One of the most critical components of an inkjet machine is the printhead.
On average, every nozzle is expected to produce 20-50 billion ink drops during its lifetime (WOW) . This is considered to be the case for piezoelectric (piezo) heads; the type commonly used in Epson brand printers.
The other major brands (HP, Lexmark,DELL,and Brother) all use the thermal print head designs and the lifetime for thermal printing heads is substantially lower.
Resolution makes all the difference.
The frequency of ink drop production is directly linked to resolution and speed. For example, to print at a speed of 0.3 meter per second with a resolution of 1,000 dpi (the starting point for a graphic application), the head must fire with a frequency of 12,000 ink drops per second.
Assuming a “best case” average life expectancy of 50 billion total ink drops, the head then should be able to operate for approximately 1,150 total hours before needing to be replaced.
(Earlier for thermal heads)
What does that mean in terms of years of use, or paper use ?
1,150 hours relates to @ 10 pages per minute to about 690,000 pages or 1380 reams of 500 pages.
Or ,if you print for 1 hours every day ( 650 pages/day) your printer head would last you about 3.1 years.
Most people, print under 20 pages/day so that would work out to approx 102 years of life on your print head.
In effect, you more likely to have a power supply failure,break in the carriage motor, or other failure.
So why do so many people complain about head failures ?
Printer heads can and will fail if
a) the printer is operated without ink.
Ink in reality is a lubricant for the head assembly and without it the print head overheats and burns itself out. Just like your car need water in the radiator, you print head needs ink to keep it cool and conduct the heat away.
b) the ink is allowed to dry in the print head.
Ink, although specially formulated not to evaporate, is still prone to evaporate over time, and as a result the remaining (pigment, or dye) becomes concentrated and can eventually clog the heads. If you want to keep you printer running smoothly make sure you use your ink with 6 months of opening, and use the print head cleaning cycle on the printer at least once a month.
You printer needs ongoing maintenance just like your car, and that means the heads need to be flushed at regular intervals. Leaving your printer either out of ink, or with old ink in it is a formula for failure.
Filed under: Inkjet Info | Tagged: Epson, HP, inkjet, lubricant, piezoelectric, pigment |
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