I'm building a flatbed from an Epson printer. Choosing a textile printer - advice from experts. Finished Goods Care

The simplest, most affordable and most effective way to make printed circuit boards at home is the so-called "laser-iron" (or LUT). The description of this method can be easily found by the corresponding keywords, so we will not dwell on it in detail, we will only note that in the simplest version, all that is needed is access to laser printer and the most ordinary iron (not counting the usual materials for etching circuit boards). So, there are no alternatives for this method?

Developing a variety electronic devices used, for example, when testing monitors, we used several mounting methods electronic components. At the same time, printed circuit boards as such were not always used, since when creating prototypes and devices in a single copy (and often it turned out to be both), subject to inevitable errors and modifications, it is often more profitable and more convenient to use factory-made prototyping boards, performing wiring with a thin stranded wire in Teflon insulation. Even the most famous companies do this in a similar way, which is demonstrated by the prototype of the AIBO toy robot from Sony.

The stores sell relatively cheap double-sided tinned and even with plated holes and a protective mask on the jumpers, breadboards of very high quality.

Note that such breadboards allow without special efforts to achieve a high mounting density, since there is no need to take care of the wiring of the conductive tracks. However, for example, when developing power blocks and when using elements with non-standard pin spacing or their geometry, as well as when using surface-mounted elements (which we do not do yet), it becomes difficult to use ready-made prototyping boards.

As an alternative to prototyping boards, we used the methods of cutting the foil in the gaps between the conductive pads and the mentioned LUT method. The first method is applicable only in the case of the simplest wiring options, but it does not require anything at all, except for a sharp knife and a ruler. The LUT method gave generally good results, but some variety was desired. We considered the using method too laborious and requiring the use of caustic chemicals, which is not always acceptable at home. The case allowed us to learn about another way - about the method of direct inkjet printing template on foil fiberglass ( keywords to search for English language- Direct to PCB Inkjet Printing).

The method is divided into the following steps:

Proper seal pigmented
Thermal fixing of the printed template. In this case, the ink becomes resistant to the etching solution.
Removing ink from the printed circuit board.

There is also an alternative:

Printing in general any printed circuit board template ink directly on foil fiberglass using, as a rule, a modified inkjet printer.
Powdered toner from a laser printer/copier is sprayed onto the still wet ink, and the excess toner is removed.
Thermal fixing of the printed template. This fuses the toner and securely adheres to the foil.
Etching of unpatterned sections of the foil in the usual way, for example, using ferric chloride III.
Removing caked toner from the printed circuit board.

We did not consider the second option because of the reluctance to work with powder toner, which can stain everything around with an accidental wrong movement or sneeze. All of the implemented direct inkjet template printing methods that we found used Epson inkjet printers. Also, the type of ink, or rather the type of dye used in them - pigment, we are steadily associated with printers of this manufacturer, so we started the search for a suitable printer from the Epson catalog. Apparently, Epson has, or at least had, models that can print on media up to 2.4 mm thick (and not only CD / DVDs), for example, the Epson Stylus Photo R800, but this the model is no longer produced, but we did not know in advance whether it would be possible to use something from modern analogues (obviously not cheap). As a result, it was decided to look for the cheapest model that uses pigment ink. The model was found - Epson Stylus S22. This printer turned out to be the cheapest among all Epson printers - the price for it was less than 1500 rubles, then, however, it grew noticeably: in Moscow retail (the ruble equivalent is in the tooltip) - N / A (0) .

A cursory examination showed the need for significant changes in the design of the printer, as it provided for printing on flexible media with its bending when moving from the top input tray to the output tray. The sequential modification described below was synthesized from several iterations, since after the next assembly it turned out that certain changes needed to be made to the design. Therefore, the possibility of small inaccuracies in the description of this process cannot be ruled out. The modification has two main goals. Firstly, to ensure a straight line without bends and height differences, the media supply, for which you need to change, but actually re-create the input and output trays. Secondly, to provide the ability to print on thick materials - up to 2 mm, for which it is necessary to raise the assembly with the print head and its guide slide. So:

1. Unscrew the two screws on the rear wall and remove the casing, releasing the latches with which it still clings to the bottom.

2. Disconnect the control panel cable from the main board, unscrew the two self-tapping screws securing the control panel,

release the cable from the control panel and set it aside. It is still useful, unlike the casing of the case.

3. Unscrew the 4 screws of the paper feed unit, release the wires going to the carriage motor, press the feed roller gear lock, remove the feed roller stand and the entire feed unit, remove the paper side clamp - these parts will no longer be useful.

4. Unscrew the self-tapping screw on the absorbent pad tray and on the power supply, disconnect the drain hose from the tray and the cable from the PSU on the main board, remove the absorbent pad tray and the PSU. Put them aside - still useful.

5. Unscrew the two self-tapping screws of the strip with the rollers pressing the outgoing sheet, remove this assembly and move it to a pile with “extra” parts.

6. On the right, unscrew the self-tapping screw and the screw securing the sled along which the print head moves.

Remove the spring that presses the sled.

Remove the carriage ruler spring (tapes with strokes) and the ruler itself.

Unscrew the two screws securing the main board,

and press it away from the slide (be careful with the paper sensor!). Unscrew the screw securing the sled, located under the main board.

