Homebrew PCBs

When you look at the printhead mechanism, there is;

- a drive strap.
- a front and rear guide rail.
- a thin darkened transparency strip that passes between 2 'posts' behind
the printhead.

What's that thin transparency strip used for?  I figure it's for motion
control, but how does it work?  It seems uniform grey colour, but I think it
must be more than that, is it magnetized film with position markers?  Or is
it more of an optical device (my eyes can't make out lines, and I don't want
to touch it)?

I'm looking at what would be required to lift the printhead chariot by
1/16".  So far I've determined that the drive strap would most likely not
require displacement.  That darkened strip might still be within sensor
range, tests required.  The front guide rail just requires a 1/16" spacer on
the 'skate'.

The main obstacle is that rear guide rail, the printhead is clipped around
it.  One possible solution is to trim the bottom of the clip 1/16" and
adding a 1/16" shim at the top of the clip.  I haven't taken the chariot
apart yet, but the more I look at it, the more I think it would be possible
to modify this printer to accurately process 1/16" PCB.

Robert
:)



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