Printing Speed - Printronix P4280-CT Setup Manual

Printing Speed

The speed of text printing is measured in lines per minute (lpm). This speed
is directly proportional to the number of dot rows required to produce a
character line, regardless of the number of characters in the line. Since more
dot rows are required to print lowercase characters with descenders, those
character lines will print at a fractionally lower rate.
The P4280–CT printer also prints dot–addressable graphic images. The speed
of graphics plotting is measured in inches per minute (ipm). Unidirectional
plotting produces slightly better print quality, and takes about twice as long
as bidirectional plotting. You can select either plotting mode from the control
panel.
Printing and plotting rates also vary according to the print mode you select.
Print mode refers to the way you instruct the printer to create characters. If,
for example, you select near letter quality (NLQ) mode, the printer uses more
dot rows to form characters than if you choose high speed (HS) mode.
Character formation and print speed are faster in HS mode because the
P4280–CT uses fewer dot rows to form characters. Vertical dot density is
thus a factor in printing speed. Nominal printing rates are charted in
Appendix A.
Dot
Row
1
2
3
4
5
Character
6
Line
7
8
9
10
11
12
1
2
*
* *
B–2
Direction of shuttle movement
Start
*
* *
Space
1 Hammer
Print Span
Used for lowercase descender only
Used for underline and lowercase descender
Figure B–2. Line Matrix Printing
Paper
Advances
Paper
Advances
1 Hammer
Print Span
Line Matrix Printing
Paper
Feed