See Solid Ink products
Solid Ink
It's time to rethink your ink
Solid Ink is an innovative,
award-winning
colour printing technology available only from Xerox. It was invented in 1986 in the Tek Labs and first brought to market in 1991.
News and Reviews
| Publication | Quote/Award | Date |
|---|---|---|
 BERTL | Xerox-proprietary solid ink technology received the 2011 BERTL's Best award for Best Eco-Friendly Ink Technology. With solid ink's cartridge-free design and minimal packaging, there is less to manufacture, no empty toner cartridges to dispose of or recycle, and less storage space required than comparable laser devices. In fact, solid ink printers and multifunction printers produce 90 percent less waste during use than comparable laser devices. | October 11, 2011 |
BERTL | BERTL awarded the ColorQube 9300 Series multifunction printer a 5-Star "Exceptional" rating, noting the device's vibrant image quality, fast print and copy productivity and excellent ease of use. BERTL also noted the ColorQube 9300 Series Hybrid Color Plan enables monochrome and useful color pages at the same cost per page. | October 2011 |
Xerox Solid Ink is easy to use and produces stunning colour print quality. It also:
- Generates up to 90% less printing waste than comparable colour laser printers.
- Enables an incredibly low total cost of ownership.
Learn about Solid Ink's:
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history
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History
1946
Tektronix is founded in 1946 in Portland, Oregon. In addition to oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and video testing equipment, they make imaging and printing technologies.1986
Tektronix embarks on a journey to solve the No. 1 customer complaint about colour printing: high page costs.1986-1991
Tektronix experiments with thermal inkjet with aqueous (water-based) ink limitations. And Piezo inkjet, which was the basis of Solid Ink waterless inkjet technology and causes fewer issues like show-through or paper curl. -
History
1991
Tektronix launches its first Solid Ink product: Tektronix Phaser III. It prints about 1 page per minute in brilliant, graphic arts-quality colour and is wildly successful.1999
Tektronix conceptualizes its first tabloid/A3-size Solid Ink product.2000
Xerox acquires the Colour Printing and Imaging Division of Tektronix. -
History
2005
The first letter-sized/A4 Solid Ink multifunction printer, the WorkCentre C2424, enters the marketplace.2007
Xerox introduces the Phaser 8860 Solid Ink printer, which produces colour pages for the same price as black and white.2009
The world’s first tabloid/SRA3-sized Solid Ink multifunction printer, the ColorQube 9200 series, enables flexible pricing plans so customers don’t pay a lot for a little colour on a page. -
History
Present
More than 1 million Solid Ink machines are in use today, serving thousands of customers who produce more than 6 billion pages each year. Every year, Xerox works to lower running costs while improving performance and quality. Though Solid Ink technology originally was developed for the graphic arts market, it quickly appealed to general office users because of its simplicity and ease of use for everyone.
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- sustainability
- running cost advantage
The Ink
To really understand what makes Solid Ink technology extraordinary, you have to start with the ink itself.
Solid Ink is formulated from a non-toxic, resin-based polymer, similar to a crayon. Solid Ink sticks are safe to handle and cannot spill, leak or smudge on your clothes.
Stringent manufacturing ensures colours are consistent from stick to stick and page to page. 100% of all ink is inspected.
Watch how simple it is to load Solid Ink sticks.
The cyan, magenta, yellow and black Solid Ink sticks are clearly numbered and specially shaped so they drop into the correct slots for easy loading.
You can load multiple Solid Ink sticks for long, uninterrupted printing and "top off" the ink at any time.
Because of Solid Ink’s cartridge-free design, its packaging is small enough to easily fit in your desk drawer. And there is no cartridge to deplete or dispose of.
The printing technology
Once the Solid Ink sticks are in the machine, the true alchemy happens.
This is when Solid Ink changes from a solid to a liquid and back in seconds, and everyday paper transforms into rich-looking documents.
The Solid Ink printing process works similar to a mini offset press and consistently prints vibrant images on virtually any paper, including recycled paper.
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Preparing to Print
The long-life maintenance roller quickly applies a microscopic layer of silicone oil to the heated drum for reliable ink release.
Advantages:- A simple, robust, reliable printing mechanism.
