- Joined
- Mar 30, 2023
Do you think we're at the point where we could devise a way to make diy 2d printers, using ink or toner or something else?
How hard would it be to build your own 2d printer? - I'm not paying for a fucking subscription to use my ink cartridges
- Thread starter Betonhaus
- Start date
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🔧 Actively working on site again.
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2020
It's amazing because you can actually do this in a VARIETY OF WAYS! There are "plotting printers", but you'd need specific kinds of files to use them. Plotter printers are already commercially available (One is a Sneed-JET Brand, lol)
So what you have to ask yourself is, what do I want to print, and how do I want to print it? How deep do I want to go in this project? Can you write C or ASM code to write device drivers? Do you instead want to modify existing hardware, such as a 3D printer or a Cricut machine, and force it to print for you? Because you fucking CAN. I actually had a cricut machine just print things for me using ballpoint pens for a while, that shit was fun.
You can also modify a 3D printer to become a 2D plotter printer/drawing machine, but the file will have to be a specific type of file for it to understand to draw the output. What's cool about this is that it can be infinitely scaleable and use ANY writing implement. I've done it. It's fucking cool. You can use the Cricut to do the same thing on a much smaller scale, but the Cricut will have lame software you have to use for it. There's another at-home CNC machine people use, can't remember the name, I have an ancient cricut I use for all my weird experiments. *edit: it's called a silhouette machine, no IoT trash included in it. The best would probably be a DIY plotter because you would have complete control over what you could do with it.
Your best bet with printing hardware will be something that holds a pen and draws versus something that does CMYK. That part is complicated and will be more of a level 2/3 project. I would aim for a toner printer, though, if you do feel the need to experiment, just because it's one less thing to figure out. A black-and-white laser printer will ultimately have fewer things to figure out if something goes wrong versus a more modern inkjet. Also hit up the goodwill and look for printers, that's what I did. There are always spare parts there.
Look into refills for your current printer. There are entire communities dedicated to defeating the DRM on these machines. Sometimes, it's as simple as blocking the sensor with a sticker or refilling the same cartridge with new ink from Amazon. Look for dumb printers whenever possible; they'll work like beasts and offer few features, but fewer features leave little room for DRM.
So what you have to ask yourself is, what do I want to print, and how do I want to print it? How deep do I want to go in this project? Can you write C or ASM code to write device drivers? Do you instead want to modify existing hardware, such as a 3D printer or a Cricut machine, and force it to print for you? Because you fucking CAN. I actually had a cricut machine just print things for me using ballpoint pens for a while, that shit was fun.
You can also modify a 3D printer to become a 2D plotter printer/drawing machine, but the file will have to be a specific type of file for it to understand to draw the output. What's cool about this is that it can be infinitely scaleable and use ANY writing implement. I've done it. It's fucking cool. You can use the Cricut to do the same thing on a much smaller scale, but the Cricut will have lame software you have to use for it. There's another at-home CNC machine people use, can't remember the name, I have an ancient cricut I use for all my weird experiments. *edit: it's called a silhouette machine, no IoT trash included in it. The best would probably be a DIY plotter because you would have complete control over what you could do with it.
Your best bet with printing hardware will be something that holds a pen and draws versus something that does CMYK. That part is complicated and will be more of a level 2/3 project. I would aim for a toner printer, though, if you do feel the need to experiment, just because it's one less thing to figure out. A black-and-white laser printer will ultimately have fewer things to figure out if something goes wrong versus a more modern inkjet. Also hit up the goodwill and look for printers, that's what I did. There are always spare parts there.
Look into refills for your current printer. There are entire communities dedicated to defeating the DRM on these machines. Sometimes, it's as simple as blocking the sensor with a sticker or refilling the same cartridge with new ink from Amazon. Look for dumb printers whenever possible; they'll work like beasts and offer few features, but fewer features leave little room for DRM.
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2023
They're called laser printers. Solve any issues you have with "ink".
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2024
Seriously. If you only need to print black and white documents (like most people), then buy a Brother laser printer second-hand and buy some refurbished toner cartridges on eBay. It's not too pricy, the toner lasts a long time, and it won't go stale from not using it.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2018
As others have said, get an old laser printer for twenty bucks somewhere. I have an ancient NEC that speaks post script so it doesn't even need drivers and even works with old DOS machines as it has both a parallel- and an USB port. If these are "broken" it's usually the mechanism pulling the paper in being smeared with toner and other assorted dirt, which makes it not grab onto the paper well and leads to very frequent paper jams. Wiping the rolls with some soapy water takes care of that.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2020
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2024
Basically anything laser will work forever. Get the one with cartrige+drum in one piece. That way when you swap out, you get good print. Used cannon mf4150 I got for free has 81k prints and still works. Put in clone cartridge and it's happy. Also taped over the toner level sensor so it thinks it's always full, you can print till there's no toner on paper left. You shake it and it's good for another 500 copies.
Just Some Other Guy
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2018
Have had a Brother printer for about 7 years now, best decision ever, at least for documents.
No bullshit cartridge scams. Better quality printing. Extremely fast. Could never go back to inkjet.
No bullshit cartridge scams. Better quality printing. Extremely fast. Could never go back to inkjet.
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2023
I do have a Brother HL-2270DW but after upgrading my desktop to Linux Mint 22 then rolling it back to 21.3 it can no longer print to it. Using my server as a cups bridge works fine tho.
I just want HP to die, and open source printing options would make that go faster
I just want HP to die, and open source printing options would make that go faster
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2018
Aim for devices that used to be advertised to small businesses, you can usually recognize them by having lots of connection options for devices and paper cardridges. Avoid x-in-one devices. They also usually looks like business devices, so boring and ugly with shitty but robust membrane switches. Be aware that the fuser and drum unit is something that inevitably wears down on these, it's usually visible by the toner not attaching evenly to prints anymore ("lines" going down the page that are somewhat brighter). Something you can counteract by upping the contrast/toner usage in the settings. If you are in a position to do so, you can also ask the seller to print a completely black page to see where the printer in question is at. Most used units, especially coming from businesses, will have some kind of wear but it's usually not that bad, especially if all you do is have to print some letter or posting label occasionally, as these devices were made for much higher throughputs. Decide with how much imperfection you can live with according to price. I just needed to clean my printer and the degradation I could counteract with more contrast. I'm still on the toner it came with. For twenty bucks, I can live with all that.