Homebrew PCBs

Hey everyone,
    I just joined this group, and I thought I'd let you all know how I'm doing with an Epson Stylus 740 I picked up for $10.  I stripped it down completely: the pizza wheels are gone, original loading tray, four of the middle pressure rollers, the collecting tray, and the case.  I found two white, plastic tabs used to adjust the head height.  They were buried so far under the case, they could not have been designed to be user accessable, however, adjusting them seemed to have worked for my purposes.  I also modified the "+<-->-" lever to raise the print head as high as possible.  

I had to hack open the rear tray, and keep a small section of it, becase that houses a gear driven notched wheel, which activates an opto-sensor.  I suppose this sensor tells the printer whether or not the tray loader is working properly.  I made a temporary holding tray out of thin cardboard and taped a test PCB to it.  

I just did this all last night, and I have not had much time to debug.  Anyway, here's the problems I'm having so far:  to begin with, alignment is a big issue, so I'm going to have to eventually make a better tray, and some sort of guide rail.  Also, tray loading is tricky.  I can only load the tray a few seconds after the carriage slides all the way to the left, which consequently would have activated the original tray loader.  The delay accounts for the time that would have been necessary for the paper to travel from the tray to the rollers.  

Also, there are two sensors that detect paper position.  Once is located on the carriage, which I haven't messed with.  The other is a basically a tactile sensor which activates an opto-sensor.  That is, as soon as paper hits the arm, it moves out of the way of the emitter/collector closing the loop.  It doesn't seem to be very efficient on my hacked version, since the tray is set lower than where the paper would have been.  I can't quite think of a way to adjust this yet other than to go the Volkan route and build and use a "paper emulator."

Other than that, the setup seems decent.  I didn't buy any MIS-PRO inks, and I didn't clean my test PCB (since I wasn't actually going to use it), so when I did my first test run, the ink looked very blurry.  I'm not sure if my poor PCB/ink combo was the cause, or if I just need to adjust the print head alignment.  

So, there you have it.  My little contribution to anyone who has a Stylus 740 that they want to print PCBs with.  Of course, if anyone has questions, feel free to ask.  Also, if anyone has any suggestions, I am more than open to hearing them.  I'd like to work these bugs out quickly.  I also found a C84 on Craigslist for free, so hopefully I can pick that up and try to modify it, if the guy still has it.    

Paul Symansky
SymTech Labs, Sr. Project Coordinator
(954) 478-7285
http://www.symtechlabs.com
paul.symansky@...

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Symansky" <symansky@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hey everyone,
>     I just joined this group, and I thought I'd let you all know how 
> I'm doing with an Epson Stylus 740 I picked up for $10. 

I would absolutly LOVE to see pictures of your work on that so far. 
Especially if you could get closeups of the items you mentioned in 
this post.

Sure thing!  I just snapped a few quick pictures and posted them on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43099110@N00/sets/72157594376268180/

Tell me if there's anything else you'd like to see.

Paul Symansky
SymTech Labs, Sr. Project Coordinator
(954) 478-7285
http://www.symtechlabs.com
paul.symansky@...

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: James Newton 
  To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 11:53 AM
  Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Direct Inkjet - Stylus 740


  --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Symansky" <symansky@...> 
  wrote:
  >
  > Hey everyone,
  > I just joined this group, and I thought I'd let you all know how 
  > I'm doing with an Epson Stylus 740 I picked up for $10. 

  I would absolutly LOVE to see pictures of your work on that so far. 
  Especially if you could get closeups of the items you mentioned in 
  this post. 



   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 18:54:34 +0100, Paul Symansky <symansky@...> wrote:

> Sure thing!  I just snapped a few quick pictures and posted them on  
> flickr:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/43099110@N00/sets/72157594376268180/
> Tell me if there's anything else you'd like to see.
> Paul Symansky


Best of luck with the actual etching.
I look forward to hearing about further results, hoping for a  
clarification about those older model printers.

ST

Thanks for the kind words, Stefan.  I think my original post may have 
sounded as if this project was coming along a little too easily, though.  I 
just wanted to re-emphasize all the problems I am encountering.  So far, I 
am not impressed with the print quality whatsoever, and I really think my 
next step will be modifying a C84 (per your writeup, Stefan).  I just wanted 
to share exactly what I did in case anyone else deciding to follow this 
path.

Paul Symansky
SymTech Labs, Sr. Project Coordinator
(954) 478-7285
http://www.symtechlabs.com
paul.symansky@...

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 1:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Direct Inkjet - Stylus 740


> On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 18:54:34 +0100, Paul Symansky <symansky@...> wrote:
>
>> Sure thing!  I just snapped a few quick pictures and posted them on
>> flickr:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/43099110@N00/sets/72157594376268180/
>> Tell me if there's anything else you'd like to see.
>> Paul Symansky
>
>
> Best of luck with the actual etching.
> I look forward to hearing about further results, hoping for a
> clarification about those older model printers.
>
> ST
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and 
> Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
>
> If Files or Photos are running short of space, post them here:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs_Archives/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 22:24:23 +0100, Paul Symansky <symansky@...> wrote:

> Thanks for the kind words, Stefan.  I think my original post may have
> sounded as if this project was coming along a little too easily,  
> though.  I
> just wanted to re-emphasize all the problems I am encountering.  So far,  
> I
> am not impressed with the print quality whatsoever, and I really think my
> next step will be modifying a C84 (per your writeup, Stefan).  I just  
> wanted
> to share exactly what I did in case anyone else deciding to follow this
> path.
> Paul Symansky


I have not had success with similar printers, because the printout would  
never come out good enough (lines etc.).
That's why i feel that resolution/nozzle count may be a factor, as well as  
variable droplet volume capability.
I must admit however that i did not employ the curing procedures i used  
for successful c84 prints, so it may be possible to use one of the older  
printers and i just did something else wrong. Also, i did not have  
spongeless carts for the old printer and the refilling was a nightmare  
wasting lotsa ink by drainage.
You can see one of the first test prints with staedtler red ink here:
<http://trethan.at.tf/pub/alu_staedtler.jpg>
Before that i tried a HP with acrylic floor polish, total disaster!


Short story is all 4 printers i tried before the C84 were a total flop,  
two of them so bad that i was sure it was impossible to do (before Volkan  
came along having done the impossible!). I'd like to know if they would  
have worked somehow, but i'm not prepared to go there again myself ;-)

I'm still curious where this future floor polish thing came from. It may  
be that someone actually got inkjet PCBs to work years before the recent  
successes, but nobody seems to know anything more about it.

Anyway, enough of the old failures, we have something now that works, on  
which we can build on.
The more people working on it, the better!

ST