Low elevation 3D printing
Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:37 am
I have an Epson workforce printer that I am trying to hack. We want to print low elevation shims with the printer in a continuous mode for about 30 seconds. The print head is set up originally to raster back and forth during printing. The turn around time gives the printer time to build up memory. Since I want to print continuously (30s), I need to use my own micro-controller.
Here is what I think I know.
Nearly all new Epson printers use the same print head design called precision core... some use many heads.
The smaller work force printer has a single head with two rows of nozzles. 400 black and 384 CYM. Each in a 128 nozzle segment.
The print head has 20 pins. I would guess about 8 are ground pins.
The print head uses synchronous data with a clock pin and several data pins as well as possibly a few others for drop size.
I would guess that the the data stream consists of about four bits per clock cycle. The print head could be partially loaded up to 7 times where each load cycle corresponds to a different drop size. (It would take 50 clock cycles for each partial load if using 4 bits.) During the "fire" operation, The piezo component of each head would vibrate 1 to n times to determine the amount of liquid for each nozzle. My internet reading tells me that the head fires at 10 kHz when data has changed at each fire.
If anyone knows anything about these printer heads and would supply usable information on the needed wiring configuration, I would be forever grateful.
Thank you in advance.
Here is what I think I know.
Nearly all new Epson printers use the same print head design called precision core... some use many heads.
The smaller work force printer has a single head with two rows of nozzles. 400 black and 384 CYM. Each in a 128 nozzle segment.
The print head has 20 pins. I would guess about 8 are ground pins.
The print head uses synchronous data with a clock pin and several data pins as well as possibly a few others for drop size.
I would guess that the the data stream consists of about four bits per clock cycle. The print head could be partially loaded up to 7 times where each load cycle corresponds to a different drop size. (It would take 50 clock cycles for each partial load if using 4 bits.) During the "fire" operation, The piezo component of each head would vibrate 1 to n times to determine the amount of liquid for each nozzle. My internet reading tells me that the head fires at 10 kHz when data has changed at each fire.
If anyone knows anything about these printer heads and would supply usable information on the needed wiring configuration, I would be forever grateful.
Thank you in advance.