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E-TKT: anachronic label maker

An open source label maker that fuses together both old and contemporary technology to create something as ubiquitous as... EMBOSSED LABELS!

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The initial spark came from an ordinary manual labeling device that I bought to organize my workshop and spices in the kitchen. I was very upset when I noticed that it was basically rubbish, getting broken and unusable after just a few operations. A waste of work, material, shipping and all the environmental impact that comes with that.

I knew I could easily buy a brand new modern electronic thermal label printer, but something about the vintage embossed finish fascinated me. Also, these new models use expensive proprietary cartridges that create a lot of trash after use. After all, even though the mechanism was poorly made, the embossing daisy wheel was pretty sturdy and sharp. I thought to myself: can I build over its principles to create a functional device?

By combining simple and widely available embossing tapes in a reliable mechanism with state-of-the-art digital connectivity, E-TKT rescues a would-be future that did not happen.


teaser_4


E-TKT: anachronic label maker

Andrei Speridião 2022 - http://andrei.cc



📺 media

E-TKT has already been featured in several places:


🤓 about E-TKT

By combining simple and widely-available embossing tapes in a reliable mechanism with modern connectivity, E-TKT rescues a would-be future that did not happen, and at the same time gets rid of the dependence on proprietary cartridges, which are environmentally impacting & expensive.


🧐 what?

étiquette f (plural étiquettes)

“ticket, memorandum, attach, stick, pierce, sting, to be sharp, goad, puncture, attach, nail”
  1. tag, label
  2. prescribed behavior

It’s curious how both meanings are a consequence of each other: we name things around to state and reinforce what they are or should be, and at the same time, we end up influencing our own behaviors mediated by these labels.


🤔 why?

TLDR: curiosity, technical challenge and of course organizing stuff.

motex3

The initial spark for this project came from an ordinary manual labeling device that I bought to organize my workshop. I was VERY UPSET when I noticed that it was basically rubbish, getting broken and unusable after just a few operations. Just to imagine something made in another part of the world, travelling to me and breaking this way is unbelieavable.

Instead of embossing, it was really embarrassing labels 😅

This little plastic hook (circled in red) grabs a ratchet mechanism (the white plastic part below) to feed the tape forward. I tried to fix and reinforce it, but the failure was unavoidable because there seems to be a critical flaw in the project: it is too weak for the lateral force imposed.

low_DSC8695 copy annotated

At that moment, I could easily buy a brand-new electronic thermal label printer (such as this Brother model), but something about the vintage embossed finish fascinated me. Also, these new models use expensive DRM proprietary cartridges that create a lot of trash after use, not to mention that some other recent models are DRM protected.

After all, even though the pressing mechanism was poorly made, the daisy wheel was pretty sturdy and sharp-printing. So I thought: can I build over its principles to create a functional device? If so, then why not make it physical-digital?

…why bother mixing an archaic printing method with current automation and connectivity features? Because why not? It was a technological blind spot ready to be explored!


🤯 reasoning: context & purpose

Read more »

e-tkt_kicad.zip

Electronic: KiCad v6 source

x-zip-compressed - 695.83 kB - 10/19/2022 at 12:48

Download

gerber.zip

Electronic: gerbers and drill holes files to manufacture a 4 layers PCB

x-zip-compressed - 480.70 kB - 10/19/2022 at 12:46

Download

etkt_schematic.pdf

Electronic: full schematic

Adobe Portable Document Format - 156.02 kB - 10/19/2022 at 12:46

Preview
Download

e-tkt_023.stp

Structure: 3D model source

stp - 23.13 MB - 10/19/2022 at 12:41

Download

A_bottom.stl

Structure: 3D printing ready STL

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 9.89 MB - 10/19/2022 at 12:42

Download

View all 21 files

  • 220 × 3D print filament — PETG (~220g used)
  • 1 × screw — M3x40mm cylindrical screw - steel - hex/allen key
  • 23 × screw - M3x20mm cylindrical screw - steel - hex/allen key
  • 2 × screw — M3x16mm cylindrical screw - steel - hex/allen key
  • 4 × screw — M3x10mm cylindrical screw - steel - hex/allen key

View all 66 components

  • Vision for the Future - October 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/23/2022 at 06:19 0 comments

    Just as a cliffhanger for a possible future:


    I see a big potential for E-TKT to transform into an accessible open source braile label maker.


    https://www.maxiaids.com/reizen-rl-350-braille-labeler

    Reizen RL350 is a Braille label maker that's pretty much analog to how E-TKT's daisywheel works.

    Just think how better the labelling user experience could be for the blind not only by all the features already present in the E-TKT, but also by incorporating voice commands and other things that might be uncovered?

    To begin with, I even think that the whole system might be simpler by using a rotating encoder with a 6 pin in matrix instead of a daisy wheel.

    Yeah, that's a radical change but lets keep that in mind ;)



    That's it for now, let's see what future holds!

  • Hackaday Prize 2022 Video - October 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/23/2022 at 06:05 0 comments

    Lots of work putting the video up, but I feel that it was worth it.


    And I've also added subtitles just in case ;)

  • Documentation & V1.0 release - October, 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/23/2022 at 05:08 0 comments

    The past weeks have been super intense, and much of that thanks to the detailed documentation that I've been consolidating.

    The E-TKT's GitHub page was getting too long and I felt that moving for a dedicated web page would be great.

    Inspired by Voron, I've adopted Just the Docs, a solution based on Jekyll that automatically builds pages based on GitHub repositories.

    Click here to access the new documentation page.


    What you fill find there (most of the things are mirrored from whats already here in the Hackaday page):

    • 🎯 news: what's going on;
    • 🤓 about: how it started, and why?
    • ⚙️ how does it work?: a more in depth explanation;
    • 💡 features: device and app details;
    • 📷 gallery: misc. photos of the device and labeled things;
    • 🛠️ do it yourself: a super detailed guide for you to buy the parts and make your own E-TKT;
    • 🧬 iterations: a log of development so far;
    • ⚖️ license: for firmware, hardware and documentation itself;
    • 🏅 credits: people that made a difference for the project;
    • 📺 media: where and when it's already been featured.

    I hope you enjoy!

  • Last call for an Easter egg - October, 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/23/2022 at 04:53 0 comments

    Ich bin der musikant mit taschenrechner in der hand.

    Well, I'm a convict nerd and I couldn't avoid adding some Kraftwerk inspiration into the E-TKT. I'm a big fan of the Düsseldorf group since I was a child. At the time, I was afraid of them robots.

    While I was composing for the original track in the first video, I felt that tags could relate to musical notations.

    I have, in parallel to all other developments and thanks to the addition of a buzzer in the PCB,  explored some ideas and suddenly I've remembered this:

    This was a cheat sheet for playing some of their music on a Casio VL-80, a small synthesizer.

    Yes, you guessed right, it's all about "I'm the operator with a pocket calculator".

    If you have a VL-80, you can be the operator, and apart from looking like a calculator, it is really a synthesizer.

    Here is some more info about it.


    Inspired by that, I researched some docs for that model and looked for the correlations between numbers and notes, and transposed that into the E-TKT. Check this cool manual for playing diverse songs into that little synth.

    As the E-TKT has more characters than the VL-80, I've completed the table.

    Then each label, for having specific individual characters, plays a unique melody before printing. It is cute.  ♪



    And of course, there are Easter eggs... I challenge you to discover them without scanning the source code. There is a tip below, though.

  • V1.0 Photos - October, 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/23/2022 at 04:25 0 comments

    I definitely can say that I had some fun photographing the E-TKT v1.0 last week.

    Overview


    Orthographic


    Details

    I hope you enjoy!

  • Calibration Setup - October, 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/07/2022 at 19:37 0 comments

    The embossing process has been undoubtedly the most challenging part of the project, so I wanted to make sure that anyone making their own E-TKT would not struggle as I did.

    These are the most critical steps:

    1. the targeted daisy wheel tooth must be perpendicular to the tape;
    2. the press head must be aligned to the middle of that tooth;
    3. the pressing needs to happen with the right force;

    Now for the involved components:

    Hall sensor

    Depending on the hall's lateral position, the rotating magnet might activate the sensor earlier or later, impacting lateral character alignment.

    The main issue that happens with that misalignment is the skewed / italic aspect for the character, because the letter is not pressed when perpendicular to the tape (remember it is a rotating wheel). This is the first issue that must be solved.

    ⚠️ It will be highlighted on the instructions the need to make sure the hall is as centered as possible visually before moving on the assembly.

    Servo & Press (3D printed)

    There are three factors into the equation:

    • the part's intrinsic imprecision (especially on cheap servos);
    • the assembly position of the servo itself on the structure;
    • the coupling of 3d printed part that does the pressing job into the servo might affect the angle, and for that I have changed the parts design to help with that alignment.

