Inkjet Info | Inkjet News

Zuta Labs has made a tiny portable printer

Posted on April 13, 2014 by kflack

Zuta Labs Ltd has designed a tiny mobile printer that was inspired by the idea of helping the print-head escape from of its chassis prison walls and then drive off to freedom in a mini robot. The team behind the printer also wondered why other devices have become more mobile over the last decade yet printers have remained entrenched in a left-right-left-right framework that limited their both output size and portability

The Mini Mobile Robotic Printer by Zuta Labs is a Kickstarter project which has already surpassed the halfway mark of its US$400,000 crowdfunding goal in a single day. At the time of writing there are still $180 pledges available to secure a device (in black). Following an initial mass production run it is estimated that printers will be despatched to backers by January 2015.

You use the printer by placing it ‘pointing’ at the top left of your page and it roams around laying ink down appropriately, propelled by its omni-wheel. The device takes data in via Bluetooth from your computer (mobile apps are also in development). Looking at the prototype it didn’t seem very quick and the team behind it quote a dawdling output speed of 1.2 pages per minute. With the device still in development and getting custom specially made components this might well improve.

Mini Mobile Robotic Printer tech specs:

Physical dimensions and weight: 10 centimetres high and 11.5 centimetres in diameter and will weigh about 300g.
Materials: cover made from Polycarbonate.
Media sizes: any standard size.
Print Speed: 1.2 ppm (estimated according to the prototype specs).
Print Quality: currently the prototype can reach up to 96×192 dpi, the final product will have higher resolution.
Ink Cartridge Configuration: one black cartridge, over 1,000 page capacity.
Interface: Bluetooth, Bluetooth BPP, 1 x Micro USB.
Battery: Lithium Polymer, Run Time (Up to) 1 hour, Charge Time of 3 hours.
Supported Os: Android, iOS, Linux, OSX, and Windows.

With its comparatively light weight and ‘pocket’ size it is thought that this portable device will be a favourite among mobile workers who often find it a struggle to print stuff out away from their base. Its rechargeable battery puts in a decent 1 hour of use which should provide over 60 pages on the go – when and where it is required. It will be interesting to see if the output resolution does increase in the final shipping product, as promised and if there will be any speed increases.

Filed under: Blogroll, Industry News, Inkjet Info | Tagged: inkjet printer, Mini, Roomba portable printer, Zuta Labs | Leave a comment »

Instant Inkjet Circuits

Posted on November 19, 2013 by kflack

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2493486

ABSTRACT
This paper introduces a low cost, fast and accessible technology
to support the rapid prototyping of functional electronic
devices. Central to this approach of ‘instant inkjet circuits’
is the ability to print highly conductive traces and patterns
onto flexible substrates such as paper and plastic films
cheaply and quickly. In addition to providing an alternative to
breadboarding and conventional printed circuits, we demonstrate
how this technique readily supports large area sensors
and high frequency applications such as antennas. Unlike existing
methods for printing conductive patterns, conductivity
emerges within a few seconds without the need for special
equipment. We demonstrate that this technique is feasible
using commodity inkjet printers and commercially available
ink, for an initial investment of around US$300. Having presented
this exciting new technology, we explain the tools and
techniques we have found useful for the first time. Our main
research contribution is to characterize the performance of instant
inkjet circuits and illustrate a range of possibilities that
are enabled by way of several example applications which we
have built. We believe that this technology will be of immediate
appeal to researchers in the ubiquitous computing domain,
since it supports the fabrication of a variety of functional electronic
device prototypes.

Author Keywords
Inkjet-printing; Conductive Ink; Capacitive Sensors; Rapid
Prototyping; Digital Fabrication.
ACM Classification Keywords
B.m. Hardware: Miscellaneous
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or
classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed
for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation
on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be
honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). Copyright is held by the author/
owner(s).
UbiComp’13, September 8–12, 2013, Zurich, Switzerland.
ACM 978-1-4503-1770-2/13/09.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2493432.2493486
Figure 1. Silver nanoparticle ink is injected into an empty cartridge and
used in conjunction with an off-the-shelf inkjet printer to enable ‘instant
inkjet circuit’ prototyping.
General Terms
Design; Experimentation; Measurement.

