My Printer Mod

[Bash]

Hey, check this out, this is a printer mod i did in my spare time when i was bored, all it is a 4" blue neon attached to the front cover of the printer.
This is a picture of my printer when it the lid is closed:

As you can see, the neon illuminated the inside of the printer pretty well, you should see the print head when the printer is printing, it looks SWEET. (If you want a video of it, please ask and i can give you the URL)

Here is a pic of when the lid is open:


The wires that are used to power the neon are quite neatly hidden from sight through a "switch" hole on the inside of the printer.
The only problem at the moment is getting a 12V supply to the neon and invertor, the only way i can do it so far is to put my printer on top of my PC.
Ill get it sorted,
Watch this space

Any thaughts or ideas on how i can get a 12V supply from an Epson 880, please tell me, and any other thaughts are greatly appriciated.

Bash

[Nightwalker]

;D I bloody love this MOD, Its amazing!
One posible thing I thought of was when hes sorted the power out, then sticking the little neon on the actual moving printer arm, so that the blue neon moved with the printing, giving a cool zaping effect as if it were being lazer burned by blue light! lol.

[Tizz]

i have to say this is class, very simple but efective, nice original idea man, i think i may give it ago

[Bash]

No worries man,
just remember where you saw it first

Bash

[MaveriK]

wat u running the cold cathode off mate i might have ago as i got the same printer do u run off mains power or power of the printer(cant you tell im a newbie to modding)

[Bash]

Just for experimental purposes, i had to put my printer on top of my pc and use a molex from inside my pc to power the inverter and neon.

Im no electrictian so i dont know how or where to get a 12 volt supply from inside a printer. Im sure there must be a 12 volt source somewhere inside, just not brave enough to try it.
If you do find a way of doing it, please do pass the knowledge on.
Cheers
Good luck with your mod.

Bash

p.s. Check out my latest MOD newlan.proboards15.com/index.cgi?board=modin&action=display&thread=1087225028

[Nightwalker]

As I have said before dan, you can strip of all the platic casing of your printer, and then once inside, strip small sections of plastic covering on all the wires and then use a multimeter to test the voltages of all the different wires. When you find one at the right voltage pre-up your neons, cut the wires and then inter-twine them joining them to the wires you found inside the printer and then solder the wires correctly finishing off the job with correct electrical tape. Job done.

[Bash]

Yeh, this would work in theory, but.....

Would the printer be able to handle the current drop from whatever i stole the 12V from, its probably not much, but it might be enough to stop the printer from working properly.

Bash

[Nightwalker]

To be honest yes, it probably would.
And then the probability is, as the neon would only draw a low consistant voltage (because it again lowers it with its inverter) so it wont take much, and like I was starting to say the probability is that the area of printer if it needed a little more power it would just draw it instead of the neon, and would maybe just dim the neon slighty, you'll probably find this will happen during the use of the printer anyhow from where-ever you manage to draw power from inside the printer.
I would like to help you sometime with it and we can have a good look with the correct tools, strip it and use the multimeters to check it out and then my soldering kit if you wana give it a go.

[Bash]

yeah, sounds shigs

ill get hold of an old printer to do it on first, before i unleash on my working one. lol

Bash

[EpiLePTiCFaiRY]

Um, you've probably checked this already, but whats the rated output from the transformer on your printer? It's actually 12Vs on some. Check it out.

[Nightwalker]

Its probably gona be around 12v, shouldnt be any lower, dan hasnt got a multimeter i dont think, he'll have to borrow mine.

[Bash]

Erm, i dunno, there isnt really a transformer for the printer (if im thinking that thats the big block thats in the middle of some power supplies) mine just uses a IEC (kettle) lead straight into the back of the printer.