13.3.11 Practice Questions

Inkjet printers are popular for small businesses because they provide good quality printouts. However, fuzzy lines can appear in artwork, or colored areas in images can sometimes start and stop before they should. Which of the following should you do when this happens?

> Calibrate the printer Explanation: Calibration ensures that the printhead and paper are properly aligned so that printouts are aligned and clear, avoiding fuzzy lines or colored areas that sometimes start and stop before they should. The feeder or rollers can become jammed, but a jammed feeder or rollers do not affect the printed image's misalignment, which can cause fuzzy lines or other issues. Clean the printhead if the printout looks smudged or blotchy or if a specific color is missing. Replace ink cartridges in a timely manner to avoid dried ink and blocked printheads.

Inkjet printers spray microscopic dots of ink with precise, controlled movement. Which of the following components carries the printhead back and forth during a print job?

> Carriage assembly Explanation: The carriage assembly carries the printhead and ink cartridges back and forth with precise, controlled movement during a print job. The duplexing assembly is an optional printer attachment that automatically turns over paper and reroutes it back through the printer for two-sided printing. Plastic or rubber rollers tightly pinch the paper and move it through the printing process. The stepper motor helps move the carriage back and forth and advances the paper rollers one print line at a time.

Which of the following is a type of printer that is considered very noisy because it hits the printhead on the paper?

> Dot matrix Explanation: The hitting action of the printhead on the paper is the reason that impact printers are noisy. Laser, Inkjet, and thermal printers do not hit the paper with the printhead and are less noisy than a dot matrix printer.

Which of the following dot matrix printer components converts impulses into physical movements that cause small hammers to strike the printhead?

> Electromagnet Explanation: An electromagnet converts the impulses into physical movements, causing small hammers to appropriately strike the printhead. The logic board generates a series of electric impulses that are sent to the electromagnet. A daisy wheel is a type of impact printer printhead. A tractor feed helps ensure that continuous paper is fed through the printer at a consistent rate.

Which of the following is the ONLY type of printer that can print multi-part forms that use carbon paper?

> Impact printer Explanation: The only printer that can handle multi-part forms using carbonless or carbon paper is an impact printer, as the printhead physically strikes the surface. A laser printer, Inkjet printer, or thermal printer cannot print forms with carbon paper because these types of printers do not physically strike the surface.

Your company needs to print a lot of high-quality black-and-white text documents. These documents need to be printed as quickly and inexpensively as possible. The printer must also have the capacity to perform duplex printing. Which of the following printers BEST meets your company's printing requirements?

> Laser Explanation: Although laser printers might cost more to purchase, in the long run, the cost to print black-and-white text (with occasional graphics) is less per page than with an Inkjet printer. Many Inkjet printers also use duplexing assemblies to print two-sided paper and cost less to purchase. But the cost to print black-and-white text is less with a laser printer. Thermal printers typically cost more to purchase and require specialty materials, making them more expensive than a laser printer for the type of work that this company requires. Dot matrix printers are inexpensive, but they are slow, do not offer two-sided printing, and have a low-quality output.

Which type of printer uses a drum, plastic toner, and fuser to create a printed page?

> Laser Explanation: Laser printers use a laser to charge a metal drum. The drum picks up plastic toner, and the toner is then fused onto the paper (using rollers and heat). Dot matrix printers use an inked ribbon. The printing mechanism strikes the ribbon to put ink onto the paper. A dye sublimation printer is a non-impact printer that uses film-embedded dye. Inkjet printers are quiet non-impact printers that store ink in a reservoir.

Which component in a laser printer prepares the photosensitive drum for writing by causing the drum to receive a negative electrostatic charge?

> Primary corona Explanation: The primary corona (also called the main corona or the charge corona) prepares the photosensitive drum for writing by causing the drum to receive a negative electrostatic charge. Depending on the printer, the primary corona is either wires or rollers. The organic photoconductor (OPC) drum is just another name for the photosensitive drum. The transfer corona (sometimes called the secondary corona) charges the paper to attract the toner. Fusing rollers attach the toner to the paper by pressing and melting the paper.

Which of the following is the feed assembly on a thermal printer that is used to move the paper through the printer?

> Rubber platen Explanation: Thermal printer technology is simple. The feed assembly is a rubber roller, or platen, that grabs the paper and passes it through the printer. A spring device applies pressure to the paper so that the paper always touches the printhead as it passes through. The unwind spindle only holds a roll of labels or paper and does not move. A thermal printer does not have a stepper motor like an Inkjet printer. A thermal printer does not have a paper feeder like a dot matrix printer.

Jeremy has just purchased an entry-level filament 3D printer to create three-dimensional game accessories. He has just printed his first game piece, but there are problems with adhesion between the filament layers, and the final piece is slightly warped. Which of the following BEST provides the solution to Jeremy's issues?

> Use a heated bed Explanation: The best solution for Jeremy's issues is to use a heated build bed. Using a heated bed helps control the cooling process and prevents issues like poor adhesion to the bed, poor adhesion between layers, and warping from uneven or early cooling. While the following solutions do not provide the best solutions for Jeremy's issues, these solutions do provide fixes for other 3D printing issues: - Calibrating the extruder ensures that the printer is depositing the correct amount of filament every time. - Calibrating the build platform ensures that you get even layers in your build by leveling your platform. - Calibrating the stepper motors ensures that rotations are correct for each layer.