Filed under: Blogroll, Industry News, Inkjet Info | Tagged: inkjet, silver ink | Leave a comment »

Non-branded printer cartridges will save you a bundle

Posted on November 15, 2010 by kflack

Technorati Tags: inkjet cartridge,canada,epson,canon,HP,lexmark

Non-branded printer cartridges will save you a bundle

So says one supplier

15 Nov 2010 08:27 | by Andrea Petrou | posted in Business

Non-branded printer cartridges will save you a bundle - Wikimedia

People that switch from branded inkjet printer cartridges to private label versions could save themselves a bundle of cash, research has found.
In a YouGov survey of 2000 households, for Environmental Business Products, the company found that switching labels could save households a combined £440 million a year.
It also found that the average home gets through 4.85 cartridges a year. Half of those questioned admitted they only ever buy branded cartridges from printer manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard, Epson, Lexmark or Canon.
According to the research, branded cartridges typically cost £30 each, which creates an annual bill of £145.50 – the same as a television licence. It said if buyers of branded cartridges – approximately 10.1 million households – instead bought private label versions from high-street retailers and supermarkets, which are around 30 percent cheaper, they would save £43.65 per household per annum or a combined £440 million. Currently only 18 percent of households exclusively buy private-label versions.
Patrick Stead, founder and chief executive of Environmental Business Products, which -surprise, surprise – supplies private-label cartridges to many high street retailers across Europe said: “When most items in the shopping basket are rising in price, the printer cartridge is one product where there are easy savings to be made, so it is surprising that so many people continue to pay a premium.
“Buying a private-label ink cartridge gives consumers a saving of 25 percent to 35 percent which is very welcome at any time, but especially in the current climate. Once people realise there is no compromise in quality, regardless of misleading propaganda, they’re likely to stick with the cheaper option rather than returning to branded.”
The survey also found that 10 percent of households buy 10 or more cartridges a year, giving a potential saving of £90 each per year, if they switched to compatible cartridges. Additionally 66 percent say a cheaper price is likely to encourage them to switch from printer manufacturers cartridges to retailers’ versions, while 43 percent would be motivated to switch cartridges because of environmental credentials.

Filed under: Blogroll, Industry News, Inkjet Info | Tagged: Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark | Leave a comment »

HP grabs printer market share

Posted on September 1, 2010 by kflack

The overall printer market saw revenue surge 14 percent in the second quarter to $13.3 billion, according to IDC. Hewlett-Packard continued to gain share.

Among the notable points from IDC:

IDC expects that the printer market will bounce back through 2010, but competition will heat up.
Inkjet printers have 66 percent share of the printer market. Meanwhile, inkjet printers posted 14 percent unit growth in the second quarter with 19 million units. That’s the most growth since 2003.
Laser printers posted the strongest growth with units up 25 percent to 9 million in the second quarter. Monochrome laser printers accounted for 83 percent of the market.

Here’s a look at the standings:

Metawatch, has and continues to recommend only Canon and Epson series of printers as they offer headless inkjet cartridges thereby enabling you to purchase lower cost inkjet supplies.

Their increased robustness of the imbedded heads in their printers also ensure a longer lasting reliability.

Filed under: Blogroll, Industry News, Inkjet Info | Tagged: Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, inkjet printer, Lexmark, market share | Leave a comment »

Epson WorkForce 520: Fast and Cheap, but Text Quality Is Disappointing

Posted on August 12, 2010 by kflack

The Epson WorkForce 520 color inkjet multifunction printer (with print, scan, copy, and fax functions) deserves credit for breaking two inkjet stereotypes. It is not slow–in fact, it’s blazing fast. Its inks are not expensive, either–they’re impressively cheap, as is the machine’s purchase price ($130 as of July 30, 2010). Unfortunately, it was unable to kick one habit, producing mediocre text quality on plain paper. Compared with the similarly priced HP Officejet 4500 Wireless All-In-One (which costs about the same), however, the WorkForce 520 is the better deal.

We found the WorkForce 520 generally easy to set up and work with. Driver setup went quickly, and the unit’s standard Wi-Fi is convenient (USB and ethernet also come standard). The two-line monochrome LCD and its interface are straightforward but feel primitive. The other controls and buttons are nicely arranged.

The WorkForce 520’s features are geared to low-volume use. It offers merely a single, 100-sheet vertical rear feeder. It has no automatic duplexing (the function is manual on the PC and nonexistent on the Mac). For scanning, it provides a 30-sheet automatic document feeder and a letter-size flatbed scanner that telescopes for thicker objects.

On the PC, the WorkForce 520 broke records, printing plain-text pages at 12.6 pages per minute and copies at 7.3 ppm. On the Mac, its 10.3-ppm text speed outpaced recent competitors nearly twofold; scanning speeds were also impressive. On both platforms, photo and graphics print speeds were average.

Small businesses live on plain paper, however, and that’s where the WorkForce 520 falls short. On plain-paper tests at the default settings, text showed fuzzy or wavy edges and random droplet splatter–typical inkjet shortcomings. When we set the driver to ‘Fine’ quality (and slower speed), the text still exhibited artefacts, but you wouldn’t be embarrassed to show it to a client. Photos also suffered on plain paper, but on Epson’s own photo paper they smoothed out considerably and had a cheery palette. Color scanning was similarly hobbled, with the results coming out foggy and slightly faded.

