The prototype design used a carriage assembly constructed from steel rods that were assembled using connectors that can be printed on an FDM machine. The entire carriage system is driven along the x-axis by a belt attached to a stepper motor. The print cartridge, taken from an HP point of sale printer, is driven along the y-axis by another stepper motor belt drive. The electronic controls use an Arduino Mega to run all of the printing systems.
The design resulted in a working prototype that fulfills all of the design constraints. The rod frame carriage design is lightweight, easy to assemble and easy to integrate with the other systems. The Arduino used in the electronics has a large library of resources available to perform things like LCD, SD card, and stepper control.
Areas where future work should be focused include making molds and casting printable parts to bring down the overall cost, developing host side software, and optimizing the speed.
Read the blog post and see the project’s Flickr set the Thingiverse thing.
[Via Dangerous Prototypes]
17 thoughts on “DIY Open Source Inkjet Printer”
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I’ve been waiting for an open source hardware inkjet printer for a while now. The Epson, HP, Brother, etc. cheap printer, expensive ink racket has to be brought to sanity. I really hope this thing takes off. Keep us posted if there is a kickstarter profile launched around this.
I’ve been waiting for an open source hardware inkjet printer for a while now. The Epson, HP, Brother, etc. cheap printer, expensive ink racket has to be brought to sanity. I really hope this thing takes off. Keep us posted if there is a kickstarter profile launched around this.
I’ve been waiting for an open source hardware inkjet printer for a while now. The Epson, HP, Brother, etc. cheap printer, expensive ink racket has to be brought to sanity. I really hope this thing takes off. Keep us posted if there is a kickstarter profile launched around this.
POS printers are thermal not inkjet – they use a thermal print head and a special heat sensitive paper. (try heating a receipt…)
Not all POS printers are thermal. There are some which use this HP C6602A inkjet head.
POS printers are thermal not inkjet – they use a thermal print head and a special heat sensitive paper. (try heating a receipt…)
POS printers are thermal not inkjet – they use a thermal print head and a special heat sensitive paper. (try heating a receipt…)
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I strongly support open source hardware and software. Great way to increase and share knowledge.
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I strongly support open source hardware and software. Great way to increase and share knowledge.
http://www.youshine.com.au
would be more interesting to see an opensource printhead. but that sounds very complicated.
I’m sick and tired of printer firm’s ink cartridge renewal ripoff. There must be a huge demand for a simple B&W printer capable of using generic handicrafts-shop bottled ink. I’d love to see a startup to give it a go. Most important?:
o like emergency calls on your phone, you should ALWAYS be able to print B&W
o no ink expiry.
o no cartridge replacement, just ink refill
Just now hearing of this, three years later. This is great!
Anyone know of any later projects? Maybe some which built upon this one, and improved it?
also I would love to make one of these