stepper motors in printers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Allan Adler
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Allan Adler

I read somewhere that dot matrix printers contain stepper motors, but
that source didn't comment on other printers. I'd like to know whether
all printers contain stepper motors and, if not, which ones do.
 
I read somewhere that dot matrix printers contain stepper motors, but
that source didn't comment on other printers. I'd like to know whether
all printers contain stepper motors and, if not, which ones do.
Click to expand...

Pretty much all printers have stepper motors, to advance the paper,
I'd guess even the apparently continuous motion of paper in laser
printers uses stepper motors just so they can start and stop properly,
if by "stepper" you mean synchronous servo motors with rotational
motion.

Why on earth would you be concerned with this, research project?

J.
 
JXStern said:
Pretty much all printers have stepper motors, to advance the paper,
I'd guess even the apparently continuous motion of paper in laser
printers uses stepper motors just so they can start and stop properly,
if by "stepper" you mean synchronous servo motors with rotational
motion.
Click to expand...

Stepper motors are special motors with multiple windings that take a
fixed step (such as 1.8 degrees) with each actuation. While inkjet
printers used to use stepper motors it is now more common to use DC
motors with encoders to provide closed loop feedback. I know that
recent HP inkjet printers (since the 700 and 800 series) all use DC
motors. Older models such as the DeskJet 500 series may have used
steppers. Models with an encoder strip (see figure 1 in
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...cc=us&objectID=bpd50646&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN)
use DC motors and encoder feedback rather than stepper motors.

Stepper motors are commonly used these days in hobbyist CNC or robotics
designs.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Hi!
Older models such as the DeskJet 500 series may have used
steppers.
Click to expand...

The original DeskJet uses an encoder strip and conventional DC motor to
drive the carriage back and forth. Paper advance is done with a stepper, and
the "ink well stuff" uses a stepper as well. The entirety of the 500 series
works this same way, and I'd hazard a guess that so does every other DeskJet
ever made (with the possible exception of portable models).

The original ThinkJet appears to use a stepper for both paper advance and
head movement.

William
 
William R. Walsh said:
Hi!


The original DeskJet uses an encoder strip and conventional DC motor
to
drive the carriage back and forth. Paper advance is done with a
stepper, and
the "ink well stuff" uses a stepper as well. The entirety of the 500
series
works this same way, and I'd hazard a guess that so does every other
DeskJet
ever made (with the possible exception of portable models).
Click to expand...

DeskJet printers from the DeskJet 850 onward (including all 700 and 800
series, and all later models) do not use a stepper for the paper
advance, they use a DC motor with rotary encoders. The service station
also uses a DC motor.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/imaging
 
Yianni said:
All epson printers use stepper motors for both paper feed and for
carriage movement.
Click to expand...

I would be *very* surprised if this were true. Stepper motors are not
very suitable for high speed precise placement compared to closed loop
DC controlled motors.

- Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
New epson inkjets don't have any encoder strip, so they use a stepper motor
for moving the carriage. As I know, for higher speed carriage motion it uses
digital sinus signals which make the movement smoother.
 
Yianni said:
New epson inkjets don't have any encoder strip, so they use a stepper motor
for moving the carriage. As I know, for higher speed carriage motion it uses
digital sinus signals which make the movement smoother.
Click to expand...

That's not really -all- Epsons, then.

Steve
 
I would think that the printer design using a DC motor is cheaper and
lighter for the same performance, too.

FWIW, just today I took apart a dead Lexmark Z35 printer, and it had a
DC motor for carriage motion and a stepper for paper feed. I was
amazed at the number of parts (mechanical) in that printer. Wonder how
long it takes to put together. My old Epson Stylus 1520 _seems_ to
have a stepper driving the head carriage; it has the magnetic detent
"feel" of a stepper.

Cheers,
Tom
 
Yianni said:
Few old (6 years old) printers use strip encoders.
Click to expand...

My old Citizen has steppers. I think my old canon has encoder strips, but
steppers also, or one of each. Not sure what my new printer has. I think my
lasers used either steppers or a syncronous AC motor.
 
Allan Adler said:
I read somewhere that dot matrix printers contain stepper motors, but
that source didn't comment on other printers. I'd like to know whether
all printers contain stepper motors and, if not, which ones do.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the helpful comments in reply to my question. A few days
ago, I found a hp officejet 4110 all-in-one printer-fax-scanner-copier
on the street in a pile of trash. It didn't have a printer cable; all
I have is the printer itself. I picked it up in the hope that it might
have a stepper motor or other motor I might be able to use. Even if it
does, I'm not sure how to use it. Apart from that, I'd like to know about
anything else in it that might be salvageable. For example, it has an
LCD display.

I'm interested in extracting parts and subsystems and learning to use them
for other things. I don't actually know how to do this and would appreciate
some guidance. I know that some people scavenge stepper motors for use
in a lot of home made numerical control stuff, robots, etc., and that
is my first motivation, but I'm open to learning to use anything I find.
Before I start taking the thing apart, and risk damaging something that
I might actually want, I think it is better to ask others for advice.
I've already posted about this printer to sci.electronics.misc, which
I think is a more appropriate forum, but have gotten no replies so far.

I guess the more one knows about how the device works and how it is put
together, the more likely it is that one can contemplate leaving most
of it intact, even if it is arranged differently physically, and simply
giving it different instructions. I doubt that there is that much
information available about this machine.

Anyway, advice on how to get the most out of this discovery, without simply
using it as hp intended (which is not an option), will be welcome.
 
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