Why is cartridge alignment necessary?
Cartridge alignment is necessary for bidirectional printing. Bidirectional printing allows the printer to print on both left and right passes over a disc. This significantly increases print speed. During alignment, the print carriage scans the series of blocks it prints for the ones that line up. It then adjusts internal values accordingly. Because of unavoidable manufacturing variations from cartridge to cartridge the alignment procedure must be performed after each new cartridge to set the proper internal values for that particular cartridge.