Introducing the InkShield

I first introduced this shield two months ago at a Dorkbot Seattle meeting and have since made several revisions which I showed at Ignite Seattle/ ThingOut.

I have now launched a Kickstarter project to gather backing to launch this product.

This shield allows you to connect a HP C6602 inkjet cartridge to your Arduino turning it into a 96dpi print platform. It only uses 5 pins which can be jumper selected to avoid other shields. It is designed with a Arduino Mega footprint but fully supports both the Arduino and the Arduino Mega. It is designed with all through-hole components to make assembly easy even for beginners.

All source code (both hardware and software) will be fully Open Source and released when the initial production run is completed.

DIY Inkjet Printer

This quarter at the UW we produced some documentation on the development of a DIY inkjet printer.  This was partly in response to the fact that there are no DIY inkjet kits available.  There was a kit available from Parallax however it is no longer made and the main book that was written to go with it is now out of print.

The goal of this project was to develop a low cost, open source inkjet printer utilizing standard inkjet technology, for personal use. This project was partly in response to the fact that there are no DIY inkjet kits available. There was a kit available from Parallax parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/robo/InkjetKitDocs-v1.0.pdf. This kit is no longer made and the book amazon.com/Inkjet-Applications-Matt-Gilliland/dp/0972015930 that was written to use that kit is now out of print.
The prototype design used a carriage assembly constructed from steel rods that were assembled using connectors that can be printed on an FDM machine. The entire carriage system is driven along the x-axis by a belt attached to a stepper motor. The print cartridge, taken from an HP point of sale printer, is driven along the y-axis by another stepper motor belt drive. The electronic controls use an Arduino Mega to run all of the printing systems.
The design resulted in a working prototype that fulfills all of the design constraints. The rod frame carriage design is lightweight, easy to assemble and easy to integrate with the other systems. The Arduino used in the electronics has a large library of resources available to perform things like LCD, SD card, and stepper control.
Areas where future work should be focused include making molds and casting printable parts to bring down the overall cost, developing host side software, and optimizing the speed.

The documentation is being released as a thing on Thingiverse, a photo album and a video.

Arduino and an Inkjet Cartridge

I have started experimenting with Arduinos and electronics.  This involved buying a Arduino Mega, breadboard wires, PCBs, and some other assorted goodies.

I have managed to get my Arduino to talk to a inkjet cartridge and spray ink.

This is going to be a part of my senior project at the UW, more on that later :-)