In a world of homebrew 3D printers and CNC machines, it's kinda weird there never was a similar option for a regular printer.
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
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Who uses printers in 2026?
print and play boardgamers!
With the price of one printer(without the ink and the repairs), they could buy more than one board game and they would be happier by not dealing with printing frustrations.
FYI its not actually open source. Its a cool idea but you can't actually sell it or sell derivatives of it. Even at zero-sum. This hinders any actual forks from being successful, as any intention to sell the product (even without aiming for profits) is forbidden by their license. It just allows for tinkerers as contributors without properly allowing forks. Makes me a bit sad tbh, because its so close to being awesome.
Well that's disappointing.
Of all the available printer cartridges, they chose those from HP? Eeeeew
Illegal due to US govt wanting discrete traceable patterns printed so they can track money duplication on colour printer or track Ransom letters?
Good thing I live outside of the US then ;)
This looks awesome...hope they make it, I'd buy one if it isn't toooo expensive.
I imagine that similar regulations exist in the EU. For instance, no copy machine will let you copy a Euro bill.
Yeah, that's the anti-copy mechamism I recall reading about long ago. I wonder if/how this project will deal with that?
Where are you seeing that it’s illegal? I own a pen plotter that can print things without tracking dots and that’s not illegal. I don’t see why this would be any different.
It was a question. And wasn't pen plotters since they can't reproduce money, and are more rare for consumers
Using the tool for illegal activities is illegal, owning a printer capable of producing fake notes isn’t.
I think the original query was are these illegal to sell in USA due to not having FBI traceability?
I’m saying no. I could find nothing on the books that prohibits specific printer tech or mandates hidden tracing be added for it to be legal.
Freedom strikes again.
So what? Thats exactly why I WANT a custom built printer, fucking spying shits.
Nope, this was only done on laser printers and not all of them.
My non laser colour had it. Left yellow dots on photos, drove me crazy
Well, it being open source helps get around that
Come and Take it
This is an ink jet printer that uses HP print head / ink cartridges.. Fwiw, repairable impact printers have been around longer than computers. Think of old fashioned teleprinters. Noisy, but likely to survive the apocalypse.
Where're ya gonna get sprocket-feed fanfold paper these days, though, let alone in the apocalypse?
And it will still need cyan to print a bw document lol!
I'm curious how they source the ink.
I recently watched a video about a 3D printer with color that is effectively obsolete because it used what was once common hp cartridges that hp discontinued.
If you lean on any proprietary component, any printing company is going to intentionally make you obsolete. For them, it's a no-brainer.
As another replier said, they use an HP cartridge. So this open printer will be ewaste in 5 years
HP print cartridges.
This isn't new. I remember seeing a promotion for this exact same printer many years ago already. I'd approach it with suspicion.
I had the same thought. I signed up to be notified when the project starts, but never got an email.
Perhaps they have just had massive delays, but I too would suggest caution.
Sounds great. I can't figure out what the status is. Working prototype? Manufacturing?
I'm disappointed they say coming soon. Laat year or so, when they announced it, everyone assumed immediate availability.
I like all my documents to curl up.
You can print on standard sheets or paper rolls and choose between black or color cartridges, refillable at your convenience.
I unironically want this to make wizard scrolls
It’s going to break doesn’t matter that it is open source. It’s a printer at heart.
That's why they're hyping the repairability.
Printers can work. At work we have these big canon plotters for big posters. They are basically super size inkjet printers. They have been printing for years and they never need maintenance.