Xerox 8550 Printer User Manual


 
2-8 Phaser 8400/8500/8550/8560 Color Printer Service Manual
Theory of Operation
The Printhead’s jet stack is fabricated from a stack of chemically etched steel
plates which are brazed together to form the jet array. Channels formed by the
stacked plates route ink past the 1236 individual, piezo-electric crystal-driven
diaphragms, which force the ink in droplets out the 1236 corresponding
nozzles. Looking at the Printhead face, the nozzles are arranged in 12 rows,
in color order KYKYKYCMCMCM, where K = black, Y = yellow, C = cyan, and
M = magenta. During the printing process, the Printhead would only have to
travel approximately 14 pixels horizontally to provide complete coverage.
However, the Printhead travels much further, depending on print resolution, to
interlace each jet with the output of neighboring jets.
The jet array bonds to a cast aluminum ink reservoir, which supplies the
molten ink to the jet array. Heaters in the reservoir and the jet array maintain
the ink at a printing temperature of about 60 degrees centigrade.
Black
Yellow
Cyan
Magenta
Ink Loader
Printhead
Ink
Funnel Filter
Purge Valve
s8500-013
Level Sense Probe