Other than speed, the WorkForce 520’s best attribute is its cheap ink The standard-size black costs $15.19 and lasts 550 pages–a modest 2.8 cents per page. Each color costs $11.38 and lasts 335 pages, or 3.4 cents per color, per page. The high-yield cartridges drop costs minimally to 2.4 cents for black (the 740-page cartridge costs $18.04) and 3.2 cents per color, per page (each 480-page cartridge costs $15.19). Their primary advantage is postponing the day when you must change them.

Inkjet multifunction printers that cost as little as the Epson WorkForce 520 always have trade-offs. In this model’s case, you get fast output and cheap consumables–but you lose some print quality.

Filed under: Blogroll, Industry News, Inkjet Info | Tagged: epson 520, ink, inkjet, printer ink, workforce | Leave a comment »

Back to School Buyer’s Guide: Saving on Supplies

Posted on August 10, 2010 by kflack

OK, now that it is time to get you children all set up for school and supplies making sure your inkjet printer is working, and that you have a cost effective solution is important.

First and foremost if you are still buying OEM supplies for your inkjet printer you are loosing money, and it is time to rethink how to go about saving money.

Here are three questions that every owner should consider BEFORE purchasing additional supplies:

1. How much does it cost to purchase an entire set of replacement ink or toner?

2. What kind of printing will I be doing and what type of paper will I need to accomplish it?

3. Does the brand offer a low cost alternative if I purchase a certain model? Does the manufacturer offer high capacity cartridges and what are the potential savings?

Once you’ve answered these three questions, you can start considering your options whether it is choosing a different manufacturer, an alternative form of ink, using off brand paper or perhaps using a rewards program.

We have found the most cost effective suppliers of inkjet (Third Party Products) are the Canon and Epson lines of inkjet printers that HAVE the HEADS built into the printer, and not attached as part of the inkjet cartridge. The reason being is that the replacement cartridges only contain ink and no sophisticated electronics and are therefore cheaper to manufacture and purchase. You can typically purchase their cartridges for under $5.00 e.a. versus up to $60 for some OEM cartridges.

If your printer has the head as part of the cartridge then chances are there are no third party products available (except refurbished), and they are not nearly as reliable based on their increased complexity, and limited lifespan design.They are a lot more expensive to boot.

Once you have decided if you are going to take the plunge and purchase a new printer (Epson or Canon) then you must make sure that their are 3rd party cartridges available for the printer your are looking at purchasing.(What they are not available for all printers !) Nope, due to the competition in this marketplace the manufacturers many years back started to add electronic chips to their cartridges, to track ink usage, as well as imbed some proprietary identification code, that needs to be re-engineered by the Third parties before products become available on the market. This normally takes about 6-9 months (we have seen up to 2 years) before you’ll see products being available.

So this is one instance where buying the latest and greatest will not only cost you more, but you will not be able to tkae advantage of 3rd party cartridge products for at least 6-9 months after purchase. (There are no guarantees)

SO look for those clearance sales at the big box stores (Future Electronics, Best Buy, Costco) and take the plunge.

Don’t be tempted by the low price of the HP, Lexmark, Kodak or Dell inkjet, as you will pay the price for cartridges later. Look for the Canon or Epson… albeit harder to find, you’ll be happy in the end.

Filed under: Blogroll, FAQ, Industry News, Inkjet Info | Tagged: back to school, Canon, canon 3rd party inkjet, canon inkjet, Epson, epson inkjet | Leave a comment »

Don’t printer with Empty Cartridges

Posted on July 23, 2010 by kflack

Printing With an Empty Color Cartridge Can Damage Your Printer

If you think your color inkjet printer should print in black when a color cartridge is empty, you’re not alone. It’s reasonable to think your color printer can act like a monochrome printer when a color cartridge is empty, but you still have plenty of black ink. After all, your car still runs when you’re out of windshield fluid.

When your printer stops printing and cries for a color cartridge, open the printer properties page and look for the black-ink-only option. You will find that there is no such option. You can choose the next best thing, grayscale printing, but the printer still cries for a color cartridge and does not allow you to print. What gives?

Inks Play Multiple Roles

Printers use some color ink when you print black text and black ink is used when you print color images. Also ink cools and lubricates print heads. If you could print with an empty cartridge, you might destroy a print head from the friction of printing without ink to cool and lubricate the head. Also, if your printer indicates a color is empty, there is still residual ink left at the bottom of the cartridge. The residual ink can easily clog the print head and blot ink onto pages and even permanently block the print head.

You may be able to trick a printer into thinking a cartridge has ink when it does not. This trick may enable you to print in the short term, but it may also reduce the useful life of your printer in the long term.

Filed under: Blogroll, FAQ, Inkjet Info | Tagged: blocked heads, cooling, empty cartridge, ink, inkjet, lubrication | Leave a comment »

Inkjet News

Metawatch

Categories

Blogroll

Inkjet Cartridges

Customer Feedback

Email Subscription

RSS Links

Calendar

Recent Posts

Archives

Tags