- Maintenance roller lasts tens of thousands of pages and only needs to be replaced a few times during the printer’s life.
- No other complex consumables.
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Ink Bonding
As the ink on the drum transfers to the paper, it penetrates the paper’s fibers, but without the spreading of liquid inkjets or the toner scattering of laser. The ink cools and solidifies immediately, forming a strong, permanent bond to the paper. Total time for the print process: as little as 5 seconds.
Advantages:- Colourfast printing: no drying time or smearing.
- More consistent colour quality on a wider range of media than liquid inkjet or colour laser.
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Two-sided printing
The sheet of paper is not fully ejected into the exit tray but is fed back into the printer through the duplex paper path. The print process repeats with the second image on the drum transferred to the other side of the sheet of paper.
Advantages:- A short duplex paper path means faster two-sided printing.
- Fewer paper jams.
- No additional paper tray required.
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Reloading
The ink loader draws ink from Solid Ink sticks instead of a self-contained toner cartridge. Ink can be replaced or added at any time.
Advantages:- Easy, on-the-fly reloading allows for continuous operation.
- Ink loader can be "topped off" before long, high-coverage print jobs to avoid interruptions.
- Environmentally responsible: less waste packaging and ink byproducts.
The difference
Solid Ink's true advantages are in its differences from laser and inkjet technologies. Here's where Solid Ink is strong:
More consistent print quality page after page and on any media, including recycled paper.
(available in English only)
Easier to use with no cartridges to load and unload, and no mess.
Less waste with no cartridges to dispose of, and far less packaging.
Low run cost compared with colour laser printing technology.
(available in English only)
No paper curling or wrinkling that often plagues inkjet and colour laser printers.
Faster than inkjet technology.
No special paper needed, unlike some inkjet printers.
Prints a wider range of colours than most colour laser devices.
Fewer parts so less can go wrong.
Other manufacturers don't know how to compete with Solid Ink and may spread misinformation about it.
Sustainability
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Compared with colour laser printing technology, Solid Ink generates up to 90% less printing waste because there are no cartridges to dispose of and less packaging to add to landfills.
The cartridge-free design and minimal packaging also result in:- less to manufacture
- less storage space
- better transportation efficiency
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Watch a video about Solid Ink's environmental benefits.
"Solid Ink was born here in Oregon, and we take our commitment to the environment very seriously."
–Jim Rise, president, Xerox North American Resellers, also known as "The Father of Solid Ink" -
If 1 million ColorQube multifunction printers replaced 1 million laser devices, then:
It could provide a year's worth of electricity to enough homes to house the entire population of San Francisco.
It would be like 450,000 cars had been taken off the road.
A pile of laser consumable garbage that would have stretched around the world would be eliminated.
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Not only is Solid Ink cartridge-free, but it is certified to contain 30% bio-derived renewable material by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM).The packaging is made from post-consumer waste. The tray is made from 100% recycled content and the box is 45% recycled content. 100% of the packaging can be recycled locally.
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Solid Ink prints beautifully on plain paper and recycled paper, including Xerox Business Recycled Paper.
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The Solid Ink printing process was designed to be as efficient as possible:
The imaging process produces nearly 100% ink-to-page transfer.
Easy-to-use EarthSmart print driver settings let you select the most environmentally conscious print options.
Intelligent Ready technology helps you optimize energy usage by learning your workgroup's usage patterns and moving to low-power mode during downtime. -
Solid Ink printers meet stringent criteria to receive qualifications from ENERGY STAR and EcoLogo.
Learn more about Solid Ink's environmental benefits:
(available in English only)
(available in English only)
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Some solid ink products have been shown to have a lower total lifetime energy investment than comparable laser printing devices. Total lifetime energy includes the energy invested over the printer's life cycle in raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, customer use, and end-of-life disposition.
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Saving paper
GreenPrint software comes bundled for free with Solid Ink printers. It automatically detects unnecessary pages, such as those with only a web address, and lets you select the pages you need to print, helping you reduce paper and ink usage.
Choose duplex (two-sided) printing to further reduce paper consumption by using both sides of a page.
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See how Solid Ink technology helps organizations achieve their sustainability goals.
