In the daily work, most of people often mention a word “ pass ”. How to understand “ pass “ in the parameter of inkjet printer ?

As for “ pass”, This is a confusing problem for everyone. What does it mean , 4pass, 8pass, 16 pass for inkjet printer

“ pass ” means through in English. Does it also mean “ through” in printing equipment ? The answer is No. In the printing industry, pass means the printing times that picture be finished.( Cover times in unit square meter ). More times passes, slower speed, quality is better, otherwise it is opposite. Usually, 4 pass and 6 pass are very common during inkjet printer equipment. For example, if printing one 4 pass picture, each point need to be covered 4 times, usually picture can improve picture quality by adding pass times. Pass means the times of printing operation in the same place when it complete a picture. This is the printing way of print head , 4 pass means 4 times, you can conclude others.

It is pass that the times of printing ink for final printing area. Different pass times have different overlapping relationship and showing different colors. There are optional control choices on related  printer or printer control software, like Mei Tu Eco Solvent Printer---Maintop printing software,

users can use machine to print by setting “ pass ” according to requirement, it can make eco solvent printer to print perfect picture effect.

There is standard pass times for each machine, such as 4 pass, 6 pass and seldom 8 pass. It will affect color by reducing or increasing pass times. The fewer pass times, the faster printing speed. If you just focus on printing speed, you can reduce pass times. The pass times of  high quality picture for normal machine:  Novajet750—3 pass, 4 pass  Mimaki--- 4 pass   Epson---6 pass

These are related with printing quality: width of print head, the amount of nozzle, the size of nozzle etc. These are hardwares of printing. Pass is the concept that the printing resolution is divided into few pieces. For example, the print head with 180 nozzle has to print 4 times for reaching to 360DPI.. If you need 720DPI, print 8 pass. Like Epson DX5 Print Head, the width of nozzle hole is 1 inch. When print head has 360 nozzle for each single color, 1 pass can reach to 360DPI according to above. The speed must be fast. When Epson print, this is the printing speed that media is normal paper. By software control, pass times should be adjusted to more than 2 pass to ensure output quality.

Pass is related to resolution, different printing resolution with different pass times.

Edit by Gavin