Jumpshoutmedia
New Member
After getting into 3D printing and learning about how 3D printers, inkjets, routers, etc are all very similar in how they function, the thought came to me..
My Roland XC540 is basically 95% of a flatbed printer, and (in very over-simplified terms) the only fundamental difference is that conventional ink jets advance roll-stock using grit/pressure rollers.. driven by a stepper motor, whereas flatbed printers have to either travel over the media, or the media has to travel beneath the printer, and this motion is also driven by stepper motors (using a belt, leadscrew, or other similar methods).
So my crazy idea was, why cant a conventional inkjet be made to accommodate flat, rigid, sheet stock by coming up with a means of transporting the stock through the printer while at the same time allowing it to remain straight and well supported on both sides of the printer by some sort of "bed"?
In basic terms, my idea would go something like the following..
Build a bed that's the height of the printers platen (spelling). The front section of bed could be built like a conveyor belt, driven by a set of sprockets and a chain.
The media could be firmly attached to the belt at the end that's furthest from the printer.
Then the belts drive motor could be plugged into the printer where the grit rollers motor usually plugs in (considering you've made sure the electronics aspects are compatible, and the final movement of the media matches the stock movement (1mm = 1mm).
So as the printer tells the stepper to advance the media, instead of turning the grit rollers, it advances the bed/conveyor.
If the conveyor motor is strong enough, it should be able to move flat sheet media backwards and forwards to match the printers demands for media movement, and theoretically, the printer wouldn't know the difference.
Now I know this all sounds good on paper, and there's likely a lot more to it, but I'm just curious if any of you guys who might have more advanced experience working with stepper motorsa and inkjet kinematics could weigh in here and let me know if this even sounds feasible, and if there are any obvious reasons why it wouldn't be possible.
One thing I just thought of for instance is, can you control things like the acceleration, feedrate, jerk, etc for this one axis anywhere on a stock, unmodified inkjet (Like a Roland XC540)? Because that's one setting that I would think you might need to slow down, so the conveyer motor isn't trying to launch a full 4x10' sheet of alumalite through the printer as if it were a roll of sign vinyl.
So, any thoughts?
My Roland XC540 is basically 95% of a flatbed printer, and (in very over-simplified terms) the only fundamental difference is that conventional ink jets advance roll-stock using grit/pressure rollers.. driven by a stepper motor, whereas flatbed printers have to either travel over the media, or the media has to travel beneath the printer, and this motion is also driven by stepper motors (using a belt, leadscrew, or other similar methods).
So my crazy idea was, why cant a conventional inkjet be made to accommodate flat, rigid, sheet stock by coming up with a means of transporting the stock through the printer while at the same time allowing it to remain straight and well supported on both sides of the printer by some sort of "bed"?
In basic terms, my idea would go something like the following..
Build a bed that's the height of the printers platen (spelling). The front section of bed could be built like a conveyor belt, driven by a set of sprockets and a chain.
The media could be firmly attached to the belt at the end that's furthest from the printer.
Then the belts drive motor could be plugged into the printer where the grit rollers motor usually plugs in (considering you've made sure the electronics aspects are compatible, and the final movement of the media matches the stock movement (1mm = 1mm).
So as the printer tells the stepper to advance the media, instead of turning the grit rollers, it advances the bed/conveyor.
If the conveyor motor is strong enough, it should be able to move flat sheet media backwards and forwards to match the printers demands for media movement, and theoretically, the printer wouldn't know the difference.
Now I know this all sounds good on paper, and there's likely a lot more to it, but I'm just curious if any of you guys who might have more advanced experience working with stepper motorsa and inkjet kinematics could weigh in here and let me know if this even sounds feasible, and if there are any obvious reasons why it wouldn't be possible.
One thing I just thought of for instance is, can you control things like the acceleration, feedrate, jerk, etc for this one axis anywhere on a stock, unmodified inkjet (Like a Roland XC540)? Because that's one setting that I would think you might need to slow down, so the conveyer motor isn't trying to launch a full 4x10' sheet of alumalite through the printer as if it were a roll of sign vinyl.
So, any thoughts?
