Yeah I was excited about such a project concept until I saw it was thermal printer. Would love a little Polaroid type camera with inexpensive film for my kids to play with, but I don’t want them playing with thermal paper, kids put literally everything in their mouths.
igniuss 1 hours ago [-]
It's been regulated since 2020 in Europe at least.
> As part of the EU’s REACH Regulation Annex XVII, a restriction banning Bisphenol A (BPA) content in thermal paper above 0.02% by weight came into effect on January 2, 2020. This prohibition was implemented due to health concerns associated with BPA exposure
bpa free thermal paper is pretty easy to source from anywhere now because of this.
If the law calls out BPA exclusively and not a more general description, it’s just a false sense of safety.
baxtr 3 hours ago [-]
Nice project!
But this is definitely NOT for a poor man. Poor people buy a $20 camera on Amazon.
A time-rich person can afford this camera.
voidUpdate 2 hours ago [-]
Polaroid film costs about 1 euro for them, and a thermal image costs about 1 cent. After enough photos, it cancels out
22 minutes ago [-]
numberwhun 2 hours ago [-]
Sure, but what about other costs. You can pick up a poloroid for about $50-75 on ebay. With this one, you will need to buy things like a 3D printer (and the necessary accessories, like filament), the rasperry pi, battery pack, printer, etc. Yes, the thermal paper is cheaper over all, but the cost will be a lot more up front, even if it work out over time.
Don't get me wrong, this is a cool toy, but the title is definitely a bit off.
voidUpdate 1 hours ago [-]
The printer is about 20 euro, raspberry pi zero is currently 10 euro, pi zero camera is 14 euro. I don't know how much 3d printing services cost, since i have my own printer. Powerbank depends on which powerbank you choose. Cost difference is probably less than you'd expect
y-curious 2 hours ago [-]
While I did just buy a 3D printer, I want to enlighten the community: many public libraries now have maker spaces. I recommend checking those out if you want to do one off stuff
Note it's just a 3D printable stand for tiny printer labels (16mm wide). It was a literal 5 minute project but I liked the retro and restrictive aesthetic enough to share..
Such printer as shown is an absolute bargain at £15
ashdnazg 5 hours ago [-]
If you're using mobile, there's an "English" button in the menu.
Note to website owner - it could be nice to have a permalink to the English version.
h2zizzle 2 hours ago [-]
Hey, I enjoyed reading about the spausdintuvu and power banko.
huhtenberg 1 hours ago [-]
Looking at all ready-made options on Amazon and elsewhere - anyone who will roll out an adult-oriented well-made single-button camera that takes in standard thermal paper rolls will make a fortune. This is such a great thing to have for get-togethers and parties. But it's essential to not being bound by $2/shot proprietary cartridges and be able to shoot and snap without thinking. Mementos for everyone!
rahkiin 1 hours ago [-]
The whole ‘shoot with thinking’ is one of the values to me. On top of, of course, the direct printing.
thih9 2 hours ago [-]
Note that this is an existing product category, usually cheap too.
One should know that thermopaper contains Bisphenol A aka BPA.
igniuss 1 hours ago [-]
Unless you're in Europe.
> As part of the EU’s REACH Regulation Annex XVII, a restriction banning Bisphenol A (BPA) content in thermal paper above 0.02% by weight came into effect on January 2, 2020. This prohibition was implemented due to health concerns associated with BPA exposure
so unless you're buying old rolls, or from non reputable sources, it shouldn't be an issue in the EU at least.
retired 34 minutes ago [-]
I’m fairly certain that a large percentage of people who buy thermal printer for fun do so from China, which has no regulations on thermal paper.
VladVladikoff 1 hours ago [-]
I thought that it was just replaced with similar molecules such as BPS, which has been shown to have equally bad effects.
mwidell 4 hours ago [-]
You can buy phenol-free thermopaper if you are concerned
echoangle 1 hours ago [-]
Is there a way to actually verify that? I still don't trust that just because it says it on the label.
cluckindan 2 hours ago [-]
Too bad the thermal prints may not last very long.
ivanvoid 5 hours ago [-]
this is a great idea and wonderful execution, inspiring others(me) to build one!
qwertox 4 hours ago [-]
The use of thermal paper was surprising. Great idea, indeed.
mwidell 4 hours ago [-]
Fun project. But if you just want the end result, you can buy one of these thermopaper toy cameras on Amazon for like $20.
detritus 4 hours ago [-]
I bought such a thing for my daughter and it's great fun but this old codger will never cease to be amazed at how much tech is available for such a small amount of money - the digital camera functions normally, takes video too, the system has basic games and a vivid LCD screen and there's a thermal printer - all in a cute moulded package. £25 ours cost.
sen 3 hours ago [-]
One of my kids just got a $13 “smart watch” which has a touch screen, camera with filters/editor, microSD storage, plays MP3s, records voice memos, has games, and more I’m probably forgetting.
It absolutely blows my mind how cheap tech is these days.
FpUser 46 minutes ago [-]
There are actually cheap pocketable good quality bluetooth photo printers one can buy.
3 hours ago [-]
qsera 3 hours ago [-]
This is already available on online shops.
Rendered at 14:56:35 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
> As part of the EU’s REACH Regulation Annex XVII, a restriction banning Bisphenol A (BPA) content in thermal paper above 0.02% by weight came into effect on January 2, 2020. This prohibition was implemented due to health concerns associated with BPA exposure
bpa free thermal paper is pretty easy to source from anywhere now because of this.
If the law calls out BPA exclusively and not a more general description, it’s just a false sense of safety.
But this is definitely NOT for a poor man. Poor people buy a $20 camera on Amazon.
A time-rich person can afford this camera.
Note it's just a 3D printable stand for tiny printer labels (16mm wide). It was a literal 5 minute project but I liked the retro and restrictive aesthetic enough to share..
Such printer as shown is an absolute bargain at £15
Note to website owner - it could be nice to have a permalink to the English version.
Lots of examples here: https://thermalprintcameras.wordpress.com
Of course one can still want to hack something like this yourself for fun or other reasons.
A bit surprising that so many people in the comments would rather see links to cheap temu polaroid knockoffs.
> As part of the EU’s REACH Regulation Annex XVII, a restriction banning Bisphenol A (BPA) content in thermal paper above 0.02% by weight came into effect on January 2, 2020. This prohibition was implemented due to health concerns associated with BPA exposure
so unless you're buying old rolls, or from non reputable sources, it shouldn't be an issue in the EU at least.
It absolutely blows my mind how cheap tech is these days.