Monday, 15 August 2016

Re: [7x12minilathe] Test bar from inkjet printer

 

Hi Michael,
I agree with your comments, but being practical, there is no requirement for any shaft in a printer or copier to be truly circular in section - they only need to be "polygons of constant width" as used on some of our (UK) coins:


This shape has a constant diameter, but not a constant radius.  It is the difference between a precision diameter and a precision round (or diameter and circularity) - welcome to the world of geometric tolerancing!

A three lobe version of the shape is the usual section for ground stock and is the result of centre less grinding to a specified diameter, a cheaper process than grinding to a similar degree of circularity.

I would add a final comment:  As a long term collector of mechanical scrap, I have always been pleasantly surprised at the ease with which "printer rods" machine.  I have found them to be a very friendly material to work with.

All the best,
Ian

On 15 Aug 2016, at 02:32, Michael Buffington michael.buffington@gmail.com [7x12minilathe] <7x12minilathe@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

From my experiences with printer tear downs (100+) I've learned that it depends.

Cheap loss leader consumer grade inkjet printers aren't a great place to find precise parts. In fact, they work adequately using imprecise parts by design. That's one reason they're so cheap.

Business machines, on the hand, often have very precise parts. We're talking about Xerox color printers/copiers/multifunctional machines designed to serve 100's of people per day, operating continuously for 10+ hours per day.

A great place to find these beasts is through surplus auctions.

If you can get them cheap (under $150) you'll find a dozen or more very precise and sometimes hardened rods. But if that's all you need, you can probably find cheaper options.

Those machines have a lot of goodies though. Rotary encoders, servo motors, stepper motors, bearings, gears (delrin, brass, magnesium), belts, rubber wheels. Great for making robots and more.

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Posted by: Ian Newman <ian_new@yahoo.com>
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