I think an open source paper cnc machine similar to a cricut would be way easier to replicate than a standard printer.
Comment on Shit like this is why we need open source printers!
einfach_orangensaft@sh.itjust.works 2 days agoYeah inkjet printers will probably never be opensource, due to the fact that the tiny nozzles are impossible to produce without owning a semiconductor fab that can build stuff in the mems realm.
Laser printers could be the way to go, they sound more complicated, but all the components needed for them are getting cheaper. A laser is focusable to a tiny spot, meaning one can use non mems elements. Basically take a laser engraver (the type with the fixed laser head and those 2 spinning mirrors), point it at a high voltage drum, lase the pattern (removes the charge from parts of the drum), add the toner power and then roll over paper. For color just replicate that x3.
I think a Opensource Black/White laser printer should be possible at a price point of maybe 600$ in components (3d printers also started out at that price point then got cheaper). I doubt it would be as quick as commercial models but it should be doable.
girsaysdoom@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
einfach_orangensaft@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
That’s a plotter, and opensource plotters do already exist. Problem with em is that they lack speed and precision to print small text.
Adalast@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You are missing a vital part of how a laser printer works. The toner is dusted onto a drum that has a static charge. That charge is manipulated by the laser, which means that there is a very specific frequency that the laser has to utilize and it has to be keyed to the material used for the drum. I would have to dig more into the specific interaction, but I am pretty sure that off the rack lasers and drums are not going to be functional, both in wattage and frequency.
So the laser printer process is: a laser traces the negative space on a drum with a static charge to discharge those spots, next a pigment substrate is dusted onto the drum, being held by the static where the positive space is going to be. Following that, a heater heats the substrate to permanently affix it to the page.
einfach_orangensaft@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Those problems still sound more easy to fix than building custom mems Inkjet nozzles at home. Lasers in all sorts of wavelengths can be bought. Putting charge on the toner is just a question of adding some high voltage. The dielectric photosensitive material on the toner transfer drum, yeah that may require some research.
Adalast@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Just letting you know that you are definitely suffering a Dunning Kruger moment. I have had to study how printers work all the way down to the electrochemical level and no paper printer is simple to make aside from a dot matrix printer. In my educated opinion I will say that you are borderline correct that a laser printer might be more feasible from a materials standpoint, neither are feasible in general for a home lab, let alone a guy at his kitchen table assembling a kit.
Laser printers and ink jet printers involve extremely complex electrochemical and physical processes to function that a home lab is going to struggle to replicate. The optics for laser printers have to be assembled in a clean room because even a single stray particle of dust will destroy the print quality for a large section of the page. Ink jet printers use tiny heaters to vaporize the ink and electric fields to propel it through a nozzle to the page. These jets are created using multilayer acid etched circuitboards that are precicely tuned for the specific inks and substrates that are used.
These are just examples of challenges to overcome, and are by no means exhaustive.
I hate the printer companies probably more than anyone here, so do not think I am a shill for them. I am articulating why what you are saying is impractical and unreasonable. Laser printers are probably easier to source most of the mechanical parts, but assembly is obscenely delicate and prohibitive. Ink jet printers are simpler to recreate and assemble, but the miniaturization required makes it impossible to do at home.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
And bottle printers? Or just the circuit board/software of an inkjet (Arduino)?