Solid ink printing in its current form is a fairly new technology. Although the first solid ink printer was released in 1991 by Tektronix, the technology has been significantly refined in recent years and is only now starting to gain widespread adoption.

Early versions of solid ink printers used a printhead that printed directly onto the paper, similar to an inkjet printer. This caused many problems. First, the printhead was so heavy that shuffling the printhead back and forth across the page would cause the entire printer to rock back and forth. Second, the ink drops from one pass would often not line up correctly with another pass, causing inaccuracies. Lastly, this system relied on combining two color droplets to achieve some colors, and the order of combining caused color inaccuracies.

Modern solid ink printers use a different method of printing. The solid ink sticks are melted at a temperature of 135 degrees Celsius. The molten ink is then sprayed onto a drum rather than the paper itself. The drum is the rolled across the paper and the ink is transferred directly onto the page. When the ink is sprayed onto the drum, it can be sprayed much more accurately than it can be sprayed onto a page, and spraying onto the drum allows the ink to change from its molten state into a semi-solid state, which is more malleable and more easily transferred to paper. This also allows for quicker drying, as the paper is completely dry and ready to use by the time it comes out of the printer.

This process also improves color clarity because the ink is not wet when it contacts the paper. Rather than soaking into the paper, it fuses to the paper. Wet ink is often slightly absorbed into the paper, affecting the color. This is not the case with solid ink technology.

Solid ink printing in its current form is a fairly new technology. Although the first solid ink printer was released in 1991 by Tektronix, the technology has been significantly refined in recent years and is only now starting to gain widespread adoption.

Early versions of solid ink printers used a printhead that printed directly onto the paper, similar to an inkjet printer. This caused many problems. First, the printhead was so heavy that shuffling the printhead back and forth across the page would cause the entire printer to rock back and forth. Second, the ink drops from one pass would often not line up correctly with another pass, causing inaccuracies. Lastly, this system relied on combining two color droplets to achieve some colors, and the order of combining caused color inaccuracies.

Modern solid ink printers use a different method of printing. The solid ink sticks are melted at a temperature of 135 degrees Celsius. The molten ink is then sprayed onto a drum rather than the paper itself. The drum is the rolled across the paper and the ink is transferred directly onto the page. When the ink is sprayed onto the drum, it can be sprayed much more accurately than it can be sprayed onto a page, and spraying onto the drum allows the ink to change from its molten state into a semi-solid state, which is more malleable and more easily transferred to paper. This also allows for quicker drying, as the paper is completely dry and ready to use by the time it comes out of the printer.

This process also improves color clarity because the ink is not wet when it contacts the paper. Rather than soaking into the paper, it fuses to the paper. Wet ink is often slightly absorbed into the paper, affecting the color. This is not the case with solid ink technology.