Xerox Phaser 8560MFP Evaluator Guide 17
Section 3: Inside a Solid Ink Printing System
Overview
Look inside the Phaser 8560MFP multifunction printer and you’ll find a surpris-
ingly simple printing mechanism for such a powerful printer.
In simplest terms, to
make a print, a printhead applies ink droplets, constituting a printed image, onto a rapidly
rotating, heated drum. The image is transferred directly off the drum onto a sheet of paper.
The final print is completely dry since the ink solidifies as soon as it transfers to the paper.
Advantages
Drum
Maintenance Roller
Drum Maintenance
Pivot Plate
Drum Maintenance
Camshaft
Blade
Oil On Drum
Preparing to print.
As the printing process begins,
the long-life maintenance roller quickly applies a
microscopic layer of silicone oil to the heated drum
for reliable ink release.
• A simple, robust, reliable printing mechanism
• Maintenance roller lasts up to 30,000 prints (in
Extended Maintenance Kit)
• No complex consumables
Jet Stack
Reservoir
Purge Tube
Drum
Printhead
Printhead
Driver Board
Single pass imaging.
Next, the full-width printhead
applies all colors at the same time on the rotating
drum.
• High-speed image transfer
• Simultaneous application of all colors eliminates
misregistration of separate cyan, magenta, yellow,
and black image layers
Image transfer.
A sheet of paper is rapidly fed
between the drum and a transfix roller, transferring
the ink to the paper.
• High-speed image transfer
• A short, simple paper path for speed and high
reliability
• Transfer printing process yields great print quality
on a wide variety of papers
• No fuser required
Preheater
Transfix Roller
Paper P
ath
Drum
Drum Heater
Ink bonding.
As the ink on the drum transfers to the
paper, it penetrates the paper’s fibers, but without
the spreading of liquid ink-jets or the toner scatter-
ing of laser. The ink cools and solidifies immediately,
forming a strong, permanent bond to the paper.
• Colorfast printing with no smearing or
drying time
• More consistent color quality on a
wider range of media than liquid ink-jet
or color laser
Exit Sensor
Preheat Exit Sensor
Preheat Entry
(Deskew) Sensor
Transfix Roller
Paper Preheater
Strip
Sensor
Paper Exit Sensor
Exit Module Elevator
Two-sided output.
For automatic two-sided output,
after the first side is printed, the paper is fed back
across the drum through the duplex paper path. The
second image on the drum
is transferred to the other side of the sheet
of paper.
• A simple, short, built-in duplex paper path means
faster two-sided output and fewer paper jams
• No additional paper tray required
Ink Loader
Ink Stick
Ink Melt
Units
Ink Low Sensors
Ink Out Sensors
Printhead
Reloading.
The ink loader draws ink from mess-free
solid ink sticks instead of a single-use toner cartridge.
Ink can be replaced or added at any time without
taking the printer offline.
• Easy, on-the-fly ink stick reloading for
continuous operation
• Ink loader can be “topped off” before long, high-
coverage print jobs to avoid interruptions
• More environmentally friendly; less waste packag-
ing, less waste ink by-products
