Sometimes we find projects that border on the absurd but are too cool to pass up. The Comprinter is exactly that. [Mason Stooksbury] had a dream. An all-in-one scanner printer that was also a computer. What would turn heads more than walking into a hackerspace with a printer, plugging your headphones in, then opening up the top to reveal a monitor?
[Mason’s] dream became possible when friends gave him some old laptops and a dead Kodak printer. After going through the laptops, he picked a Dell Inspiron 1440 to be the donor machine. The printer and laptop were both carefully stripped down. [Mason’s] goal for the project was to build a “beautiful” printer/computer. No bodges allowed. He spent most of his time planning out how to mount the motherboard and display inside the scanner section of the chassis.
The actual assembly was quite fiddly. Working with only an inch or so of clearance, [Mason] installed standoffs for the motherboard and display. He to do all this without breaking the wires for the display and WiFi antennas.
Once the main parts of the laptop were assembled, [Mason] completed the build with a nine-port USB hub, some internally mounted speakers and a USB keyboard mounted in the paper tray. The twelve-hour operation was a complete success. What looks to be a cheap inkjet actually hides a complete laptop running Xubuntu. The only downside is that the printer doesn’t actually print, but [Mason] is quick to note that if the printer hadn’t been broken in the first place, it would work fine — all the modifications are in the scanner section.
We’ve seen some wild casemods over the years, including a Nintendo in a toaster, a modern PC stuffed into an original Xbox, and Raspberry Pi’s stuffed into just about everything.
There are some things that I don’t quite understand or agree with, but that I am glad they exist. This is one of them.
Well put! +1
Awesome, many new possibilities to implement the “Print Screen” command :D
It’d be brilliant if one can just fold down the screen onto the scanner bed, scan it, and print it out. (c:
Apparently not a repost: https://hackaday.com/2018/05/15/case-mod-takes-all-in-one-printer-to-the-next-level/
Just another take on a clever idea!
Kudos!
Brilliantly useless :-D
I like how the scotch tape on the paper tray makes it look even more like a legitimate printer! Also bonus points installing a computer that is use-able instead of another stupid raspberry pi project.
I’m hoping [Mason Stooksbury] will fix that, maybe using magnets to latch it.
Mason Stooksbury here, it does latch by itself. I just had tape cause I was moving it around alot and it likes to open when wiggled a bit.
In the future due to advances in Raspberry Pi technology and a greater understanding of time travel you are a stupid raspberry pi project.
Could make one of these print by hacking a Canon iP series portable printer inside. Dimensions of the iP90V and the two prior models are 12.3 x 6.9 x 2.1 inches. Could cut that a bit with the plastic housing removed. Don’t be fooled by the latest drivers listed for them on Canon’s US, EU and other English sites. Canon’s Asia site has Windows 8.x drivers (in English) for these, which work fine in Windows 10. Dunno why they try to hide those drivers from everyone outside Asia.
If you’ll excuse me I have to go print this article on my VCR.