Inkjet printing - it works!
2006-05-29 by Stefan Trethan
I managed to replicate Volkan's success with direct inkjet printing.
First i had to deal with the ink chips. I ended up soldering them together
in a stack (they are connected all parallel in the printer). I simply
stuck wires through the vias and made a stack out of them, also connecting
them to the little PCB carrying the contacts for them. This PCB is
attached to a section of ribbon cable that can be cut from the rest of the
head cable (don't slip with the knife!).
The really neat thing is one can simply pull the ribbon cable out of the
PCB now, and take the whole stack of chips to a resetter like
<http://www.eddiem.com/photo/printer/chipreset/resetchip.html> (make a
blind reset to reset the whole stack at once).
Now the the bloody printer shuts up about the chips being empty i could
find out why it would no longer print.
I found there was no ink whatsoever in the black cart. The whole fill must
have gotten out somehow. I have no idea how it managed that feat, looking
at the waste ink absorber i think it may have gone there, may... I
wouldn't know where else.
Anyway, i put a small amount of MISPRO ink into the black cart and the
head started to work just fine again.
I can feed a strip of PCB through, if stuck to a page horizontally so it
will go around the paper path bend.
Then i started to experiment with printer settings and got something that
worked after a while.
I must play with the settings some more since i still have some puddling,
and i must modify the paper path for PCBs and raise the head (currently it
is too close). But the pattern i printed could be etched just fine and
everything, just like Volkan says.
The vanishing ink problem must be resolved - maybe it is the "dry sponge"
refill method that is the problem. I should get a spongeless cart for this
printer.
When i'm confident the printer is no longer losing vast amounts of ink i
can fiddle with the settings some more to get things just perfect. I
noticed the different settings will affect resolution (too low and you see
banding just like with a old printer), ink amount (too much and you see
puddling), and color mixture. Some settings will use vast amounts of blue
color even though i print something black.
Anyway, i'm confident everyone can do it. The key is just a modern printer
with enough resolution to prevent the banding. The old models i tried
before had the nozzles too far apart they would form individual lines on
the (not wicking) copper.
I expect i can soon put the fuser for TT into long term storage. I hope to
find the usb cable later to do a scan.
ST
First i had to deal with the ink chips. I ended up soldering them together
in a stack (they are connected all parallel in the printer). I simply
stuck wires through the vias and made a stack out of them, also connecting
them to the little PCB carrying the contacts for them. This PCB is
attached to a section of ribbon cable that can be cut from the rest of the
head cable (don't slip with the knife!).
The really neat thing is one can simply pull the ribbon cable out of the
PCB now, and take the whole stack of chips to a resetter like
<http://www.eddiem.com/photo/printer/chipreset/resetchip.html> (make a
blind reset to reset the whole stack at once).
Now the the bloody printer shuts up about the chips being empty i could
find out why it would no longer print.
I found there was no ink whatsoever in the black cart. The whole fill must
have gotten out somehow. I have no idea how it managed that feat, looking
at the waste ink absorber i think it may have gone there, may... I
wouldn't know where else.
Anyway, i put a small amount of MISPRO ink into the black cart and the
head started to work just fine again.
I can feed a strip of PCB through, if stuck to a page horizontally so it
will go around the paper path bend.
Then i started to experiment with printer settings and got something that
worked after a while.
I must play with the settings some more since i still have some puddling,
and i must modify the paper path for PCBs and raise the head (currently it
is too close). But the pattern i printed could be etched just fine and
everything, just like Volkan says.
The vanishing ink problem must be resolved - maybe it is the "dry sponge"
refill method that is the problem. I should get a spongeless cart for this
printer.
When i'm confident the printer is no longer losing vast amounts of ink i
can fiddle with the settings some more to get things just perfect. I
noticed the different settings will affect resolution (too low and you see
banding just like with a old printer), ink amount (too much and you see
puddling), and color mixture. Some settings will use vast amounts of blue
color even though i print something black.
Anyway, i'm confident everyone can do it. The key is just a modern printer
with enough resolution to prevent the banding. The old models i tried
before had the nozzles too far apart they would form individual lines on
the (not wicking) copper.
I expect i can soon put the fuser for TT into long term storage. I hope to
find the usb cable later to do a scan.
ST