On the left, unscrew the self-tapping screw securing the sled.

Disconnect the feed motor connector (J7) from the main board.

Disconnect the spring on the left side of the sled.

Remove the slide assembly with the print carriage and main board.

7. On the left, unscrew the self-tapping screw of the broach shaft lock,

remove the shaft and its retainer.

8. Remove all additional guides at the beginning of the broach, which are attached to the latches.

9. Using a blade from a hacksaw for metal and needle files, cut a window in the bottom from the side racks, to the bottom of the feed tray and to the feed shaft. It is convenient to use the existing grooves and holes in the bottom. Cut off the burrs with a knife, remove the sawdust.

10. Now you need to create a direct feed tray. You can use two lines for this. aluminum corner 10 by 10 mm 250 mm long and part of the original paper support in the input tray (you can use any suitable size rigid plate). The corners are attached with M3 countersunk screws as shown in the photos below. On the vertical planes of the printer case, to which the corners are attached, grooves should be cut out so that the input tray can be moved slightly up and down to fine-tune its position.

On the right corner, you need to cut off the vertical corner, otherwise the right pressure roller will rest against it. Also on the pallet you need to cut a groove opposite the paper sensor (although, apparently, you can not do this).

And put a piece of the tube on the antenna of the paper sensor, thereby lengthening it a little.

11. Disconnect the feed shaft position sensor (one screw), cut off the stopper on the sensor housing, and fix it by sliding it as far down as possible.

During subsequent assembly, check that the disk with strokes is placed in the middle of the sensor slot and does not touch its edges.

12. Under the three attachment points of the sled, place a two washers with a hole of 4 mm each 1 mm thick. When using wide washers in two places, they need to be filed so that they do not rest against the body elements.

13. Remove the pressure rollers, put on them 2-3 layers (at least 3 layers on the central pair of rollers) of a heat-shrinkable tube with shrinkage of the intermediate layers with a hot air gun or other heating method. With a file, deepen the grooves for the rollers so that they rotate freely. Insert rollers into holders.

14. In the parked position, as well as in the process of cleaning the nozzles and initializing new cartridges, a pad with a rubber gasket is pressed against the bottom surface of the print head, where the nozzles are located. From below, a tube is connected to the pad, going to the vacuum pump. When cleaning, the pump sucks ink from the cartridges, and during storage, the nozzles are protected from drying ink in them. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the rubber seal fits snugly against the head, but due to the upward movement of the sled and print head, this condition may not be met. It is necessary to increase the travel of the pillow in the crib. To do this, you will have to remove or at least move the pump away - unscrew the two screws and squeeze out the two latches.

Then remove the spring that tightens the pillow bed, remove the bed-pillow assembly, and disconnect the tube extending from the pillow. Next, cut with a knife about 1.5 mm in the right places sections of the body of the pillow and the crib, increasing the vertical stroke of the pillow. Then assemble the knot back. Since when using non-original cartridges, automatic nozzle cleaning and cartridge initialization led to strange results, we decided to disconnect the pump from the pad, for which we used a piece of tubing and a tee. To remove excess ink or when manually washing the pad, you can connect a syringe to the tee, or simply clamp its outlet with your finger and, by scrolling the feed shaft back (by the gear in front on the left), use the printer pump.

15. Reassemble the printer in reverse order. When installing the feed shaft, carefully clean the seats of chips and dust and apply a layer of grease to them and to the corresponding areas of the shaft. After installing the roller, you need to adjust the feed tray. By loosening the screws securing the tray to the side walls of the case, using a rigid plate of a suitable size (for example, a piece of fiberglass), you need to ensure that the movement of the plate from the feed tray along the feed shaft and along the shaft in the output tray is even, without differences in height. You should also ensure that the guides of the feed tray are strictly parallel and perpendicular to the feed shaft. Having found such a position of the feed tray, the screws should be tightened and it is advisable to fix it on the side of the nuts with a drop of varnish. Then continue building. On the right side, due to the shift of the sled upwards, or rather, the mounting hole will not coincide with the hole in the case rack - you can file the hole and fix the sled with a screw, or you can leave it as it is.

The tray of the absorbent pad, having previously shortened its right post, we installed in its original place, fixing it at two points with hot glue. The power supply did not fit in its original position, so we did not find anything better than simply fixing it with a plastic tie on the left stand of the printer frame. We screwed the control panel to the eyelet on the PSU.

The original output tray causes the output to kink, so it needs to be upgraded to ensure a smooth horizontal output. To do this, just put something a little less than 3 cm high under the tray, and put a couple of thick magazines or a stack of paper on the tray. However, after a while, we replaced this design with a tray made from the casing of a non-working DVD player. What needs to be done with the casing in order to turn it into a tray is clear from the photographs, however, here everyone can use their imagination and improvised material.

