What is the difference (strengths & weaknesses) between Grayscale and Binary print heads?
A. Up till now UV inkjet printers have all used Binary print-heads. Binary print heads deliver a single drop of ink normally which ranges from 28 pico-litres to 80 pico-litres. The real benefit of a binary system is the size of the droplets makes it ideal for multiple pass technology as these droplets are big enough not to be deflected by air turbulence created as the print carriage or print bed move from side to side / in and out. Grayscale print head deliver a much smaller droplet which can join together in flight before hitting the substrate. Up till now these print heads have been used primarily for single pass processes, where the smaller drops produce finer text, smoother graduations, more vivid colours and better image quality. The main limitation is cost which limits the number of grayscale print-heads which can be economically used to produce a single pass wide format printer. Therefore, a multiple pass process is required and as these smaller droplets can be easily deflected
