Desktop Letterpress Printer

prusaprinters

<p>Here is video of it operating. &nbsp;The main ‘axel’ has worn out its hole because I hastily assmebled it, and then played with it too much. The ink-roller heads have too much friction right now, so that is why it hangs a bit.&nbsp;</p><figure class="media"><oembed url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VkMU-6adbY&amp;feature=share&amp;si=ELPmzJkDCLju2KnD5oyZMQ"></oembed></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Driven to almost a murderous rage over my coworkers obviously superior business cards, I decided that they only way to better was them was to print my own. &nbsp;So I cranked the Huey Lewis and the News and went to work.</p><p>This is based on a number of printers that I was able to find on the internet. &nbsp;I tried using the new PA11 Prusament filament, but I had warping issues- I need to redesign the parts for better rigidity to take advantage of the solvent resistance of the PA11 and the strength of the fiber filled. I did print it mostly in PETG , with CF PETG for the load bearing parts.</p><p>I designed it in TinkerCad. &nbsp;Originally, I was going to use the project to learn Fusion360, but I thought the deadline was the 25th, not the 16th…. So back to what I know.</p><p>A big shout-out to the youtube website “waltzdesign”! &nbsp;They had great videos of the letterpress printers operating, from all kinds of angles.</p><figure class="media"><oembed url="https://youtu.be/NF_5kvuEgC4"></oembed></figure><p>This is the one that I mainly designed around.</p><p>Still working on the rollers. I think I could get some made custom, but I'm following three paths right now.</p><ol><li>Use my Mk3/MMU to print rollers with a rigid core and soft TPU/E exterior. &nbsp;Prusa has a 40 shore hardness- a bit ‘hard’ by the specs- but I was having issues feeding it. &nbsp;But I didn't have much time to work it out.</li><li>Use a mold and cast a urethane roller. &nbsp;I have a 20D compound, but ran out of time to work it out.</li><li>Fast and Quick- take my rollers, tape off the ends, put them in a hand drill and spray them with that ‘Fast Seal’ stuff. &nbsp;I tried this on two rollers, it might work.</li></ol><p>I just got the ink in today, 3hours before deadline, so that is my next step. &nbsp;Plus I want to see how big of a roller I can use and clear the platen coming in.</p><p>I'll get a hardware list, but it uses mainly M8. M4 and a few M3 hardware.</p><p>Learned a lot on this, mainly that I need to learn a more pro CAD program than TinkerCad. &nbsp;It's fine to make something, but to modify an existing one is hard.</p><p>There are three pieces that won't fit on the Mini, but they could be made so. &nbsp;I can do that if people want.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>ETA: I added an STL that is the complete printer. &nbsp;I thought I was a long-shot to win- there are some great things out there- but I thought I'd get more attention that it has. &nbsp;Do people not know what a letter press is? &nbsp;This is a fully functioning in its operating mechanism. &nbsp;The ink rollers need to be worked up, but you pull the handle and it operates just like the video. &nbsp;I was hoping to post more pics, I have some of the building process, but like I said, I thought I had until past next weekend. &nbsp;But it seems there is very little interest.</p>