Economists value the global printer market at $42.35 billion. Innovation among the best commercial printers drives that value. Part of the value-add comes from organizations motivated to choose the printer best suited to the job.
What types of commercial printers will get the work done? Explore the types of commercial printers and learn which ones are best for you.
Types of Commerical Printers: Technology Categories
Printing technology is the mechanism by which an image or document is transferred to a new space–typically to paper or cloth. There are ten key printing technologies.
Laser Printers
Laser printers create imagers by using a laser to create a pattern of electrostatically charged dots. The printer etches the dot pattern onto a light-sensitive drum.
The dot pattern attracts different colors of toner (powdered pigment). The toner transfers and affixes to paper with high heat.
Laser printers are often used for bulk black-and-white printing. They are much faster than inkjet printing.
Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers distribute small droplets of ink through jets onto print media. The ink droplets recreate the digital image in a series of small dots. You can use different types of liquid inks or chemical droplets for different results.
It is one of the most common printer types. It can be used for screenprinting and printing on vinyl as well as paper.
Inkjet printers are sometimes used for dye sublimation. But, in other cases, designers use designated sublimation printing to print on fabric.
LED UV Printers
UV printers use UV ink (rather than typical ink cartridges or toner.) They can also use photochromic dyes. UV printers distribute ink onto a surface similarly to inkjet printers.
But, LED UV printers are faster, use less energy, and run at a lower heat than their inkjet counterparts. UV light in the printer cures and affixes the ink nearly the instant it’s laid down.
This energy-efficient process prevents the ink from running.
Thermal Printers
There are two types of thermal printers. You might use direct thermal printers or thermal wax transfer printers.
Bother types of thermal printers use a heated print-head pressed against a print medium to produce text or images.
Direct thermal printers must be used with thermal paper, which has a thermochromic coating. Receipt printers are typically direct thermal.
Thermal wax transfer printers use wax or resin ink ribbons. The heated print-head melts the wax, enabling color printing onto different mediums.
Offset Lithography Printers
Offset lithography is a print process that utilizes metal plates bearing the image. Rollers or rubber blankets then transfer the inked plates to the print media.
Offset lithography is typically used for mass production. The two types of lithography printers are sheet-fed offset printers and web offset printers.
Sheet-fed printers print onto discrete sheets of paper. Web offset printers print onto a large, single roll.
Flexographic Printers
Flexographic printing is similar to lithography. But, flexographic printers use a flexible relief plate instead of a metal one.
This enables the printer to print images on a range of product materials in addition to paper. It can even print on uneven surfaces.
Printing Format Categories
A professional printer will need to choose a printing format. There are two printing format categories. You might need the wide-format or the vertical format.
Wide-format printing can generate large images, ranging from two to fifteen feet in width.
Vertical-format printing prints a document vertically rather than horizontally. Horizontal printing is the default. Vertical-format printing is used for labels.
Other Printer Categories
When researching commercial printer types, you might encounter categories that are neither technological nor format-oriented. The following printer types may use diverse formats and technologies:
- Digital printers
- All-in-One (multifunction) printers
- Supertank printers
If you utilize professional printing services, the service may use one of these printer types to serve multiple customer needs at once.
Business, Lifestyle, and Beyond
It’s wise to learn about all the diverse types of commercial printers before you choose one for your workspace.
Want to learn more insider information, tips, and tricks to elevate your business—or your lifestyle? Explore more articles in our content library.
