Dominik Meffert
I tried to print a few pictures using water mixed with color. Since the last test with color I've increased the speed by optimizing the software and driver electronics and I solved the issue of continuous ink supply with a closed ink supply cycle and a peristaltic pump.
The resolution has not changed since then.
The next thing I will try is building a better printer design for 4 color/cmyk printing and writing the software for it.
Some things to add/test in the future:
- Increase the resolution with the use of a smaller nozzle and optimized piezo control
- Simplifying the piezo driver electronics
- Building a system to print with melted wax like:
https://reprap.org/wiki/Heated_Piezo_for_Jetting_Wax
- Continue working on a multi nozzle design for increased printing speed.
Discussions
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Maybe use hypodermic needles and smaller piezo actuators for smaller droplets? I have thought about something like this but with long row of speakers from mobile phones, those are small... Then color.... Or maybe heated wax and try 3d prints?
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Hi,
the problem of a row of nozzles is,
when the drops are ejected at an angle or the distance between the nozzles is not exactly as in the gcode the drop positions are offset what ends up in poor print quality.
I've tried this with my 10 nozzle printhead which maybe needs a single nozzle plate to work as planned.
I've added your idea of printing wax to the build log. It's a good idea and could definitely be useful for some projects.
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I thought about it and I think the problem of my 10 nozzle printhead could be, that it is made of 10 single printheads stacked on top of each other. If I use a single 3D printed piece it could be better. Think the next thing I will try is a 4 color single piece printhead.
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Or some alignment pins between printheads. It would need some precision, it will be hard to do it without some cnc, even your acrylic plate could be not precise enough if you stack them. Single piece with all holes for nozzles made in one go (on a single machine) would probably be best. You could nullify some distortion from different angles by bringing your nozzles closer to paper. Developing some algorithms to print alignment stripes would help with badly aligned nozzles, but I think it will be harder than making single piece for nozzles.
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Yes I will try it on the next toolhead and printer design. Bringing the nozzles closer to the paper is also a good idea. Think I will make the nozzle hight adjustable.
Are you sure? yes | no