    Also, depending on the servo used, the distance from the servo to the daisy wheel tooth might change. I'm providing different models that can be experimented to address that. Or, since the STEP files are open, anyone can modify it to match their needs.


    Calibration Process

    In general, all factors above can make the letters vanish on their sides.

    For addressing that (and the skewed / italic effect), I have created a calibration procedure that have two main moments:

    1 - During assembly / firmware, where the parts' rough imprecisions are to be visually adjusted (without wasting tape).

    Both `assemblyCalibrationAlign` and `assemblyCalibrationForce` are hardcoded variables that make sure there is a good starting point for further tuning.

    The standard values are working on a cheap MG996-R servo (I'm pretty sure mine is a ripoff).

    2 - After assembly, by testing with the actual embossed label with more precise adjusts.

    The fine tuning is possible thanks to the SETUP menu in the web app. It is very frustrating adjusting values every time by code and flashing and that's why I though about that easily accessed screen.

    Alignment + test (light): it's possible to choose a value between 1 and 9 (5 is the default neutral). By picking a number, there is a test button on the right that when pressed, starts a routine that reaches to the letter "M" (widest character available) and very slowly moves the press towards the tooth until it lightly touches it. It is possible to check if the press is aligned when hitting the tooth.

    Force + test (full): this parameter controls how much the servo will press the tooth against the tape, and of course, the tape should be already reeled. Again, values from 1 to 9, but this time 1 is the default, lighter pressure. To test, there is a big test button on the right that will end up testing both the force and alignment.


    (force tests, from 1 to 9)

    Cancel: if there was any unsaved changes it will pop up a warning, otherwise it goes back to the main screen.

    Save: by hitting save, the machine will save the values in memory then reboot and the app will automatically refresh in 15 seconds.

    PS: the "+ reel" button has been brought from the main screen.


    ready to label? 😀

  • Design Inspiration & UI - October, 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/06/2022 at 19:51 0 comments

    If you just want to see the final UI design for the app in detail, please scroll to the bottom ;)


    🍷 Now for a conceptual and reflective update to discuss a bit about design...

    First, remember that E-TKT is all about anachronism, which means it aims on manipulating the order things logically have/are occurring in an unusual way while presenting something odd but logically plausible. Think of "what could have happened if ______?"

    Expanding that further on, I wanted to incorporate that approach into the digital interface accessed through the smartphone.


    Physical informs the digital

    Green characters on black, dull gray boxes, overwhelming gradients, shinny reflective icons and long shadows over colorful flat interface elements were some of the visual design trends we've been interacting with for the past 50 years (well, not all that time in my case :P ).

    But there is a theme that resurfaces from time to time: skeuomorphism, which in a nutshell is the idea of emulating  characteristics of original artifacts as ornaments in derivative ones. A well-known example is Apple iCal (calendar), which had leather textures in its interface to create familiarity with the traditional physical calendar that used that material for functional and aesthetic reasons.

    source: Ars Technica

    Dieter Rams, an industrial designer best known for his Braun creations, had a great influence on Apple products, both physical and digital. That includes the ET66 calculator that inspired Apple's software version that came together with Mac OSX.


    What should we keep?

    When looking to the E-TKT device and more specifically its daisy wheel, I've got some "typewriter" vibes from it. And, there is no doubt that Olivetti came to mind as one of the major Italian design symbols of the XX century. My parents still have an 80s electric typewriter from the brand.

    I've then remembered my industrial design classes when I first knew about Divisumma 18) and its simple and monolithic yellow aspect. It was designed by Mario Bellini in 1972.

    source: MoMA

    Apart from its great shape that was very contrasting to the bulky machines at the time, perhaps the most attractive characteristic is on the buttons that almost BEG to be pressed. That was well though by Bellini, that based it on anthropomorphic concepts, which means attributing human characteristics to non-human things.

    The boundaries of our body are made of skin-covered meat. What is our touch to be sensibilized and actuated back with?

    Well, displays are hard to the touch, but nowadays we can cheaply "borrow the screen" for things that are not critical, thus having a world of possibilities by using visual, audible and/or haptic cues to emulate the juicy physical stuff.

    PS: as an "accidental" philosophical loophole, Olivetti was(is) based in Ivrea, Italy. Yes, the same place where Arduino got born many decades later.

    ...anachronism as tool for finding atemporal loopholes! 🤓


    ...wait a minute, but what about E-TKT's UI?

    All of that to say that I have reached a final version for the user interface for the web app by extracting the essence of the concepts discussed above.

    The color palette is now following a blue-yellowish duet. The buttons were rounded and for the color-coded functions, there is a light halo that glows when pressed.

    A new addition is the setup screen, which I will talk a bit more in another update.



    The soft pressing and illumination effects were both achieved by using pure CSS & JavaScript to minimize the data storage and transfer.


  • Device GUI - October, 2022

    Andrei Speridião10/05/2022 at 15:48 0 comments

    The previous OLED display was really cute for its small 128x32px size, but it wasn't working well for the QR code. 

    Imagine a square with less than 10x10mm, shinning bright (OLED). It was really hard to focus with the smartphone camera.

    I've then decided to switch for a similar but bigger I2C OLED display, now with 128x64px:

    Then I've took advantage of its taller real state to improve and/or implement new screens:

    • splash: more about that soon, with an nerdy extra feature;
    • wi-fi reset;
    • wi-fi setup: cold start or after reset;
    • E-TKT ready state: QR code + text of the local assigned IP to access the web app;
    • printing progress;
    • printing finished;
    • cutting, feeding and reeling: requested manually from the web app);
    • saving settings: more about that in the following updates;
    • rebooting;

    It turns out that having not so many pixels to push around is pretty funny. Also, I've used symbols with a dedicated font to improve the meaning and communication.

    Thanks to olikraus for the amazing U8g2 library that is super useful.

  • Improved Structure - September, 2022

    Andrei Speridião09/30/2022 at 15:33 0 comments

    Since the beginning of the month I've been exhaustively testing and improving the 3D printed structure and now it is working nicely together with the manufactured PCB. The overall shape is now a little bit rounder, still not final though!

    Major changes:

    • Hall sensor: the new support for the breakout hall sensor is now provided by the pillar, making it easier to attach as the PCB is attached to it (and taking advantage of the 3 pin 2.54mm female header on the PCB);
    • PCB: is locked tightly on both surrounding pillars and 6 screws and helps the overall rigidity;
    • Daisy wheel: attending several feedbacks (including from David Knochenhauer, thank you!), I've made it removable and as a bonus, the initial assembly process is now much easier!
    • Feeder: its new design takes advantage of the PETG's own flexibility, removing one pesky item from the B.O.M., the spring;
    • Display: the bigger OLED with 128x64 pixels made the QR code totally straightforward to read (was pretty hard to focus) and also the overall GUI reading is much better (more updates on the GUI soon);
    • Press: with this new shape the initial alignment when assembling is easier now, and its structural rigidity is greatly improved too. Also, it uses a M6 washer in contact with the servo to make sure it doesn't bend when pressed, while at the same time allowing it to rotate freely.

    Some photos of the printing process, aiming for that sharp first layer.


    PS: the revised v1.0 PCB with several adjusts has already shipped, more about that soon!

  • PCB v0.9 Assembly - September, 2022

    Andrei Speridião09/09/2022 at 14:20 0 comments

    My first PCB ever is the E-TKT's alpha version.

    I've been thinking of that moment for a decade and I am pretty happy with the result! Thanks again for Wes for providing the manufacture and components' order in one of his batches. He even assisted me on assembling and baking the board at his place.

    Now for the list of fixes for v1.0:

    • I've mistakenly switched the Reset and Flash button position/labels;
    • The latch power circuit didn't work, so I will be changing it to a compact SMD switch + MOSFET;
    • Remove 3V3 from the FTDI;
    • Several LEDs are logically inverted (on when they should be off): hall, servo, a4988 enable signals;
    • Some LED brightness are too high;
    • The manufacturer put the "E-TKT" letters on white silk, when it should be in black solder mask. In the end, I've liked it better, so I will consider  to incorporate this happy accident on the project;
    • Insert OSHWA label & certification;
    • Invert RX/TX silk arrows on FTDI LEDs.

    Apart from these minor issues, the circuit has been working great and soon there will be more work in progress. Right now I'm working on the improved 3d printed parts with new features, together with the web app.

    Stay tuned!

View all 17 project logs

  • 1
    Do it yourself!
  • 2
    Overview & tips

    _DSC0414


    PS: all the instructions are also available at the documentation page.