Result:

Shift the sled up to b about a larger value than described above is associated with some difficulties. Problem areas are at least the feed shaft position sensor, the right bracket of the carriage ruler, and the parking assembly. Perhaps something else. As a result, the thickness of the material on which the modified printer can print is about 2 mm or a little more, therefore, with a textolite 1.5 mm thick, the substrate should not be thicker than 0.5 mm, while it should be rigid enough to move blanks for printed circuit boards. A suitable and affordable material turned out to be thick cardboard, for example, from a folder for papers. The liner must be cut exactly to the width of the input tray, as any horizontal misalignment will affect print accuracy. In our case, the substrate turned out to be 216.5 by 295 mm in size. The original feed unit cannot be used, so the liner must be manually guided under the pressure rollers, but the paper sensor must not be activated. Because of this, it will be necessary to make a cutout in the substrate for the antenna of the paper sensor, in our case at a distance of 65 mm from the right edge, 40 mm deep and 10 mm wide. In this case, printing starts at a distance of 6 mm from the bottom of the cutout, that is, 6 mm before the edge of the media that the printer detects. Why this is so, we do not know. To fix the blanks on the substrate, it is convenient to use double-sided adhesive tape. The pinch rollers press the liner against the feed roller with great force, so the rollers must not run in or out of the workpiece to ensure a smooth print feed. To ensure this condition, before, after and possibly from the sides of the workpiece, you need to glue the material with the same thickness. This will also make it easier to position the workpiece for serial and/or duplex printing.

The original cartridges ran out pretty quickly, but in general, the results using original ink turned out to be very good. However, it was decided to purchase refillable cartridges and compatible inks.

The soul did not rest on this, attempts were made to modify the ink in order to increase the content of the polymer component in them. As a result of these experiments, the nozzles with black ink were clogged by 90%, with magenta - by 50%, one nozzle did not work in the "yellow" row, and only the cyan ink nozzles remained fully operational. However, one color is enough for printing templates. Since magenta ink showed the best result, it was they who were refilled in the cyan ink cartridge.

1. Prepare the workpiece surface. If it is relatively clean, then it is enough to degrease it with acetone. Otherwise, degrease, clean with an abrasive sponge, and, to form an oxide layer, place in an oven for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 180°C. Then cool and degrease with acetone.

2. Using double-sided adhesive tape and auxiliary textolite scraps, fix the workpiece on the substrate.

3. Convert the template to the pure color that will be used when printing. In our case, in blue (RGB = 0, 255, 255). Spend test print(you can not use the whole template, but only the overall points, for example, corners), if necessary, in the program used for printing, correct the position of the template, wash off the previous result with acetone, repeat, if necessary, the correction procedure.

4. Print the template on the blank. The best results are obtained with the following settings:

5. Dry the workpiece in air for 5 minutes, you can use a hair dryer to speed it up. Then detach the workpiece from the substrate and carry out preliminary fixing in the oven for 15 min (time from turning on the oven) at 200°C at peak. Cool the workpiece.

6. For precise positioning of the second layer, you can drill several small diameter holes, for example, 1 mm in diameter, at the mounting points of the future board. Fix the workpiece with the surface for the second layer up, while the double-sided adhesive tape must be glued to the completely painted areas of the first layer. If the workpiece is tightly clamped between the two plates front and back, then double-sided adhesive tape is not necessary. Degrease the workpiece with acetone.

7. Position and print - repeat steps 3 and 4.

8. Dry the workpiece in air for 5 minutes, you can use a hair dryer to speed it up. Then detach the workpiece from the substrate, fix it on stands, for example, made of paper clips, place it in an oven, and fix it for 15 minutes (time from turning on the oven) at 210°C at peak. Cool the workpiece.

9. Examine the workpiece, paint over places with a suspiciously thin layer of ink (for example, near holes or adhering dust particles) with a waterproof marker. Etch the workpiece. In order for the surface of the workpiece to keep a distance from the bottom of the container, you can insert toothpicks into the holes (1 mm in diameter used to position the second layer), so that the sharp tip comes out 1.5-2 mm, and the thick one is bitten off to the same height. When etching, periodically turn the board over and check readiness.

Wash off the ink with acetone.

Important notes.

1. In order for the ink used to become resistant to the etching solution, it must be kept for about 15 minutes (time from turning on the oven) at a temperature of about 210 ° C at the peak (obtained using a thermocouple located next to the workpiece). The interval is narrow, since when it is exceeded by 5-10 ° C, the textolite begins to collapse, when it is lowered, the ink is washed off with an etching solution. The exact conditions in a particular case must be selected empirically. For control, you can use the test with a cotton swab. If a cotton swab moistened with water easily washes off the ink, then you need to increase the temperature, if it does not wash off, or only slightly stains, then resistance to the etching solution has been acquired. Even if a cotton swab moistened with acetone is difficult to wash off the ink, then the resistance to the etching solution is very good. This way you can select the ink and fusing conditions that give you the best results. It should be noted that we used an electric grill oven, turned on only the upper heating element, and when the ink was finally fixed, the oven thermostat was set to 220°C.

2. Printing reproducibility reaches about 0.1 mm, so if necessary, you can print it a second time over the first side of the template, with intermediate drying directly on the substrate with a hot air gun (with adjustable temperature) or a household hair dryer set to the maximum temperature. Drying is needed so that the pressure rollers do not lubricate the previous layer.

3. The production of two sides can be done sequentially. First, print and fix the first side, and protect the foil on the second, for example, acrylic paint from a balloon. Etch the first side, remove the protection from the second side with acetone, print and fix the second side, protect the first with ink, etch the second side, and remove the protection from the first.

4. You need to print as follows: first send the print job, wait until the printer reports that there is no paper, then carefully slide the substrate with the fixed workpiece under the pressure rollers, scrolling the feed roller by the gear in front on the left, and then press the button to continue printing. If there are short breaks between print sessions, the printer will not perform a short cleaning procedure, so you can load the substrate with the blank first, and then send the print job.

5. Special cleanliness must be observed, as any dust that has fallen on wet ink on the workpiece can lead to a defect.

Several double-sided printed circuit boards were made in this way, and although the tracks at than 0.5 mm were not used, the possibility of obtaining tracks with a width of 0.25 mm was demonstrated in the test areas, and this is clearly not the limit of this method.

P.S. An example of a double-sided board with 0.25 mm tracks (during the design, the norms of 0.25 mm for the width of the tracks and for gaps were laid down, but with manual fine-tuning, the distances between the tracks were increased as much as possible). Note that in the manufacture of double-sided boards, apparently, it is still more reliable to print and etch the sides sequentially. Side 1:

Side 2:

Three types of defects can be seen:

1. Linear distortion, which is apparently caused by the fact that one side was printed in a fast two-pass mode, and the other in a slow single-pass mode. That is, it is better to print both sides in the same mode.

2. In places, the tracks are slightly widened due to ink spreading. This defect can be avoided by carefully preparing the surface - degrease with a piece of cloth soaked in acetone, then wipe thoroughly with a dry cotton swab.

3. From one edge of the track and the pads were etched noticeably more. This happened due to overheating, as a result of which the ink became very dark and began to peel off. This means that it is necessary to carefully monitor the uniformity of heating (choose a place in the oven where the heating is more uniform) and in no case allow overheating - the ink should noticeably darken, but not acquire a dark gray tint.

However, these defects did not turn out to be critical, and as a result, without any wiring correction, we got a fully functioning device.

We found out what is needed for this flatbed printer. An industrial flatbed printer costs astronomical money, so most people try to build a do-it-yourself flatbed printer, which not only saves a lot of money, but in principle makes the project a reality without having to sell half the apartment to drug dealers for a hangout.

In fact, a flatbed printer can serve not only as an addition to the direct printing of colorful images on finished products. It can act as a completely independent means of production! For example, for printing on T-shirts and fabrics ( textile printer), printing on tiles and glass (for an interior design studio), for the manufacture of printed circuit boards in the production of electronics, and much, much more. Those. as we can see, a flatbed printer is a separate business, which anyone can start from the first salary, simply by making a flatbed printer with their own hands!

First you need to understand what the alteration of an inkjet printer is. Usual jet printer is designed to print on paper, and we want to print directly on a solid surface. So we just need to redesign the paper feed mechanism, instead of which we need to install a movable table with a flat surface to position the object on which the direct printing will be performed (plywood, wood, T-shirt, tile, glass, iPhone case, loaf of bread with a commemorative inscription, etc. .d.).

You can still drive a flat table with the same engine from the paper feed mechanism, but you need to understand that nothing heavier than a piece of rag can “drag” such a table under the printer. Yes, and the table itself should be made of some kind of “airy” material, for example, plexiglass or plastic, and preferably with holes to lighten the weight. And sometimes for wide-format printers it is advisable not to move the table under the printer, but the printer itself above the table! This task is certainly beyond the power of a regular engine!

I think that you need to leave the native printer engine alone and adapt the stepper motor that is most suitable for the tasks of "heavy lifting". The choice of stepper motors is so large that you can drag at least half a cubic meter of bricks under the printer and print directly on them. Personally, I am a supporter of universality and do not like to initially lock myself into the framework of “printing only on fabric”, so I chose the option of converting the inkjet into a flatbed printer using an external stepper motor to drive the movable table.

To control a stepper motor, you need a controller and a driver. There are no questions about the stepper motor driver - it can be the simplest A4988 costing 180 rubles, which provides an output current to the motor winding up to 2 Amperes (using a radiator and external fan cooling). This is more than enough to drive a medium power stepper motor.

It remains to understand what the controller is for and what functions it will perform. If you disassemble any inkjet printer and pay attention to the paper feed mechanism, you can see a long shaft with rubberized rollers driven by a small motor through a gear train. There is also a transparent disk with small black divisions on the shaft - this is the so-called encoder. The encoder disk passes through such a black optical sensor, and these divisions on the disk help the printer electronics understand how much the paper feed shaft has scrolled, in other words, how much the sheet has moved in the printer. Our controller basically just needs to convert "paper offset" to "table offset". To do this, he must also "read" the data from the encoder (count black risks) and convert this data into steps for a stepper motor.

As a controller, you can use your favorite Arduino board. You can buy the simplest Arduino for 500 rubles. Someone will say that the Arduino is too slow - this is not entirely true, or rather, not at all true! Arduino is just a convenient development environment for Atmel AVR microcontrollers. Nobody forbids using the “native” commands of this microcontroller in the Arduino environment instead of the library functions of the Arduino environment, which are really slow. With "native" commands, your microcontroller will work almost at the clock frequency (and this is, after all, 16 MHz, stabilized by a quartz resonator on the board). For comparison, a signal from a printer encoder can arrive at a frequency of no more than a few hundred hertz or kilohertz, i.e. our microcontroller will roughly speaking work for 1 cycle, and rest for the remaining 1000 cycles!

The printer's encoder optical sensor has two channels (conditionally - A and B). When the encoder disk is rotated, rectangular pulses will appear at the output of the optical sensor. The direction of rotation of the encoder disk can be found by determining from which channel the pulse comes first. If a pulse has arrived in channel A, but there is still no pulse in channel B, then the disk rotates clockwise (for example); if an impulse has arrived in channel A, and there is already an impulse in channel B, then the rotation is counterclockwise (again - for example). In a real program, we can then easily change “-” to “+” if it turns out that the motor is spinning in the wrong direction.

The optical sensor is connected to the Arduino through the digital inputs D2 and D3 (marked on the Arduino board by the numbers "2" and "3" respectively). It remains to connect the stepper motor controller based on the A4988 module to the Arduino output. It accepts STEP signals (one step or microstep of a stepper motor) and DIR (direction of rotation: 1 - in one direction, 0 - in the other) as input. On the Arduino for the STEP and DIR outputs, we can assign any pins we like, for example, 12 and 13. On the 13th pin, there is usually also an LED right on the Arduino board, which will also give us visual confirmation of the transfer of STEP steps to the stepper motor driver . If you want, you can hang DIR on pin 13, then the LED will light when rotated in one direction and go out, when rotated in the other - also clearly.

The program for the microcontroller is very simple. Here is her listing:

// Pins for encoder input

#define ENC_A_PIN 2

#define ENC_B_PIN 3

// Read value from encoder
#define ENC_A ((PIND & (1<< ENC_A_PIN)) > 0)
#define ENC_B ((PIND & (1<< ENC_B_PIN)) > 0)

// STEP/DIR pins
#define STEP_PIN 13
#define DIR_PIN 12

// Send data to STEP/DIR ports
#define STEP(V) (PORTB = V ? PORTB | (1<< (STEP_PIN-8)) : PORTB & (~(1<<(STEP_PIN-8))))
#define DIR(V) (PORTB = V ? PORTB | (1<< (DIR_PIN-8)) : PORTB & (~(1<<(DIR_PIN-8))))

void setup()(
intsetup();
driveSetup();
}

void driveSetup()(
pinMode(STEP_PIN, OUTPUT);
STEP(0);

pinMode(DIR_PIN, OUTPUT);
DIR(0);
}

volatile boolean A, B;

void intSetup()(
pinMode(ENC_A_PIN, INPUT);
A=ENC_A;
attachInterrupt(0, onEncoderChannelA, CHANGE);

pinMode(ENC_B_PIN, INPUT);
B=ENC_B;
attachInterrupt(1, onEncoderChannelB, CHANGE);
}

volatile unsigned long pulses = 0;
volatile boolean gotDir = false;
volatile boolean cw = false;

unsigned long pps = 2; // pulses per step

if(pulses >= pps)(
pulses=0;
STEP(1);
delayMicroseconds(10);
STEP(0);
}

if(gotDir)(
DIR(!cw);
gotDir=false;
}
}

void onEncoderChannelA()(

if((A && B) || (!A && !B))(
if(!cw) gotDir = true;
cw=true;
)else(
if(cw) gotDir = true;
cw=false;
}

pulses++;
}

void onEncoderChannelB()(

if((B && A) || (!B && !A))(
if(cw) gotDir = true;
cw=false;
)else(
if(!cw) gotDir = true;
cw=true;
}

pulses++;
}

A few explanations on the code. In attachInterrupt(), we hang up a handler function on an external interrupt, which is triggered by a change in the state of the encoder optical sensor channel. Any change from 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 is tracked by the onEncoderChannelA and onEncoderChannelB functions for channel A and B, respectively. Well, then we simply count the number of pulses from the encoder and issue the STEP and DIR commands to the stepper motor. As you can see - nothing complicated!

Then, depending on the design of the table and the transmission mechanism, it will be necessary to select the coefficient for converting pulses from the encoder into engine steps. In my program, this value is set in the pps variable (pulses per step - pulses per step).

Here's a video of the controller layout for the flatbed printer table in action. So far, a linear encoder has been used instead of a circular one, but this does not change the essence. It can be seen how the controller controls the position of the stepper motor in real time depending on the position of the encoder sensor.

Small business, which is based on the idea of printing on fabric: T-shirts, canvases, tablecloths, is gaining more and more popularity in the post-Soviet space. People love bright, exclusive things at a low price and willingly use the services of printing on textile materials. In order for the image to be high-quality, high-resolution, the question of choosing a special printer should be the main task of the entrepreneur: this is what will make you a name and generate income. If a fabric printer is purchased for home use, do not rush to spend your hard-earned money. There are several reasons for this.

Another thing is if the purpose of the acquisition textile printer –starting or expanding a business . In this case, downtime and drying out of the device are not threatened, just the volume and resource of the printer are important. With a print volume of about 200-300 products per day or small batches, but within 3-5 years without loss of quality, you need to think about purchasing professional equipment. A printer based on Epson 4880 with A2 print format belongs to the category of pros. The ability to draw small patterns in combination with the ability to fill large areas (40 by 80 cm) allows you to work with many materials: cotton, linen, leather, silk, knitwear. This model will cost the buyer 500-600 thousand rubles, while being the most reliable option in the line of Epson textile printers. The parts in the model are mostly metal, and the print resource is an impressive 20,000 prints. There are several more worthy models of the pro class on the Russian market:

Epson F2000, several DTX-400 models from DecoPrint, a couple of models from Brother, Kornit, American I-Dot, and Texjet from Polyprint. When choosing a printing device, it is necessary to pay attention to the possibility and cost of service: the printer is a complex device, repairs and maintenance should be carried out in a service center by professionals. Be sure to ask the sellers how they work in case of a need for warranty repairs.

Refueling and repair

Brother and Epson F2000 printers do not allow the use of non-original consumables. The manufacturer guarantees the quality and reliability of the device only if original cartridges are used, which the user must buy as soon as the old ones are over. But the price of original consumables for all printing devices without exception is exorbitantly high, so be sure to check the availability of ink and the possibility of refilling cartridges at the nearest service centers before buying. When choosing a printer for textiles, pay attention to the number of colors - this will significantly save on refills or replacing cartridges in the future. For high-quality full-color printing, 4 colors (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) are enough, one cartridge per color, and four cartridges per white. White has the highest consumption. When choosing a textile printer for 8-9 colors, remember that print quality and brightness will not change much, and ink costs will double. The most common problem with ink printers has been and still is drying ink while idle when the printer is not being used.

To prevent clogging and drying of the nozzles, the printers are equipped with an ink recycling system and micro-cleaning during inactivity. Recirculation does not allow the ink to pass the full path from the cartridge to the spray nozzles and can only save you from thickening the ink, but not from drying out the print head. The function is useful, but the danger does not eliminate. Much more important is the presence of a micro-cleaning function in the device: in automatic mode and without your participation, the printer itself will skip the ink from the cartridges to the nozzles. Yes, a small amount of ink will go down the drain, but the user will protect his printer from a serious problem.

Sometimes the drying of pigment ink in the nozzles cannot be completely eliminated, and the only way out is to replace the print head, the cost of which is comparable to the price of a new printer. It is worth paying attention to the package of delivery of the printer: what is included in its package. An unpleasant surprise from many printer manufacturers may be the lack of ink in the basic kit when buying printer ink. Printing without ink will not work, so you will have to look for high-quality ink in specialized stores. It is not worth saving on ink - the quality of your products and the life of your device directly depend on the quality of consumables. As in cars: a sports car will not give full power on bad fuel, and the power unit will quickly become unusable.

Textile printer - choose wisely

Important nuances that you need to pay attention to when buying a textile printer:

- format and resolution;

- estimated circulation;

- brand (manufacturer);

- the number of flowers and the possibility of refueling in the future;

— the declared resource of printing of the device;

- compatibility with operating systems and programs that you use at work, the availability of drivers;

- power usage;

- the weight of the device.

Do not make spontaneous purchases - carefully study the offers, read the forums, seek advice from service engineers: they will give comprehensive information about the weaknesses of a particular model. The comfort of your work with a textile printer, maintenance costs and its service life depend on this.

Lately I've been looking for ways to make PCB fabrication easier. About a year ago, I came across an interesting article that described the process of modifying an Epson inkjet printer to print on thick materials, incl. on copper textolite. The article described the completion of the Epson C84 printer, however, I had an Epson C86 printer, but because Since the mechanics of Epson printers, I think everyone is similar, I decided to try to upgrade my printer. In this article, I will try to describe in as much detail as possible, step by step, the process of upgrading the printer for printing on copper-plated textolite.

Necessary materials:
- Well, of course, you will need the Epson C80 family printer itself.
- a sheet of aluminum or steel material
- clamps, bolts, nuts, washers
- a small piece of plywood
- epoxy or superglue
- ink (more on that later)

Instruments:
- grinder (Dremel, etc.) with a cutting wheel (you can try a small monkey)
- various screwdrivers, wrenches, hexagons
- drill
— hot air gun

Step 1. Disassemble the printer

The first thing I did was remove the rear paper output tray. After that, you need to remove the front tray, side panels and then the main body.

The photos below show the detailed process of disassembling the printer:

Step 2. Remove the internal elements of the printer

After the printer case is removed, it is necessary to remove some of the internal elements of the printer. First, you need to remove the paper feed sensor. In the future, we will need it, so do not damage it when removing it.

Then, it is necessary to remove the central pressure rollers, because. they can interfere with PCB feeding. In principle, the side rollers can also be removed.

And finally, you need to remove the print head cleaning mechanism. The mechanism is held on by latches and is removed very simply, but when removing, be very careful, because. It has different tubes.

Disassembly of the printer is complete. Now let's start his "lifting".

Step 3: Remove the printhead platform

We begin the process of upgrading the printer. Work requires accuracy and the use of protective equipment (eyes must be protected!).

First you need to unscrew the rail, which is screwed with two bolts (see photo above). Unscrewed? We put it aside, we will still need it.

Now notice the 2 bolts near the head cleaning mechanism. We also unscrew them. However, on the left side it is done a little differently, where you can cut off the fasteners.
To remove the entire platform with the head, first, carefully inspect everything and mark with a marker those places where it will be necessary to cut the metal. And then carefully cut the metal with a hand grinder (Dremel, etc.)

Step 4: Cleaning the print head

This step is optional, but since the printer has been completely disassembled, it's best to clean the print head right away. Moreover, there is nothing complicated in this. For this purpose, I used ordinary ear sticks and glass cleaner.

