Blog

Lithography style printing has existed since the 200s CE, using carvings in wood to stamp the text or image onto the page. The printing press existed for centuries in China before Johannes Gutenberg adapted it in the 1450s. 

But what about the modern printer? Learn all about the science behind the modern printing machine as we dive into the different types of printing.

Types of Printing

The different types of printing used today are lithography, screen printing, thermal printing, and digital printing, which includes both inkjet printing and laser printing.

Lithographic printing methods all involve contact between a stencil or template and the printing surface. Digital printing is a much newer invention, as it involves programming and computer code.

Offset Lithography

Newspapers and bulk posters are often printed using the offset lithography printing machine. The ink is transferred to a rubber layer, or “offset” before you print it onto the material. This allows you to print on any flat surface, but usually paper.

First, you apply the image to the printing plate, which you then cover in water before applying ink. You then transfer the ink to a rubber roller before transferring it to the paper.

The science behind this is that oil and water repel one another. The ink is oil-based, so only those areas on the template will be coated with ink, and the rest of the plate will be blank, thanks to the water.

Then, you transfer the ink to the rubber roller before printing it onto your surface. This can be time-consuming for color prints since you can only use one color of ink at a time or per roller.

Digital Printing

Digital printing machines involve the use of a dot matrix computer code. The two different kinds are laser printing and inkjet printing.

Laser printing uses positive and negative charges or ions to selectively target areas on the paper to receive toner, a powdered ink. As the positively charged paper rolls over the negatively charged toner, the laser targets areas on the toner roll and changes them to a positive charge. Only the negatively charged parts of the toner stick to the paper. 

You need different rolls of toner to create different colors, so you repeat the process for color images. Then, it goes through a fuser unit which melts the toner particles and fuses them to the paper to create the finished image.

For inkjet printing, there is a computer chip attached to the black or color ink cartridges that translate the digital file into a series of dots. As the printer ink cartridges move back and forth across the paper, the ink is heated at the right moments to release the dots of ink onto the paper to create the image.

While you could learn all about how to print your own posters and labels, you could just leave it to the professional printing services in your area. Find more information here about professional printing, mailing, and fulfillment services that take care of these details for you.

How Does a Printing Machine Work?

We hope you enjoyed learning about how different printing machines work! Check out our other business blog articles for more about how technology has changed the way we do business!