    To make your own E-TKT you will need to:

    1. 3D print

    I highly recommend you to have a 3d printer accessible as you might need to test and tweak the printing settings, since this project demands a certain precision in the fittings;

    2. order a PCB

    It’s design was oriented to low cost manufacturing (4 layers). The two internal layers are ground planes, so it might work with only 2 layers for even lower costs (but it wasn’t tested). Don’t forget to order a stencil for the front face (not needed for the back) together with the PCB.

    3. buy components

    For some electronic parts, you might need to search for alternative drop-in replacements (same specs & footprint) as right now there is a general shortage for semiconductors.

    4. mount the components on the PCB

    You can place the components manually in the PCB and then use a home electrical oven/toaster to solder the SMD components. There are PTH headers in the back face and a single SMD electrolytical capacitor that will be easy to deal with a simple soldering station.

    5. flash the firmware

    Very simple process, but please don’t forget to add the data files together with the firmware.

    6. assemble the whole package

    After making sure the system is working properly, you can proceed to cable management and physically mounting the parts together.

    7. calibrate

    The final step makes sure the daisy wheel letters are aligned to the tape and works along with the right pressing force. There is a handy calibration mode built-in the web app ;)

    PS: the PCB order along with the components and it’s assembly (steps 2, 3 and 4) might be outsourced by using a turnkey PCB service, but it is funnier to DIY to learn by doing!

  • 3
    3D printing
    _DSC0212

    16 parts in total, using approximately 220g of filament (I’ve used PETG).

    Click above to see an interactive 3D model.

    📐 All the .stl provided are in the correct orientation for optimal printing:

    • A_bottom *
    • B_wall *
    • C_wall_track *
    • D_pillar
    • E_pillar
    • F_pillar
    • G_pillar
    • H_nema_cover *
    • I_nema_wheel_hub
    • J_top *
    • K_top_screenholder
    • L_top_tapefeeder
    • M_top_wheel_cover
    • N_wheel_coupling_bottom
    • O_wheel_coupling_top
    • P_press

    * needs support

    🎛️ Recommended settings

    • Layer height: 0.20mm
    • Infill: 20%
    • Wall line count: 3 + 1 (alternating extra wall with Cura)
    • Top/bottom layers: 5

View all 20 instructions

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Discussions

DalChrome wrote 07/21/2022 at 15:50 point

Have you see the vwestlife video on these? He has a model with a changeable both disk which could be interesting for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w95K0FOIo4

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 07/21/2022 at 17:01 point

Hello! Haven't seen that video yet, even though apart from the red label maker, I already knew the other two the author reviewed.

I'm planning to make the disks interchangeable, I think it will not be a big challenge.

PS: the "wooden" tape caught my attention, really cool vintage looking, 70s vibes.

Thank you for the tip!

  Are you sure? yes | no

petter.olofsson wrote 07/10/2022 at 13:22 point

Hi! Very cool, and I just bought a dymo omega for this purpose.. but thinking again and looking around, I have not seen what specific label maker you used? Did I miss it?

  Are you sure? yes | no

petter.olofsson wrote 07/10/2022 at 13:25 point

Also I would like to modify the setup a bit and integrate it into my home assistant, kind of the same idea with a local network web interface but a bit simpler. And I don't need another page open ;)

  Are you sure? yes | no

petter.olofsson wrote 07/10/2022 at 14:03 point

Right, found it now, a Motex E101. Would you recommend I just order one of those instead? 

The plan was to have a manual one also just in case, and for portability.

Also seems like the dymo I have might be called Xpress instead of omega online

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 07/10/2022 at 21:10 point

Hi Petter, thank you!

About the label maker model, yes, it seems this MOTEX is the exact model and I highly recommend you to use the same since the machine was projected with it in mind. It is sold with other names like CIDY, etc. Actually, if you take a look at the BOM, you'll see the disks are sold separately, so you can go straightforward to it.

About the home assistant, go on! Nice idea, and it will work because the E-TKT belongs to a WLAN. Whatever app can access it, can send instructions through a GET command.

PS: at the moment I'm working on a PCB for the machine ;)

  Are you sure? yes | no

petter.olofsson wrote 07/10/2022 at 21:59 point

Oh, i only needed the disk? And here I was so sure you would have used the tape feed as well.. my plan was to do any modifications needed with your project as a base, and the tape feed on the dymo was rather fiddly so I figured I'd need to keep it. But also it would damage the tape sometimes! I have ordered a Motex now anyway so it'll be interesting to see how it compares. Nice to be able to use your design as is!