Step 5: Installing the Printhead Platform Part 1

After everything is disassembled and cleaned, it is time to assemble the printer, taking into account the necessary clearance for printing on textolite. Or, as the jeepers say, “lifting” (i.e. lifting). The amount of lifting depends entirely on the material you are going to print on. In my modification of the printer, I planned to use a steel material feeder with textolite attached to it. The thickness of the material supply platform (steel) was 1.5 mm, the thickness of the foil textolite, from which I usually made boards, was also 1.5 mm. However, I decided that the head shouldn't press too hard on the material, so I chose around 9mm for the gap. Moreover, sometimes I print on double-sided textolite, which is slightly thicker than single-sided.

In order to make it easier for me to control the level of lift, I decided to use washers and nuts, the thickness of which I measured with a caliper. Also, I bought some long bolts and nuts for them. I started with the front feed system.

Step 6 Installing the Printhead Platform Part 2

Before installing the print head platform, small jumpers must be made. I made them from the corners, which I sawed into 2 parts (see photo above). Of course, you can make them yourself.

After, I marked the holes for drilling in the printer. The bottom holes are easy to mark and drill. Then, immediately screwed the brackets into place.

The next step is to mark and drill the upper holes in the platform, this is somewhat more difficult to do, because. everything should be on the same level. To do this, I put a couple of nuts at the docking points of the platform with the base of the printer. Using a level, make sure the platform is level. We mark the holes, drill and tighten with bolts.

Step 7 Lifting the Print Head Cleaning Mechanism

When the printer finishes printing, the head is “parked” in the head cleaning mechanism where the head nozzles are cleaned to prevent them from drying out and clogging. This mechanism also needs to be raised a little.

I fixed this mechanism with the help of two corners (see photo above).

Step 8: Feed System

At this stage, we will consider the manufacturing process of the supply system and the installation of the material supply sensor.

When designing the feed system, the first problem was the installation of a material feed sensor. Without this sensor, the printer would not function, but where and how to install it? As the paper passes through the printer, this sensor tells the printer controller when the top of the paper passes, and based on this data, the printer calculates the exact position of the paper. The feed sensor is a conventional photo sensor with an emitting diode. When passing paper (in our case material), the beam in the sensor is interrupted.
For the sensor and feed system, I decided to make a platform out of plywood.

As you can see in the photo above, I glued several layers of plywood together in order to make the feed flush with the printer. In the far corner of the platform, I fixed the feed sensor through which the material will pass. In the plywood, I made a small cut to insert the sensor.

The next task was the need to make guides. For this, I used aluminum corners, which I glued to plywood. It is important that all angles are clearly 90 degrees and the guides are strictly parallel to each other. As a feed material, I used an aluminum sheet, on which copper-plated textolite will be laid and fixed for printing.

I made the material feed sheet from an aluminum sheet. I tried to make the sheet size approximately equal to A4 format. After reading a little on the Internet about the operation of the paper feed sensor and the printer as a whole, I found out that for the printer to work correctly, it is necessary to make a small cutout in the corner of the material feed sheet so that the sensor works a little later than the feed rollers start spinning. The length of the cut was about 90mm.

After everything was done, I fixed a regular sheet of paper on the feed sheet, installed all the drivers on the computer and made a test print on a regular sheet.

Step 9: Refill the ink cartridge

The last part of the printer modification is devoted to ink. Conventional Epson ink is not resistant to chemical processes that occur during etching of the printed circuit board. Therefore, special ink is needed, they are called Mis Pro yellow ink. However, this ink may not be suitable for other printers (non-Epson), because. other types of printheads may be used there (Epson uses a piezoelectric printhead). The online store inksupply.com has delivery to Russia.

In addition to ink, I bought new cartridges, although of course you can use the old ones if you wash them well. Naturally, to refill the cartridges, you will also need an ordinary syringe. Also, I bought a special device for resetting printer cartridges (blue in the photo).

Step 10. Tests

Now let's move on to the print tests. In the Eagle design program, I made several printables, with tracks of various thicknesses.

You can judge the quality of the print from the photos above. Below is a video of the print:

Step 11 Etching

For etching boards made by this method, only a solution of ferric chloride is suitable. Other etching methods (copper sulfate, hydrochloric acid, etc.) may corrode Mis Pro yellow ink. When etching with ferric chloride, it is better to heat the printed circuit board with a heat gun, this speeds up the etching process, and so on. less ink layer "eats away".

The heating temperature, proportions and duration of etching are selected empirically.

Earlier, we reviewed the process of converting an Epson printer from the C80 series (Epson C84). In this article, we will consider another model.

Direct print printers

Many radio amateurs are thinking about how to simplify the process of manufacturing printed circuit boards:

1.Reduce the amount of manual labor;

2. Eliminate errors and shortcomings when manually drawing tracks;

3.Speed up the board creation cycle.

In the classic version, the manufacture of a printed circuit board involves:

1.Design;

2. Manual drawing of tracks;

3.Etching;

4.Drilling holes;

5.Tinning;

One of the stages can be automated no worse than in factory production - printing circuit boards.

Printing can be entrusted to a conventional inkjet or laser printer, but with minor modifications to the latter.

