Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
No, not that kind of baked.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

register, login


               

Trundling printer

Printer trundles around
  (+3)
(+3)
 

The idea of having to mow your lawn in a single pass using a single cutting edge the entire width of the lawn would be considered crazy, yet that is what we normally do when printing using a desktop laser or inkjet printer (not mow the lawn obviously, stop making pedantic objections)

The trundling printer is a very small sub-cuboid device, about the size of a cigarette packet. Its underside is mounted with motorised wheels, a print head, and multiple cameras and lights so it can detect where it is.

The way it works is that you set it down on a piece of paper, and use your print driver software to send it an image to print. The first thing it does is drive around the perimeter of the image, to check if the paper is big enough. If it is not, it will send a warning back to the print driver announcing this fact and demanding immediate human attention (to shrink the print size or get a bigger piece of paper).

Once the trundling printer is happy that it has a big enough sheet of paper to work on, it then goes up and down and lays a registration grid of tiny yellow dots which are virtually invisible to human eyes (similar to the yellow identification dots that almost all colour laser printers currently lay down on every printout).

Then it does a third tour of the paper, following the tiny yellow registration dots and laying down the actual print colours.

Obviously it can optimise its route to avoid blank areas and do multiple passes of dense areas if necessary. If it runs out of ink or toner or battery power part way through a print it can return to the start position for its human slave to recharge it with electric or colour.

I think the only practical limit on how large an image it can print would be the range of the wireless data connection, though obviously given the pocket-sized specs any sheet of paper larger than about A0 would start to get tedious.

pocmloc, Jul 31 2026

Yellow dots https://en.wikipedi...inter_tracking_dots
[pocmloc, Jul 31 2026]





       Useful for graffiti ...
normzone, Jul 31 2026
  

       We don't need no stinkin' yellow dots.
minoradjustments, Jul 31 2026
  

       [norm] Only if you are going to graffiti a horizontal paper surface.
pocmloc, Jul 31 2026
  

       It doesn't have to be paper ... You just tell the printer that is IS paper.   

       And as for the horizontal requirement, a simple upgrade will allow vertical grip and movement.   

       "The street finds it's own uses for these things ..." William Gibson BURNING CHROME 1982
normzone, Jul 31 2026
  

       The BBC had a machine that painted floors for sets that worked exactly like that. You could set it going and it would put down something that looked like a carpet or a marble floor. There were smaller printers that moved about much as you describe, but there were lots of weird things in the nineties.
Richard K, Aug 03 2026
  

       I think you'll find the biggest problem will be keeping the paper from moving around, especially if you plan to do edge to edge (borderless) printing.
21 Quest, Aug 03 2026
  
         


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle