Printer Deconstruction
Subject: Printer Parts
I've had the pleasure of deconstructing a few printers lately. Two in particular
were especially useful in the small bucket of parts that resulted.
The two, one an HP 970 and an HP 1120C were very nearly identical except for the
width of the 1120C that could take up to 11" or 13" wide paper. The electronics
and motors were the same for each. The only real difference was the price
difference of about $250 for the larger one. HP has to be making a pile of money
on these printers.
The real bonus was the linear encoder strip and photo sensor used to determine
the carriage position. I've been using a lower resolution pair in my mill-drill
driving a Red Lion quadrature counter to give me the "Z" position of the quill.
I could only read to 0.01" resolution, which was a good ballpark indication, but
not good enough for fussy work.
The new salvaged strips and optical detectors allowed me to read to 0.001"
resolution. Very nice and useful, especially for my latest sapphire puller
project. I already have readouts on the X and Y table positions, so now all I
have to add is another readout for RPM of the variable speed DC spindle motor.
Not needed, but why not?
A lot of the other printers I've salvaged have metric bar and parts. These two
have some very nice, polished 0.5" bars that have some potential use in some
other project. I have a box of stepper motors that I hand out to visiting kids,
so those aren't particularly worth saving, just that I have a place to put them.
Earle Rich
Mont Vernon, NH
Happier with my Canon S9000 with the cheaper ink cassettes
I've had the pleasure of deconstructing a few printers lately. Two in particular
were especially useful in the small bucket of parts that resulted.
The two, one an HP 970 and an HP 1120C were very nearly identical except for the
width of the 1120C that could take up to 11" or 13" wide paper. The electronics
and motors were the same for each. The only real difference was the price
difference of about $250 for the larger one. HP has to be making a pile of money
on these printers.
The real bonus was the linear encoder strip and photo sensor used to determine
the carriage position. I've been using a lower resolution pair in my mill-drill
driving a Red Lion quadrature counter to give me the "Z" position of the quill.
I could only read to 0.01" resolution, which was a good ballpark indication, but
not good enough for fussy work.
The new salvaged strips and optical detectors allowed me to read to 0.001"
resolution. Very nice and useful, especially for my latest sapphire puller
project. I already have readouts on the X and Y table positions, so now all I
have to add is another readout for RPM of the variable speed DC spindle motor.
Not needed, but why not?
A lot of the other printers I've salvaged have metric bar and parts. These two
have some very nice, polished 0.5" bars that have some potential use in some
other project. I have a box of stepper motors that I hand out to visiting kids,
so those aren't particularly worth saving, just that I have a place to put them.
Earle Rich
Mont Vernon, NH
Happier with my Canon S9000 with the cheaper ink cassettes