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I had wondered how this individual was going to make Inkjet printer ink out of highlighter pens. I mean, considering the ink is priced somewhere around the sam

by mdip 7y ago

I had wondered how this individual was going to make Inkjet printer ink out of highlighter pens. I mean, considering the ink is priced somewhere around the same rate as liquid gold, I figured it was either going to end up being "way too easy" or we'd find out there was some important reason ink was so expensive. Neither was the result -- that's a Dot Matrix printer. I'd imagine if I'd have turned the volume on, you'd hear the obnoxious sound they make when printing. Still very cool, though.

userbinator 7y ago
That's actually a very early (monochrome) inkjet, and this is the cartridge for it --- appears to be based on the first HP design: http://starcommtest.printerinkwarehouse.com/printer/Diconix+150/22236/ http://starcommtest.printerinkwarehouse.com/printer/Diconix+... This might be the printer model, or a related one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sL5UtqHCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sL5UtqHCA Edit: Found something else she did with that printer, and confirms that it's the model above: https://hackaday.com/2020/01/09/vintage-mini-inkjet-prints-on-demand-ascii-art/ https://hackaday.com/2020/01/09/vintage-mini-inkjet-prints-o...
detaro 7y ago
I always am impressed how people clearly can tell someone got the difference between a dot matrix printer and an inkjet wrong despite working with it for months, just from seeing a short silent video snippet. BTW: https://twitter.com/MLE_Online/status/1243551232087584770 https://twitter.com/MLE_Online/status/1243551232087584770
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- userbinator 7y ago
  To be fair, I think this may be the first time a lot of people, even HN users, have seen a tractor-feed inkjet.
  - detaro 7y ago
    And if the submission was a question "what kind of printer is this", misidentifying it would be a completely harmless mistake. Assuming that the person owning it, clearly labeling it an inkjet, refilling its ink tank (did dot matrix printers ever have that?) must be the one wrong about it, less so.
catblast 7y ago
> Neither was the result -- that's a Dot Matrix printer. You’re mistaken.
adrianmonk 7y ago
Since nobody else has explained why so far, the smoking gun that makes it clear it's not a dot matrix printer is that dot matrix printers put ink onto paper using pins to strike a ribbon. They work on the same principle as typewriters did, which also used a ribbon. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter_ribbon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter_ribbon) The reason they're called "dot matrix" was to distinguish them from another contemporary type of printer that had type (letterforms) built directly into a ball or wheel, so that instead of an array of pins, a raised metal piece in the shape of (say) an "A" would strike the ribbon. ("Daisy wheel" printers were of this type.) These had nicer-looking, non-pixellated type, but they were slow and couldn't do any graphics. So if this really were a dot-matrix printer, she would have been putting highlighter ink onto a ribbon, but she was putting ink into a reservoir.

by mdip 7y ago

userbinator 7y ago

That's actually a very early (monochrome) inkjet, and this is the cartridge for it --- appears to be based on the first HP design: http://starcommtest.printerinkwarehouse.com/printer/Diconix+150/22236/ http://starcommtest.printerinkwarehouse.com/printer/Diconix+... This might be the printer model, or a related one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sL5UtqHCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sL5UtqHCA Edit: Found something else she did with that printer, and confirms that it's the model above: https://hackaday.com/2020/01/09/vintage-mini-inkjet-prints-on-demand-ascii-art/ https://hackaday.com/2020/01/09/vintage-mini-inkjet-prints-o...

detaro 7y ago

I always am impressed how people clearly can tell someone got the difference between a dot matrix printer and an inkjet wrong despite working with it for months, just from seeing a short silent video snippet. BTW: https://twitter.com/MLE_Online/status/1243551232087584770 https://twitter.com/MLE_Online/status/1243551232087584770

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
userbinator 7y ago
To be fair, I think this may be the first time a lot of people, even HN users, have seen a tractor-feed inkjet.
- detaro 7y ago
  And if the submission was a question "what kind of printer is this", misidentifying it would be a completely harmless mistake. Assuming that the person owning it, clearly labeling it an inkjet, refilling its ink tank (did dot matrix printers ever have that?) must be the one wrong about it, less so.

catblast 7y ago

> Neither was the result -- that's a Dot Matrix printer. You’re mistaken.

adrianmonk 7y ago

Since nobody else has explained why so far, the smoking gun that makes it clear it's not a dot matrix printer is that dot matrix printers put ink onto paper using pins to strike a ribbon. They work on the same principle as typewriters did, which also used a ribbon. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter_ribbon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter_ribbon) The reason they're called "dot matrix" was to distinguish them from another contemporary type of printer that had type (letterforms) built directly into a ball or wheel, so that instead of an array of pins, a raised metal piece in the shape of (say) an "A" would strike the ribbon. ("Daisy wheel" printers were of this type.) These had nicer-looking, non-pixellated type, but they were slow and couldn't do any graphics. So if this really were a dot-matrix printer, she would have been putting highlighter ink onto a ribbon, but she was putting ink into a reservoir.