Copier and Digital Imaging Supply Consumables
When it comes to digital imaging, its critical that your output looks good. It's a fundamental requirement that good output requires good input. 'You are what you eat' so to speak. With that being said it's important to feed your digital imaging systems high quality supplies.
Toner
Dry powder toner has long been used in the digital imaging world as a means of image transfer. That means the toner is the color, but it goes a bit deeper than that. There are other components in the toner beyond just simple pigments. Toner requires certain chemical and physical properties so that it behaves as needed throughout its life. Toner starts off as a dry powder that can be held safely and conveniently in a bottle or canister. Toner is then drawn out from that bottle into a reservoir where it can be very accurately metered out and controlled in extremely precise amounts. Most often toner is used to draw an image by means of static charge. The toner itself is given an electrical charge so that it is ionically drawn or repelled form a surface. From that point the toner needs to be locked into place or set onto the substrate. Almost always this process is done through the application of thermal energy, a step called fusing. The heat will cause the toner, or more specifically elements within the toner, to melt and meld together. The step where the toner is fused to the paper is the final step of the imaging process
Drum
The imaging drum is a very important part of the imaging process, as it is the carrier of the pattern. Drums are photosensitive and take an electric charge where they are exposed to light. This means a light source can effectively draw a picture onto a drum simply by shining onto its surface. A simple comparison would be the way that light exposes a piece of photographic film. From then, the charged drum picks up a pigmented toner and then releases it at a specific time in order to transfer the toner onto a given substrate. Drums are often the determining component of quality. Because a drum is a carrier of the image, the ultimate quality of the printed piece is limited by the drum. Therefore a higher quality drum will output a better looking printed piece than a drum of lower quality or a drum that is worn out.
The Fuser
A fuser unit is essentially a finely tuned heater. The purpose of the fuser is to apply a specific amount of heat to the printed sheet in order to melt the toner and cause it to meld to the sheet. The fuser is the component that fuses the image to the substrate. A fuser can cause image quality problems in multiple ways, the most common of which is underfusing. Toner that is not properly fused can sometimes flake off or even just fall right off. Fusers that are overactive are much less common but can be a big problem, you can see scorching of the toner which will affect color quality. In some extreme cases an overactive fuser can burn the paper.
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