Why nobody has made an open source ink jet printer design like reprap, I will never understand. The printer industry seems primed for disruption with all their bullshit and their half century old technology.
The accuracy required for the ink droplets just isn’t there for prosumers.
I can (and have!) built multiple extruders for a variety of 3D printers. Some of my own design.
Sadly, the tolerances for an inkjet are at least an order of magnitude greater.
I have zero doubt that a few clever hardware hackers could design an open source inkjet printer. But A: They’d get sued back to the mesolithic by every printer company with a patent. And B: the process would likely involve micro machining your own hardware.
I’ve just said, “fuck it” to the entire industry. I’m in my early 40s and I’m reasonably sure that my Brother laser will outlive me. And possibly the heat death of the universe.
Why nobody has made an open source ink jet printer design like reprap, I will never understand. The printer industry seems primed for disruption with all their bullshit and their half century old technology.
Because when someone wants a printer, they want a tool, not a hobby.
…and now they get chains.
Or they buy a product that actually works and isn’t shit?
Until a big company realizes the most profitable thing to do is take that option off the table
The accuracy required for the ink droplets just isn’t there for prosumers.
I can (and have!) built multiple extruders for a variety of 3D printers. Some of my own design.
Sadly, the tolerances for an inkjet are at least an order of magnitude greater.
I have zero doubt that a few clever hardware hackers could design an open source inkjet printer. But A: They’d get sued back to the mesolithic by every printer company with a patent. And B: the process would likely involve micro machining your own hardware.
I’ve just said, “fuck it” to the entire industry. I’m in my early 40s and I’m reasonably sure that my Brother laser will outlive me. And possibly the heat death of the universe.
Patents expire after, what, 20 years? I’d be happy with an open source printer based on 20 year old technology.
I’d take a tractor fed dot-matrix printer over my current one just so I could play with the paper thingies on the edges.
You’ll pay an arm and a leg for tractor feed paper though.
Probably because they wouldn’t be as profitable.
HP could sell like a tenth the printers and still make more money