Direct PCB printer

by Freddy Chang

May 15, 2012

Here I'll post step by step modification on my Epson S22/T22 to a PCB printer.

Below is a Epson S22/T22:

Taking bits apart:

Up to this point I test-printed a page to see if the printer works as before..

Power Module off:

Pull the pins/plug off the board, then pull the power module out.

I put 2 washers under each point where the screws are, to raise the X-rail or the head rail, 1 washer = 1.04mm...

I got an error and my guess was that I raised the rail a bit too high, so I changed the washers to a thinner one, 1 washer = 0.75mm. Some people would raise the printer Head rest mechanism the same height as the washers, but I'm not doing that.

Test print:

Just few minutes ago I was trying out Epson printing options to get the best result of black ink on to the copper clad board, started by choosing Quality option---> photo the paper option--->Epson Photo--->print, then back to paper option--> Epson Glossy-->print and so on. The one that I prefer the most were Photo + plain paper, before printing I use a piece of sand paper fine grade and sand it over the copper clad so that the ink stick better, see the result

this is the jpg image file:

Adding Aluminium railings for PCB feed.

I used glue gun to hold the left rail to the printer housing, is faster.

Now build the right rail, this rail is not glued on to the housing.

Here is the dimension of the rails:

Updates:


Washer fits under the screw:

PCB board feeding video:


@00:11 sec, I pull and push the board twice quickly to trigger the plastic lever for 'paper loaded', then the rollers pulls the board in. If you would push once sometime it will not detect properly and printer will assume that paper is not loaded.

 

Paper detection sensor upclose:

  • Ignatia

    Just imagine,michael kors outket a printed in the shop will only

    May 29, 2012

  • Freddy Chang

    was that sentence complete?

    May 30, 2012

  • tataee drt

    Hey, today i modified my s22 printer... and i fot some questions... first of all i want to ask if you modified the position of the read sensor on the right side of the printer... the one that reads one of the tooth wheel? Are you sure abiut the height of the washers? I've used 2 washers but with diferrent height, the 2 washers i ve used are the same height as thebcoper plate... now the printer does't print on the pcb directly, it only prints on a piece of thicker paper... Another thing i want to ask ia about the printer feed process... my modified printer does't print all the time... i feed the paper manually. after i press print on computer, i start to push the paper until it reaches the paper presence sensor, then the primter pull all the paper sheet, but it doesn tnprint anything. please if yoy can reply to my questions so i can figure it out... thank you!

    Jun 8, 2012

  • Freddy Chang

    @ tataee drt,

                       you asked: 'first of all i want to ask if you modified the position of the read sensor on the right side of the printer'

                        me: nop I did not modify the position of the read sensor( encoder sensor).

                       you asked: 'Are you sure about the height of the washers? I've used 2 washers but with diferrent height, the 2 washers i ve used are the same height as thebcoper plate'

                        me: I first tried the metal washers but it was a bit too thick, this mean that the printer head is raised high and if you raise it too high it will alarm another word "printer error" prompt appears, this happen when the printer head cannot detect/sense when returns to the far right where the 'printer Head rest mechanism' is for head cleaning, if you look carefully when performing head cleaning, printer head moves to the right, if the sponge is far apart from the printer head, alarm prompt will show, this is my conclusion after testing for 5 hours seeing it printing and cleaning over and over again. The answer to this question is to change the metal washer to a Red pad washer used in the PC motherboards where the pad sits between the screw and the motherboard. will show pic later. The Red pad washer is about 0.75mm thick, and I used 2 for each screw point.

                       you asked: 'Another thing i want to ask is about the printer feed process... my modified printer doesn't print all the time... i feed the paper manually. after i press print on computer, i start to push the paper until it reaches the paper presence sensor, then the printer pull all the paper sheet, but it doesn't print anything'

                          me: This this the trickiest part. The paper feed sensor is the crucial bits you need to deal with, how do I do it? load the picture or layout you want to print, click print tab, and the printer starts moving to the left (the encoder side) at the same time flick the sensor plastic lever to let the printer know that the paper is loaded, and let the roller feed the board for printing. I'll try uploading a video on PCB feed.

    hope this answer your questions, and if you like this topic please click 'Like', cheers.

    Jun 9, 2012