Description: This is a thermal printer like you would
find on a cash register or adding machine. It will print simple strings
passed to it via TTL serial, bitmap images (poorly) and it even
generates several different formats of barcodes!
The thermal printer takes 2.25" (57mm) wide thermal paper with a max
roll diameter of 1.5" (39mm). Thermal paper is inexpensive and commonly
found in most office supply stores in 85ft lengths. You may have to
remove some paper from these rolls in order for it to fit into the
printer. But, you can always use the excess paper in the printer, since
you don't need to have a 'core' in the paper for it to work.
The back panel has 2 3-pin connectors; one for power and one for serial
communications. The thermal printer ships with default 19200bps baud
rate. If you're using this printer in conjunction with an Arduino,
you're going to need to connect it to the "Vin" pin and attach an
external power supply, as the printer will draw more current than USB is
capable of delivering. We've found that a 5V wall adapter works best
(see related products below).
The print head has a rated life of 50km! That means this printer can
handle a marathon's distance (~30 miles) of printing before the head
hits its rated limit.
Use this printer in any project where you need a hard-copy of the
output, or in an art project where you want to keep the output to stick
on your fridge, or to build a DIY cash register for your lemonade stand!
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