It could be that there just aren't that many functions that they created (e.g. a couple kinds of fonts, bold, underline, justification of text, etc.). In which case, what I'm looking for might not exist.
What I would like to do is feed the paper in the reverse direction (back towards the roll, as opposed to away from it, as is typically done).
You can currently use the feed command to make it go away from the roll:
printer.feed(2);
but I'd like to make it go backwards. I tried this:
printer.feed(-2);
But that didn't work.
Does any one have any suggestions of where I can look to solve this problem, or code that could potentially work?
2) The second thing that I want to do is write my text upside down on the paper.
I don't even know where to begin with this so any insight would be appreciated.
Please note that I am not very advanced with Arduino. If you need further clarification please let me know!
You can't reuse your thermal transfer paper, whichever type you use. Although with sublimation paper, you may find that there is some ink remaining on the paper, it will not be enough to make a good-quality print.
not even on non-themals..
why??
did you try these??
/*!
* @brief Disables upside-down text mode
*/
upsideDownOff(),
/*!
* @brief Enables upside-down text mode
*/
upsideDownOn(),
/*!
If there is nothing physically preventing a reverse feed, you might be able to re-wire the motor to operate in the opposite direction. You will likely also need to add some mechanical means to keep the paper aligned.
Curious as to why you want to reverse the feed direction.
Looking at Adafruit's product page, that is just the print head and feed mechanism, is there not some way you can simply rotate the entire mechanism 180 degrees so that the normal feed is the correct direction?
Don't confuse thermal paper with thermal transfer paper. There is no "transfer" or ink involved, the print head has a small heater for each "pixel" location, which causes the paper to darken in the heated location.
Thanks for this David! I want to be able to move both directions. I basically want to be able to print something to the paper, and then rewind the paper to intentionally overwrite the first pass.
And yes, in response to your note below--you can "reuse" the paper. I've tested it by manually re-coiling the paper and then sending it through a second time, and the two prints on top of each other work exactly as I'd like.
Might have to resort to using a buffer in memory to combine the output then print as a bitmap. That could probably be done one line at a time to limit the buffer size.
I would have a look at the Adafruit_GFX library to see if you can generate a bitmapped buffer image.
I'm actually printing text over top of text. And the concept requires that the text be printed and visible to the viewer before being written on a second time.
As a backup I'm thinking of running the paper through one printer, and then about 6 inches later running the same paper through a second printer. This will work, it will just come with its own set of mechanical challenges with synching the feed on both printers. I'm happy to do this option if I can't get the printer to feed backwards.
If you use two printers, it would be easier to run them independently. Print the initial text on the first printer, then reprint the initial text with the additional text added on the 2nd printer.
Another option would be an LCD display to show the initial text, then print everything at once.
Good, found them in the library link you posted..
and cool on the paper, good luck on hacking the printer..
when paper is loaded, they typically go back and fourth, so, should be doable..
have fun.. ~q
