment uses technology that allows you to transfer lines in one pass.

Reference! To get a specific font, simultaneous strokes of different needle combinations are used. That is, almost any font can be printed this way. In some cases, the firmware supports downloading different fonts. In addition, most dot matrix printers support the individual needle control mode from a computer.

Advantages of the dot matrix printer

Although this technology is obsolete, dot matrix printers are still widely used today. Since they have many advantages in a particular field of operation.

Main advantages:

1. The most important advantage is low cost. The price of this equipment is ten times less, unlike inkjet or laser printers.
2. The operating time is much higher than the operating time of other printers. The ink ribbon does not dry out sharply, it can always be seen in advance, since the quality of the printed text begins to fade slightly. Other types of devices may shut down at the wrong time when there is no time to charge the cartridge.
3. Any type of paper. You can print not only on special paper, which is designed for other models.
4. Resistance of the printed text to dirt and water.
5. The device provides printing under the "carbon copy", this allows you to quickly reproduce the same type of text.

Despite a large number of advantages, this equipment also has drawbacks making the device unsuitable for use in certain cases.

Disadvantages:

1. This equipment cannot print photos. He can not qualitatively transfer the image. Therefore, a matrix device is absolutely not suitable for this.
2. Low productivity. Unlike modern counterparts, the dot matrix printer produces significantly fewer printed pages. Naturally, if you use it when copying documents of the same type, then the speed is sometimes even higher, unlike analogues. There is also a mode with which you can increase print speed. But in this case, the quality of the resulting text is lost.
3. The device is quite noisy. Since most parts are mechanically operated, the equipment has a high noise level. To fix this, it will be necessary to separately buy a special casing or install the equipment in another room.

Matrix office equipment is one of the oldest in the device segment. Engineers have repeatedly reviewed this technology, making many changes, but the mechanical part has remained unchanged. But this also determined the advantages that distinguish matrix devices. At the same time, the price of these printers covers many shortcomings.