Ytec3D Forum

The A6812 is a beautiful chip but it is discontinued and hard to get. It is also fairly slow. I did some looking around, and found several replacements for it: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/645/usd/377.pdf The most interesting chip I think is the HV9308. It is sadly 5V logic and the latch is require...

While optimizing the amount of chips required, I ran into a minor wall. I am somewhat at a loss right now. Here is a quick recap. First I looked at the MIC5891 Wonko suggested. http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/mic5891.pdf I now understand it, but it has 2 issues. 1: it cannot handle 3...

The challenge has more to do with the PCB layout than the flatcable orientation. A flatcable can be bent in such a way that it is in the direction of movement. I am still trying it, but I give no promises. A lot of stuff needs to be on the controller.

I like the idea for future versions, but we are quickly reaching outside of my skill set. While I still want to learn more about FPGA's and CPLD's in the future, for this project I want to keep electronics on the edge of my current skills. Current pin count to the head controller is 23, excluding po...

It may very well be possible to limit the width of the board, but to the width of the HP45 itself might be very difficult. Currently I am at a 40x75mm controller. The width of the HP45 is 19mm. The 26 pin header is already around 36mm wide, so I will have to put that sideways on the back if I want t...

4 chips is significant savings where they need to be. Also these are used on the address side, so they only have to source, but not provide that much current.

Many thanks for the great suggestion. I will investigate further and see if I can find chips to test with on my breadboard.

I modified the circuit so the addresses are now attached to 4017 decade counters. Only 1 address needs to be on at a time, and the order is always the same, so there is no good reason to have all 22 address pins connected to a microcontroller. The 4017 chips reduce the pin count from 24 (clear, cloc...

Hello, The first PCB on the early pages is only to make a direct connection with the HP45. All of the 52 contacts have a pin on the PCB. All high power signals need to be made elsewhere. The newer version you see above is to properly control the HP45. It has all high power circuitry on board. All it...

I started on a controller for the printhead. I was not planning on getting this far today, but once I started I could not really stop. I still need to do some checking, but the basics are here. If I am happy, I will order it after next weekend. The controller has a direct connection to the HP45 via ...

That is amazing to see. Are the few missing nozzles broken or is something different happening. Both printheads are great for different reasons. With a working Xaar head you can do different things than with a working HP45. HP45 is cheaper, more accurate and has more nozzles but only deals with vola...