I was thinking I'd add mqtt but GET should also work.. but then I do like the auto setup with mqtt devices in home assistant.. we'll see. Not sure how common iot label makers is yet.

Thanks for your time and the effort you put into documenting this, beautifully done

And a PCB would be great! Would you be willing to sell one?

  Are you sure? yes | no

petter.olofsson wrote 07/13/2022 at 12:45 point

BTW, with regards to the home automation and UI part of things, have you or anybody else heard of any voice assistant enabled label maker support? 

Would likely drive anyone insane misheard/misinterprated labels being made, but would be cool to explore if useful (and otherwise also a fun partytrick)

Should be fairly straightforward to implement with reagrds to the printer inferface, but i'm not to sure about what support there is among voice assistants to call custom functions and supply them with a custom string as input?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 07/13/2022 at 21:37 point

Hi Petter! About the PCB, I don't know yet, just sketching it for now, I might need to study on how to sell it worldwide, but that's a nice idea! FYI I've just made a new log update with the PCB progress so far, if you might want to check it out.

About the home automation, I never heard of any kind of implementation of voice assistant to that specific need, but I think that having a spelled + visual (OLED display) confirmation before printing might solve this misprinting issue you've pointed out. Anyways, I've noticed that the wrong labels are the funniest :P Bug or feature?

This idea to explore voice assistants is something that interests me but a bit further into the future. An ESP32-S3 might be another way for solving this locally, since it has speech recognition capabilities. I didn't delve deeply though, might not be enough for that specific spelling need.

  Are you sure? yes | no

JP Gleyzes wrote 07/08/2022 at 20:07 point

I love this project !!!

It's a brilliant design very compact. Congrats

Would be cool to have it work without internet. As you have the ESP32 which Bluetooth Low energy compliant, you could write an android App to speak to your stuff directly. 

Could be quite straigthforward to do it

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 07/09/2022 at 19:20 point

Hey, thank you! It already works without internet :)
You just need a wireless local network, the "web app" is provided by the ESP32 itself.

  Are you sure? yes | no

K5BBoing wrote 06/30/2022 at 16:16 point

Brilliant Work I came here from Maker Update. ...Perfect Project

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 07/08/2022 at 20:02 point

Thank you very much :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

David Knochenhauer wrote 06/16/2022 at 08:49 point

What an awesome project! I love these old school labels and own a cheap version of it as well. I think I will do a build.

A few ideas to improve that thing further:

1. Wouldn‘t it be fantastic to have custom pressing discs? Maybe they can be done using resin 3D printing.

1b. If that disc has only elements of a 14-segment display, every character can be printed.

1c. Additional there could be simple dots in a column (8-12) to print simple icons

2. Maybe you can save some costs and room if the servo is replaced by a geared dc motor with a cam (one whole revolution per press)

3. I can assist in doing a custom PCB, if you like. Just drop me a PM

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 06/16/2022 at 14:12 point

Hi David, I'm glad that you liked it! Sure, give it a try! In case you need spare carousels: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005003984936889.html

And thank you very much for the ideas!

1.a Amazing, didn't think about it! I've been more of a FDM 3d printing guy until now. Do you know if is there any hard resin that wouldn't wear easily against the tape and the press, while keeping the flexibility? I guess the print precision might to be good enough... That opens many possibilities such as custom fonts and symbols... Nice!

1.b This could allow for a much smaller disk and thus, device. I've seen you are a fan of miniaturizing stuff, great.

1.c That goes in a direction of an idea that I had at the beginning of the project: making a braile printer. There is a braile tag maker that uses a disk too, but it seems expensive. On the other hand, braile have a matricial principle and I saw this project (https://github.com/carloscamposalcocer/OpenBraille) that uses a rotary mechanical encoder, it is another way for doing it, instead of using a carousel.

2. Nice, once I did a prototype had a geared motor that automatically turned itself off after a complete turn, might be a good try.

3. Cool, I was in fact planning to do a manufactured PCB (which would be my first), lets talk and see how to make it work, I'll PM you ;)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Richard Hogben wrote 06/14/2022 at 17:54 point

That top plate looks so cool.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Andrei Speridião wrote 06/14/2022 at 18:11 point

Thank you Richard! For that, I've used Cura with "Bottom Pattern Initial Layer" set to "Concentric". It somehow gives a "vinyl record" anisotropic appearance, doesn't it?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Richard Hogben wrote 06/14/2022 at 18:17 point

Yeah for sure it's like 3d printer art.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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