Hot dog, sounds like you are making some great progress!
The puddling is a very strange problem I don't understand yet. With
the crude tinkering I did with the inks a few months back, I recall
seeing that problem. But it seems as though the puddling looks more
like "Fish-eyes" that are seen when paint is applied over a surface
with silicone contaminates on it. So, I am not sure it's the amount
of ink causing that puddling as it may be a contaminate causing it.
But in any case, I saw it with my crude tests, I believe Steve ran
into that problem, and now you. If it is a contaminate of some
sort, it is common to all of us.
Thanks for the suggestions on that paper sensor. I will have to dig
out that other printer and give it a go again.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> I put the thing together today, the printer works fine now,
currently
> fiddling with the settings.
> Etched a test PCB early on, but could already see there were
problems on
> the printout.
> Some nozzles were not firing, i can see breaks where they where.
Also i
> had some significant puddling of ink on the ground area.
>
> I've cleaned the head, all nozzles are firing properly now, but
i'm still
> struggling with the puddling.
> Tried all 15 possible combinations of paper type and print
quality, while
> the results seem to vary there's some puddling on every setting.
>
> The brightness/contrast settings do not seem to work to adjust the
ink
> amount. No change between 0 and +2, and over that there is no ink
at all.
> Maybe i would need to use a grey image or something instead of
black.
>
> The puddling may not be a problem for my normal PCBs, i made kind
of a
> challenging test pattern. The larger structures of the main text
came out
> well.
>
> Well, some more tinkering needed to get it just right. But i could
do a
> PCB with it right now, and i'm sure after fine-tuning it will be
much
> better than the best toner transfer.
>
> Also, a lot of work is needed on the curing issue. I think i can
use that
> old clothes iron upside down for that. I have calibrated the dial
in
> degrees some time ago. my gut feeling is the curing is only about
driving
> all the water out and not very critical, but i guess that is to be
seen. I
> expect tests with a few different temperatures and curing times
are
> required.
>
> Oh, one more thing, the transparency setting does not use any
black cart
> ink at all. Only color ink. Some of the pther paper settings have
a black
> ink only option.
>
> Chris, about the paper sensor: I think i know how you can fix
that, it got
> into the same situation.
> My solution is to mount the paper sensor so it will "see" the
carrier
> plate directly by mounting it so the edge passes through. But the
printer
> expects a certain time delay from when it starts eating paper to
when the
> sensor should see it. So i cut out a notch from the side of the
carrier
> that will alow about 6cm of feed before the sensor is activated.
The
> procedure is to put the leading edge of the carrier into the
printer
> manually so the feed roller grabs it, before you send the print
command.
> I experimented for the ideal distance between sensor and the end
of the
> notch, and found the printer is quite tolerant (maybe from 2cm to
10cm or
> so will work. Simply stick some tape to the side of a sheet and
manually
> feed it varying distances before starting the printing process.
>
> ST
>
>
> On Fri, 07 Jul 2006 23:45:30 +0200, lcdpublishing
> <lcdpublishing@...> wrote:
>
> > Good luck Stefan!!!
> > Please post some photos of your progress and achievments. I have
> > out-of-town guests in for the weekend so my ink-jet nightmare
will
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> > be on hold for another couple weeks or so.
> > I am still upset about that jam-up - dumb,dumb,dumb.
>