Standard black-only laser printers share the same fundamental technology as color laser printers, however color laser printers face extra difficulties in order to create high-quality color documents.
How All Laser Printers Works
When you submit a document to your laser printer, the printer converts it into a bitmap image, which is an image where the printer is aware of the precise color to use for each dot. Each pixel is either empty (white) or filled if the printer only prints in black (black). For color pictures, the printer chooses the ideal ratio of its various colored toner to produce the desired color.
The imaging drum is a unique roller that the printer uses to produce a static electric charge. Toner will adhere to the roller because to the static charge. However, the printer employs a laser to imprint the bitmap picture on the roller before the toner is applied. The laser removes the static charge from the roller it imprints because the particular imaging drum roller is comprised of a substance that conducts electricity when light strikes it. The remainder of the roller is still sticky and charged. The toner reservoir in your printer is then passed by the roller. Toner is picked up by the charged (sticky) portions of the roller. The toner ultimately transfers to the paper sheet when it passes over it.
One application is required for printers that print solely in black. Each color toner for a color printer has to be applied individually by the roller. Since the majority of color laser printers use four toners, many rollers are frequently used in succession to speed up the process.
The Special Challenges of Color Laser Printers
Black-only printers have a simple process where toner is applied in one pass and then melted into the paper. However, color printers normally do four passes and then combine the ink colors. If even one of the rollers is even slightly out of line, this can develop into a major issue. When one of the rollers used to apply one of the three color toners in your printer is out of alignment, the formula used to generate the desired color won’t function, and you’ll end up with, for instance, blue instead of green.
High levels of accuracy are one of the factors driving up the price of color laser printers relative to monochrome models. Although color laser printers must be built to higher engineering standards in order to guarantee that the rollers and their lasers are built in perfect alignment and remain in perfect alignment for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pages, all laser printer technology is essentially the same.
