Ithaca POSJet 1500

[ezrec]

Cruising through eBay, I noticed that the "Ithaca POSJet 1500" seems to be available as a 2-pen device (HP C6602A, just like the InkShield), USB port, and with an 'All Points Addressable' graphics mode - for about $50-$100 shipped.

Programming manual available at:

http://www.transact-tech.com/drivers/posjet-1500

(Scroll down to the bottom of the page)

For a 'miniature' powder bed printer (65mm wide) this would be an ideal print engine.

I'm also looking at EPSON inkjet receipt printers (CMY versions are available, and they are ink tank, instead of HP cartridge), but their command sets for raster printing are... obscure.

[dragonator]

A tiny printer with a programming guide. That is something that you don't see anymore these days. Life would have been so much better if they supplied modern inkjet printers with programming guides. If a tiny 3D powder printer is the goal, it would make for a perfect platform. A printer that can test a lot of different powders. It would most definitely safe on the electronics and hardware.

On the subject of printheads. I learned something yesterday on the Ulti evening. You can get Xaar heads for a reasonable price: http://www.digiprint-supplies.com/xaar.html. If I heard right, you can also get all documentation regarding programming for heads like the Xaar 126. Xaars are Piezo, so they are more reliable and capable of printing more different liquids.

However, they CANNOT print conductive liquids, like water based inks and binders. Maybe a printhead like this would be a fun idea for an Objet like printer. Inkjetting UV sensitive resins is one of the cooler techniques around.

[ezrec]

UV resin on powder - that's the HP 3D printing technology.

Very strong, supposedly.

[ezrec]

And speaking of printheads:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/officejet- ... eries.html

HP's PageWide inkjets are tank-based, durable heaters, and prints the whole page in one pass.

_That_ is the tech they are putting in their 3D printers. Which means they have a resin formulation that will go through them.

/me saves up for his Christmas reverse-engineering present..

[ezrec]

POSJet 1500 ordered, and on its way.

I'll post a tear-down of the print engine once I get it. Should be interesting.

Also, I've ordered a EPSON CMY label printer (OEM version of the TM-C610), which will be a more difficult hack to get working, but it's piezo ink tank-based print engine may be more usable in the long term.

https://www.epson.de/de/en/viewcon/corp ... rview/9446

[ezrec]

Picture of the carriage motion of the Ithaca POSJet 1500:

IMG_0858.JPG (125.63 KiB) Viewed 28337 times

Although only one ink cartridge is installed, both cartridges are fully wired up.

The drive is classic stepper motor, with a optical endstop.

For a mini-powder printer, this looks ideal.

For a large format printer, the mechanicals could be mounted on the X/Y carriage, and print a 50mm wide strip at a time.

For binder supply, I'm going to experiment with a continuous circulation system - a pump sucks binder out of a tube going to the the top of the pen, and a second tube (piercing the top, going down to near the bottom of the pen) that connect to a supply tank.

This will apply a slight negative pressure to the binder, and remove any air bubble that may enter the cartidge. It'll also allow for fast changeover to different binder fluid types.

[ezrec]

image.jpeg (107.31 KiB) Viewed 28320 times

Not bad for an hours work reading the spec and writing Python.

[Wonko]

Not bad for Python in general

No, seriously, great job. Did you make roll own electronics? Or is this with some included interface?

[dragonator]

This is the first time I saw a HP C6602 in an original printer. The contacts are on the bottom, which made printing in powder difficult. The gap was not as small as it could have been. I see that when it prints on paper the paper twists under the printhead, giving more room to the contacts.

How close is the printhead to the paper?

(PS, that is the cutest inkjet printer I ever saw)

[ezrec]

Not bad for Python in general

No, seriously, great job. Did you make roll own electronics? Or is this with some included interface?

This is using the default interface electronics.

Ithaca is pretty well documented - I'm making good progress. Working on my slicer software now.

The more interesting part will be the mechanical motion for the powder handling.