(available in English only)
Medical Mutual of Ohio knows Xerox ColorQube is right for their business, the environment and their members. (available in English only)
Print more colour for less
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Cartridge-free Solid Ink lowers running costs by drastically reducing the number of items customers must replace. That's why we're able to offer colour page prices for less."The (Solid Ink) writing system is much less complicated compared to Xerography with fewer moving components and fewer replaceable supplies, which translates to the potential for lower overall operating costs."
– InfoTrends
(available in English only)
If you print lots of colour pages, Xerox solid ink printers and multifunction printers can help you realize a significant savings on 70% of the colour pages you print every day. You get exceptional value, with a total cost of ownership that's hard to beat.
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If you like the simplicity of metered billing, then the Hybrid Colour Plan is for you. It classifies documents based on the actual amount of colour used. You'll no longer pay full-colour prices for low-colour documents.
The three tiers of the Hybrid Colour Plan:
Black + Useful Colour.Billed at the black-only rate.
Everyday Colour.Billed at slightly more than the black-only rate.
Expressive Colour.Billed at the current market rate for colour.
Hybrid Colour Plans are available on these products: -
Typical office document colour distribution
Office colour documents can be classified by the amount of colour used. According to Xerox research, the breakdown of colour documents in a typical office environment is:
30% Useful Colour
Black + Useful Colour.Billed at the black-only rate.
Hybrid Colour Plans are available on these products: -
Typical office document colour distribution
Office colour documents can be classified by the amount of colour used. According to Xerox research, the breakdown of colour documents in a typical office environment is:
40% Everyday
Everyday Colour.Billed at slightly more than the black-only rate.
Hybrid Colour Plans are available on these products: -
Typical office document colour distribution
Office colour documents can be classified by the amount of colour used. According to Xerox research, the breakdown of colour documents in a typical office environment is:
30% Expressive Colour
Expressive Colour.Billed at the current market rate for colour.
Hybrid Colour Plans are available on these products: -
Use these tools to see how much you could save with a ColorQube Hybrid Colour Plan.
ColorQube 9300 Series 
ColorQube A4/letter-size MFP
Hybrid Colour Plans are available on these products: -
Pay as you go with:
If you prefer to buy Solid Ink sticks when you need them without being on a metered contract, consider paying as you go. You'll get colour for the same price as black and white.
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See how our customers are saving money with Solid Ink.
Medical Mutual of Ohio does more for their members by increasing efficiency and lowering printing costs.
(available in English only)
Xerox ColorQube 9300 series Steyr case study
Case study: (available in English only)
Ease of Use
See how ColorQube wows the printing industry.
With Solid Ink printers, there are no big, bulky print cartridges, or fusers, fuser oil or imaging units like you would find in a typical colour laser printer.
Besides Solid Ink sticks, the only other replaceable item is a maintenance roller/cleaning unit, which lasts for tens of thousands of pages and only needs to be replaced a few times throughout the life of your device. You can replace this yourself without making a service call, unlike many laser printer parts.Print Quality
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Solid Ink prints vivid, vibrant colour on every document, every day.
Each Solid Ink stick is quality checked to ensure consistent colour, and the printing process delivers a more consistent dot shape to the page.
Solid Ink fills the gaps in paper or printing media to create a new surface. That's why it prints well even on inexpensive and recycled papers.
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With Solid Ink, you can:
- Print a wider range of colours than with most laser printers.
- Produce the smoothest blends and gradients—even tricky mid-tones like sky and skin.
Because Solid Ink is not water-based:- There's no drying time.
- There's no thin media show-through or media curl.
- It's not affected by temperature and humidity.
- It doesn't require intense heat during the printing process.
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High-quality colour matching tools ensure accuracy:
Colour by Words, available on some models, lets you choose colour modifications from an easy drop-down list.
Built-in PANTONE® calibrated spot-colour correction tables
Exclusive Xerox colour tables
Embedded RIP - Postscript, PCL, XPS, PDF, JPG, TIFF -
"Print quality produced from Xerox's solid ink technology is very good and the engine technology is quite reliable. In fact, one of the advantages that Xerox has over its liquid ink competitors is the fact that solid ink technology already has a proven track record in the workgroup environment."– InfoTrends
See —and feel— the print quality for yourself.
