At 11/13/2001, you wrote:
> >The manufacturers are in the business of making money. So having pared
> >down printers to the point where they last almost under 1 year (i.e.
> >warranty), the only way to lower customer price and still make $$ is to
> >mark up something that is not covered under warranty. This is not a new
> >idea, but I am surprised that customer lobbies are so slow reacting to
> >this ? They are not robbers, they have found a legal loophole in customer
> >rights laws (the ones that oblige them to publish prices in ads and stand
> >by them etc.), and are happily grazing in that pasture. Have been for a
> >while now.
>
>         Peter, you will think it's strange, but I LOVE IT
>
>         Look at the beneficials:
>
>         1 - I can get a printer for CHEAP. Man, I said CHEAP. Did I said
> C H E A P???? An inkjet printer that costed about $500 now costs about
> $50. Cheap as hell, as americans say. In Brazil, even the poorest can
> afford an inkjet with photo quality print.
>
>         2 - The carts CAN be refilled. Or as said in Brazil,
> "remanufactured". Some can't but there will be a way to do.
> www.nomorecart.com gave me a great idea - their product/idea can be
> adapted to every lovely printer in the world. I'm in process of modifying
> an old HP500 to use a BIG bottle of ink, and giving it to someone who
> prints a lot, like my neighbourhoods (wow, this is hard to spell, sorry
> if I got wrong). If it works, I'll do it in "some" tens of Epsons I have
> in my locker. And never mind changing carts again. Epson printers can
> even use the tube directly connected to the pins that sucks the ink from
> the cart, I THINK. Time for some experiences here.
>
>         3 - Old printers are cheap sources of great parts. I got tens of
> Epsons 500, 600 and like, to scrap batteries, MOSFETs, EPROMs, small
> gears (robotics are a passion), motors, belts, screws, funny ICs, PSUs,
> LEDs and others that children love, and electronics' beginners need ;o)
> Maybe an "electronics 101" in the local comunity house, for poor people
> and small children - do you remember when you first energized a motor?
> And controlled the bright of a LED with a potentiometer? ;o)))
>
>         4 - obsolescence - if I used the right word. I have an OLD (man,
> that's what I call OLD) Canon BJC 4100. Do you know why? Because IT
> WORKS. Every time. The inkheads doesn't gets clogged and the carts are
> cheap. Of course the printout compared with new printers is like
> comparing a 3DfX with an old MSX or Sinclair Spectrum. But I only need
> it, I seldom print anything. And when I print, is one or two pages. Just
> for reference. Now that I have a palmtop (man, Palm Vx RULEZ!), I don't
> even need to carry any piece of paper with me. Even photos I store on the
> palmtop. But if I want (and open my hand, and maybe taking off that old
> spider from my pocket), I CAN afford a brand new printer, with photo
> quality and like.
>
>         5 - Experiences. Have you tried to use an inkjet printer to print
> a CD? It CAN be done and I DID! Of course, without alignment and quality.
> But only because I'm too lazy to build the entire mech necessary to draw
> the CD correctly thru the print mecha.

No necessary, see below.

>Of course, a "PC Board Printer" is also in the works - change the ink of
>the cart by the acid-resistant one, and feed the board thru the mecha of
>the printer, modified to use a paper "something" thicker. Here you have
>your "Poor's man PC Board printer".

Seiko has a CDROM printer but the ink has to be protected with some plastic
coater after printing. They use normal water ink.
Do you know an acid-resistant ink good for 1200x1200 dpi?

What's about a modified laser printer, as their results are acid-proof?

>Of course it can only be done because an HP500 costs around $10 nowadays.
>I even gave one 520 away to my lovely (hmmm, insert the female of
>"landlord" here, forgot the dictionary somewhere). As you see, now you can
>do lots of crazy experiences that bring knowledge and praticity (?) to
>your life.
>
>         6 - Fun. You can do anything with printers - even smashing it
> with your new 6-kilos hammer. It's fun! Trust me!
>
>         As you can see, why not have "discardable" printers? So bad we
> don't have discardable palmtops and digital cameras yet...wait...in
> Japan, there ARE discardable digital cameras! Oh my! ;o)))
>
>
>---8<---Corte aqui---8<----
>
>Alexandre Souza
>taito@terra.com.br
>http://planeta.terra.com.br/lazer/pinball/
>
>---8<---Corte aqui---8<----
>
>--
>http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
>[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics
(like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics