Pump powered Ink Cycle
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Over the last weeks, I built a new ink cycle design that no longer needs pressurized air or a vacuum pump.
A single pressure pump can now power the entire system and can also generate the vacuum by the use of a venturi valve.
I think it can be said that this is the largest improvement of the project overall since a lot of parts that could probably fail are no longer needed, and with that, it reduces the cost of parts and the size of the machine.
Currently, I'm using a rotary vane pump from an old portafilter coffee machine. The pump itself is not that noisy, but the motor is.
Maybe I can find a more silent pump at some point in the future to make it more pleasant to work with the machine.
Since the system pressure is floating a bit, I set it to 50psi and used another pressure regulator to regulate it down to 40psi. For further stabilization, I added a "damper" made of a small tennis ball in a filter case to the line. The air inside the tennis ball gets compressed by the pressure of the fluid and can compensate for pressure drops, similar to a spring or a capacitor.
I think with that the pressure of the ink stream should be quite stable. In the old design there was a pressure rise each time the pressurized tank got refilled, but since there is no longer a refilling needed the pressure should be stable at any time, which is very important for the operation of the printer.
Thanks for watching :)
You can find more info about the project at:
hackaday.io/pr...
Hey man, great video. How did you learn about this sort of stuff? Got any books you recommend?
Hi, thank you :)
I just learned about it while doing it.
When I find a project I want to do, I search online for everything I can find about it and try to understand it well enough to get it done.
I'm really not that smart, just motivated 😅