[open-source-ux]

"Is there a reason consumer printers haven't been disrupted.."

Xerox used to sell colour ink printers using solid ink blocks (not ink cartridges). The printer heats the solid ink blocks turning them into a viscous liquid. In case it's not obvious, the solid ink blocks don't require any cartridge encasing. They are simply slotted into ink compartments inside the printer. Here is a short video demo: https://youtu.be/cnd37wYLo-Q?t=104

The cost of the printers were high but the ink blocks worked out to be cheaper (cost-per-page) than traditional ink cartridges. The printers were aimed at business users and are no longer sold by Xerox. The reviews for these types of printer were mixed.

Do solid-ink blocks count as "disruption" to colour ink printers? Not sure, but it's the only example I know where a company attempted try something different to the colour ink cartridge model. There is simply no incentive for inkjet printer manufacturers to think afresh about cartridges, cost-per-page, refills etc.

[throwanem]

My own review is mixed. Those wax-block printers (Xerox Phaser) gave good color rendering and resolution even 20 years ago, but at the cost of waxy-feeling pages and poor thermal stability - leave a stack of printed sheets in a hot car for an hour and you'd come back to find them stuck together, and peeling them apart would leave half a given sheet's impression stuck to the back of the one on top of it. Too bad if you find this out after the client visit right before the pitch meeting where you need to hand those printouts around, and without enough time to run back to the office and make more.

[vxNsr]

Interesting, they didn’t have a way to “rasterize” the ink to the page completely.

You could take that in a different direction… find a paper that allows you to wash the ink off it, to make reusable paper…

[bzzzt]

I believe this is the same technique (dye sublimation) that Canon uses in their small photo printer range (Selphy line). Those printers work with ink sheets where the ink is transferred one color at a time (yellow, red and blue). After that, a fourth sheet containing some fixing material is printed over the photo which makes it durable. Quality is much better than comparable inkjet+photo paper solutions. But it's really expensive...

[throwanem]

Dye sublimation is a different technology - wax (or "solid ink") printers are to inkjets as crayons are to fountain pens.

[mbarbar]

This looks pretty cool, never heard of this.

>but it's the only example I know where a company attempted try something different to the colour ink cartridge model.

Epson does sell printers without cartridges (I guess the cartridge is "built-in"), and you just buy bottles and pour them into the machine. That's not innovative though, just what any sane printer manufacturer should have been doing and third parties have been doing. Kind of like selling food from a bulk bin vs. prepackaging tiny quantities in plastic.

With respect to disruption, I was using the term disruption wrong. Moreso I was thinking as to why does no one come in with something normal and consumer friendly and shake things up, force the others to play nice.

[danachow]

They are not new. Xerox bought that technology from Tektronix when they bought their printer division. They date back to the 80s and predate widespread adoption of inkjets by a few years.

[rswail]

Epson sells ecotank printers that have refillable tanks that don't require you to buy cartridges.

[abraxas]

I have one. Unfortunately mine dries out like crazy. I had it for a year and already had a major nozzle issue. And that despite being judicious about printing at least a couple of full color pages every week.