3D Printer beginnings

Well guys, I've started a new project. This blog will be dedicated to the building of a 3D printer. The first part is going to be the binder deposition system. Here's the plan so far:

1. Reverse engineer a standard desktop printer, specifically any connections between the ribbon cable and carriage.
2. Design and prototype a controller system. Preliminary stuff will be in a Virtex-II Pro FPGA, but it'll later be transitioned to an AVR for the final controller.
3. Build the X axis. This will be a sheet of acrylic with pullies, belt, and tensioner for movement, a pittman motor with encoder or stepper, and linear bearings or an IKO rail for support.

I'm willing to bet this will be bulk of the work. Later work will be building the table, roller, powder buckets and elevation system.

So some goals for the project. I'm not a big fan of using the stock controller board because it's difficult to transparently get the printer to wait for the y-axis feed, and I also have to deal with the driver. I'd rather control the whole system soup to nuts, and I'd also like to try my hand at reversing a printer. Those of you that know me personally will know that I have a difficult time completing projects, but even if this project never gets finished I'd like to at least post some information on reversing printers, since there are so many things that print heads are fantastic for.

The printer used will be an HP DeskJet 5650 that I have lying around. I'd love to use an Epson 600/800/C80 since Epson publishes ALL the signals used to drive the print heads in their service manuals (just google Epson Service Manual and then the printer in question) but I don't really trust the print heads with whatever binder, since the Epson heads clog and aren't replaceable. Plus, I have a huge stash of HP cartridges to experiment with. If I bork a cartridge I can just toss it and have another go. The HP heads also work fine for Z-Corp so I think things should be peachy. In the video it looks like they're using hp 57 cartridges/print heads too. Imagine that.

For those wondering how the printer is supposed to work, this video should give you a good idea.