Ink-jet technology is very well developed for the document printing market. Commercial ink-jets can Ink jet tools require very carefully filtered materials to prevent clogging of the very fine jet orifices. The materials must have very well controlled (and low) viscosity to form tiny droplets which can be ejected cleanly from the orifice.
Add your ink-jet tool information here, or on a page linked to from here
Standard Ink-jet technology (printer heads) are currently being used for 3d fabrication for example Z-Corps (http://www.zcorp.com/products/printersdetail.asp?ID=1) uses standard HP Ink-jet cartridges to spray an image a slice at a time onto a layer of powder once a slice has been printed a thin layer of powder is deposited the printer then prints another 2d slice the process is repeated until a 3D physical object has been created. The loose powder is vacuumed out leaving the physical object to be removed.
The problem I see with homebrew systems using this technology is that the printer head firmware is tied up (i.e. closed to HP and affiliates) meaning it is very difficult / impossible to code for it. To go down this route one would probably need to create there own print head controller as in : http://www.spritesmods.com/?art=inker
I decided to take another approach and to use the existing HP firmware. I dismantled an old HP Inkjet and cobbled together a crude X axis controlled by a PIC 4455 the trick is to move the X axis position the same distance as a piece of paper would move and to monitor position of the X axis so as home the X axis back to its original location so as to be able to print the next layer over the top of the first and so on. Note before the X axis home(s)it is necessary to lower the base by the amount of the slice height the X axis then drags / scrapes a new thin layer of powder across the last slice printed then the printer continues printing the next slice.
With regards to deposition material (binder) for the inkjet cartridge I mixed together sugar water using distilled water the idea being sugar dissolves and solidifies acting as a glue to bind the powder. I could successfully print though the ink jet cartridges were quite old i.e. it had been refilled with ink at least twice in the past.
One benefit of using this method is that the unused powder also acts as a support material for overhangs etc.
we can use this ink jet
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30014
A simple nozzle-firing interface allows for simple integration into your printing device. Integration is further simplified with the available print carriage assemblies and technical design documentation available directly from HP
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