With all the interest in 3D printer and large communities building their own printers, where are the amateur 2D printers? Did we just jump to 3D printing because it was cooler (which I also admit is amaizing)?
I just want a basic 2D inkjet or laser printer that doesn’t stop printing because magenta is low or doesn’t waste ink to “clean” the print head, nor make up weird errors because it doesn’t have access to the internet.
What about printers without ink? Would it be too hard/complicated to use a lower power laser (instead of a laser cutter) to burn/scorch a thin micrometric, if not nanometric, layer of normal everyday printing/copy white paper?
As a child, I remember scorching magazine/journal paper and all sorts of wood materials with my grandmother’s handheld magnifying lens under the summer sun in the yard. I was able to draw stuff without burning some of the material completely.
Laser printers have existed for a long time and they don’t use ink, but they do use toner. I’m gonna assume just scorching the paper has been proven to be a bad idea, because someone would have tried to market a toner-free printer by now otherwise.
My best guess is that it’s very hard to scorch paper to a color anywhere near black without creating a serious fire hazard. Even if you could calibrate the laser just right, the next batch of paper could burn because it has a slightly different weight, texture, or composition.
You’d probably end up being special paper stuff something in it that turns black at a fairly low temperature. That’s pretty common for things like receipt printers.
Zink Paper is an alternative but nowhere as cheap as regular paper+ink
The paper has several layers: a backing layer with optional pressure sensitive adhesive, heat-sensitive layers with cyan, magenta and yellow dyes in colorless form, and an overcoat.
It’s not their printers which are hated, it’s their business model of selling overpriced ink and toner cartridges to a price that’s higher than champagne prices and using technical devices to make it impossible to use other toner sources, firmware to make printers stop working when ink runs anywhere near low (they define ‘low’ as 33% ink left), while at the same time ensuring that as much ink and toner as possible are wasted through unnecessary testing and calibration and cleaning processes.
No, we hate their fucking printers as well. Non-removable printheads and automatic retraction to try to stop you from unclogging their shit hardware. I’d also include the firmware in critique of their printers, what you mention above, as well as limiting black printing if color is low (even with dedicated black cartridges). Arbitrarily restricting scanning on some models, etc.
Lots of people do. And let me blow your mind some more: Lots of countries still use fax machines, for whatever unholy reason. Those things can be a pain in the ass to troubleshoot sometimes.
Home printing isn’t necessary most of the time nowadays since everything is online. But a lot of corporate/office/industrial/professional type work environments print A LOT of stuff. They still need to buy printers and ink and get them serviced etc.
I am a professional photocopier technician, focusing on office sized, but also desktop laser photocopiers. I am certified in HP, Lexmark, various Xerox models, and various Canon photocopiers.
Ricoh, we just bought a big one for our volunteer office and it has NOT been a PITA for six whole weeks. No attention needed from me, the elderly and/or technology illiterate volunteers print all day with zero stress. Thank you, Ricoh, you beautiful. golden. Bastards.
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