As well as being a cheap source for stepper motors, old printers can be quite useful for hacking and having a second life thanks to the Arduino platform. This has been demonstrated very well by Eric Heisler who created a device that can receive .svg vector graphics files - and print them using an old Epson printer.
A processing sketch takes the .svg file and converts the data into a format required by the connected Arduino which uses inexpensive SN754410 motor control ICs to interface with the old Epson motor driver board. The process of image creation to printing is demonstrated in the following video:
Kudos to Eric for such a neat project, of which you can find all the details on his interesting website. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you need to add external hardware or devices to your next Arduino project, you'll need a protoshield to mount the external circuitry. In doing so, consider our range of ProtoShields. From the tiny LeoStick to the Mega.