Some craftsmen were able to adapt laser printers for printing on textolite, but the printing process is quite complicated, as is the process of remaking the device itself. The process of reworking any inkjet printer can be called simpler and more understandable.

Classic rework algorithm

In most cases, the following general sequence of steps applies:

1. Case analysis;

2. Removing the printhead cleaning mechanism (nozzles) - if necessary (some cleaning systems can be displaced inside the housing so that they do not require alteration);

3. Removing the paper feed mechanism;

4. Removing the paper feed sensor;

5. Raising the printing mechanism or constructive modification of the housing for printing a straight surface;

6.Construction of a tray with a field for printing;

7. Adaptation of the sheet feed mechanism (rework for the movement of the entire tray or a hard field for printing);

8. Connecting the feed sensor according to the new design;

9.Installation of the cleaning system (if necessary);

10. Installing the printer software into the operating system and connecting it to a PC;

12. Printing (it is assumed that the textolite is positioned correctly, it is heated, dried, etc.).

Remake Epson R1400

The instruction may be applicable to such models as:

1390;
1410;
L1800;
1500W.

The specified model can print on A3 sheets (297 × 420 mm) with high resolution in color. If desired, you can install a continuous ink supply system (CISS), which will greatly facilitate the process of refilling the cartridges with the desired ink and eliminate the need to reset the cartridges (today, almost all cartridges are equipped with a complex anti-tampering system). The last fact is very important, because all actions may not have the desired effect just because the printer refuses to work with handicraft refilled cartridges.

A converted printer may be suitable not only for printing on textolite. It can be used for design work on drawing images on fabrics, tiles, wood, etc.

Rice. 1. Epson R1400

Algorithm:

1. Remove the cover (unscrew all the retaining screws);

Rice. 2. Removing the printer body

2. Turn off the cable to the control panel.

Rice. 4. Disable the loop to the control panel

The output should look like this.

3. Turn off the paper feed sensor.

Rice. 7. Disabling the paper feed sensor

4.Remove the pressure springs from the paper feed mechanism.

Rice. 8. Pressure springs with paper feed mechanism

5. We take out the pressure plates.

6. Disconnect the connectors.

Rice. 9. Disconnecting connectors

7. We disassemble the body to the end.

8. We redo the lower part (cut it). It turns out like this.

Rice. 10. Removing the printer body

9. Install back the frame with the printing mechanism.

Rice. 11. Installing the frame with the printing mechanism

10. We make a frame (options may be different, it is needed as an alternative to a single frame that will house the tray and the broach system).

Rice. 12. Bed

11. In this case, the movement of the lower tray is carried out on special guides, the broach mechanism is implemented on stepper motors (the movement of the tray must be coordinated with the movement of the sheet during normal feeding, this is done due to the correct selection of diameters and the gear ratio of the gears, the control signal is taken from the standard control connector submission).

Alternatively, furniture guides can be used.

Rice. 14. Furniture rails

Rice. 15. Tray scroll mechanism

Rice. 16. Tray scroll mechanism

13. Tray height adjuster option (required to adjust print surface location to print head height).

Rice. 17. Tray height adjustment option

Rice. 18. Final Direct Print Printer

15.To work with the printer, it is proposed to install alternative software - AcroRIP.

Now you have a direct printer ready to print on virtually any horizontal surface.

The only ink suitable for the etching process is Mis Pro yellow ink. Before printing, it is best to warm up the textolite with a hairdryer (after printing, you can additionally dry it). Etching should only be done in ferric chloride solution.

Publication date: 04.02.2018

Readers' opinions

Kairat / 08.01.2020 - 09:19
Hello, I would like to remake my Epson L800 printer. Can you help me with this? My number is 89307964557
Dmitry / 11/17/2019 - 10:54
I need a conversion of the a3 printer for printing CDs. An example of what you need to get as an output - https://youtu.be/QKifizrSI7s 89254495767
Eugene / 06/30/2019 - 16:50
I need to redo the printer, looking for a master [email protected]
Marina / 28.05.2019 - 15:58
Good afternoon, the author of the article, please respond????
Alvard / 18.05.2019 - 20:08
I want to convert canon to widescreen. It is necessary for drawing on drywall a meter by 70 centimeters. The carriage with the PG will move along the "meter". Understood so that you need to change the software. But this is probably not a simple matter even in terms of the programmer. And where to hook it up? Will AcroRIP work? Thank you for your reply to [email protected]
Artur / 20.03.2019 - 11:34
I need to convert the printer for direct printing, help me find a good specialist who can do it! thank you very much! 8495-978-8338, 8901-517-8338, mail [email protected] Sincerely, Arthur!
Ilya / 13.03.2019 - 00:29
Hello, who remade the Epson T50 for a tablet, tell me what happened ?!
GENNADY / 09/07/2018 - 15:49
and the software - AcroRIP ALLOWS TO MANAGE THE ENTIRE TRAY WHEN PRINTING IS OCCURRED. WITHOUT CONTROL BY OPTOPOCULAR SENSORS.
Ilgiz / 22.08.2018 - 23:34
Have you tried converting the Epson SureColor SC-P6000 Plotter to a tablet?
Ruslan / 24.03.2018 - 14:06
Please tell me. What material was used to grip the drive shaft? Also, where can I get a rip?