Printers for Dummies (me)

[ladybiker711]

Ok, at the risk of appearing to be a complete imbicile....I'm wondering if anyone else would find it helpful to have a link (maybe under FAQ's) about printer terminology. A sticky would be nice.
I am truly a newbie to trying to refill my cartridges for my own personal use and some of the terms just throw me.....example- printer head, nozzel (where they heck are they?) and purge pads to name a few.
I'm sure this is elementary to most here so please bear with us novices.
So if anyone has time on their hands I know I would greatly appreciate just some basic explanations of what these things are and where they're located. If there's already info here, I apologize in advance for not searching for it. I did try to find a definitions list but was unable to find it.
I appreciate the great depth of knowledge here and btw, I have managed to completely unstick that sticky 220 Canon pigment cartridge.
Thanks again for your good work!

 

[websnail]

I'll get you started...

Printhead : This is the business end of the printer and holds all the nozzles (see below).. It moves back and forth across the paper and delivers the ink to the paper. The printhead can be fixed (ie: non-removable) as often seen in an Epson, part of the cartridge unit (as usually seen with HP deskjets or very low end Canons) or as a separate removable unit as seen with many higher end Canon Pixma printers (eg: iP4700)

Nozzle(s) : These are the tiny holes though which ink jets out onto the paper. The process of jetting is different between printers but I won't bore you with that

Waste Pads : (My speciality ) are essentially the printer nappy, usually in the base of the printer. These pads are highly absorbent and store any ink pulled or pushed through the nozzles as part of a cleaning routine.

Purge Pads : [added] As pointed out by JRU, the purge pads are small foam like pads that sit under the printhead when it's resting/parked and help with cleaning/priming of the printhead.

There's plenty more but hopefully that gets you started off...

Next!!

 

[jru]

I'll add some to the great primer websnail gave.
(Correct me if I'm wrong):

The nozzles are in the printhead.
The cartridges that hold the ink supply sit on top of the printhead.
The purge pads sit underneath the cartridge/printhead unit when it is in the "parked" position (where it returns to after it has been printing).
Any other terms or questions?

 

[ladybiker711]

Thank you...that's enough to keep me busy for a bit.
I'm sure I'll have more questions as more problems arise