If you're experimenting with your reprap, you will probably want to modify your electronics. Breadboarding doesn't work for SMD components so you need to build your own PCB. Making a Homebrew PCB has many advantages such as instant gratification and low cost. There are many different techniques but the fastest/easiest/cheapest way is to use an inkjet printer capable of directly printing on CDsby fullspeceng - Controllers
My thought was that lowered powered lasers were cheaper and thus more prevelant. This laser was built to cut/etch things. Once I saw how easy it was to modify, I hoped it could be a useful sintering platform.by fullspeceng - Laser Cutter Working Group
We're making some medium power 50W CO2 lasers that would be useful for developing your own laser sintering system. These have XY axis + motorized Z up/down table. All inputs are simple step/direction stepper motors and limits switches on all 3 axes. Right now we're just selling them for CNC users but with a roller they could quickly be converted to reprap CO2 laser sintering. We run them on aby fullspeceng - Laser Cutter Working Group
Obviously they have both investors and creditors that need to be paid back. Surely their responsibility is to sell the company for as much as possible and refund their investors/creditors. I don't approve of asking a commerical company to give away things for free. It is much like an annoying street beggar. It is one thing for a university that uses public government funds or individuals thatby fullspeceng - General
Has anyone noticed Desktop Factory has gone bust: Too bad as I think $5000 was a very reasonable price for a push button 3d printer. Also has anyone noticed that the MIT 3Dp patent is up for expiration next year (April 20, 2010): I think we will see a lot more inkjet binder copies soon. Right now I can control HP inkjet and Xaar heads easily. Maybe I can sell the kit for $2000 like the Rapby fullspeceng - General
Thanks for pointing it out. It appears as light blue on IE7 and IE8 but it does look black on blue on Google Chrome. Not sure why but we will look into it.by fullspeceng - General
I don't think international shipping should be that difficult. I order things from ledshoppe.com all the time. It's amazing how I can buy a usb bluetooth adapter and have it shipped from Hong Kong for $3 shipping included! They just use paypal for money and I don't see why you can't do the same next time.by fullspeceng - General
Wow. Dude I would have just sent you the information you needed if you asked. Next time send me $120 instead lolby fullspeceng - General
The problem with other inkjet heads is that the holder or datasheets are not available. You could hack it and maybe it will work but then no one else is going to be able to reproduce your results. My goal is just to provide an easy source for the holders and possibly make a pcb for others to use. The current PCB is so simple that you can breadboard it except the FFC connector pitch is tiny andby fullspeceng - General
Here's the schematics and pcb. You can simplify the routing and make it a single sided pcb board.by fullspeceng - General
No the HP 51640 is the only cartridge that I have full datasheets for since it was published in the Inkjet Applications manual. It's available in black, red, and blue. You can probably refill it with your own color to get CMYK with 4 carts as you said. I also have full datasheets and manuals for the Xaar heads so I can make a product for that easily also but there needs to be enough demand forby fullspeceng - General
The Epson heads use a special drive signal that is protected by a patent so I can't make a driver for it. At least two other people have successfully driven them but few have bothered to copy the results because of the complicated electronics. You need a high speed DAC + current driver + it's not really legal. The HP is open source and uses a single simple pulse so no problems there. Anotherby fullspeceng - General
You can shoot ink several inches but 2mm is recommended for best quality. If your goal is painting it probably doesn't matter as much. The ink carts only come in red,blue,black from Amazon.by fullspeceng - General
I will post the circuit shortly. It's always nice to have something that looks good before you show it. It is very simple. Just get a ULN2803 chip. Hook up 24V to pin 10, gnd to pin9 and pins 1-8 to the TTL microcontroller and pins 11-18 to the inkjet head. Each pairs of pins fires 1 nozzle. The biggest advantage is it only requires ONE chip and a few wires. All the other circuits I have sby fullspeceng - General
As a service to the hobby community, I'm offering an inkjet kit in the near future. Here's some videos and details in the descriptions: Anyway, right now I can sell the heads + ffc connector. It would be nice to have a small SMD circuit to mount to the reprap and I'll post the schematics and hope someone can help layout the board/program the code. Right now it's on a parallax propeller butby fullspeceng - General