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Printers tend to fail. In my company, we had one that ended up making us mad with all sorts of failures (see next step), wasting a lot of paper. So I decided to transform it into something it could be very good at: a shredder.
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Signing UpStep 1Printer Failures
Non-exhaustive list of possible printer failures that can drive you mad:
- just won't print
- stays stuck in the middle of a job
- ejects a blank sheet before, after, or instead of your print job
- will output lots of pages full of text with weird characters, instead of what you expect
- PC Load letter syndrome (actually, could be your mistake, A4 vs Letter)
- no more ink, in the middle of your 100 pages document
- does not resume correctly (skips a page) after you had to reload paper in the middle of a document; very annoying when double-sided printing...
- paper jam
- after you fixed the paper jam, resumes printing but skips a page
- loads two pages instead of one (inserts one blank page)
- loads two pages instead of one, but slightly shifted (wastes two pages)
- loads page with a skew
- refuses to print a black/white document, because one of the color cartidges is empty (although there is enough black ink)
- spreads ink/toner everywhere
- folds the pages (unfortunately, not as a paper plane)
- etc, etc, etc...
- do like in the Office Space movie
- just dispose it calmly and properly
- or, turn it into a shredder (and for me, apply to the Dead Computer Contest): Read on...
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Well would like to experiment on this but when i have a spare printer to ruin it not now.
Anyone in the student loan business... you should install one of these, so next time you guys are working on my file maybe you could make something useful happen.
It doesn't work the other way round, though, because printers have all those smart chips and stuff, while shredders are just kinda "duhhhh".
Oh no... our printer is wireless... maybe that's why it prints random screen shots of Stephen Colbert, it's been talking to the TV! Jeez, that might make for some difficult times during tornado season. I'll know for sure if paper starts flying around the office.
I like the idea of turning everything into a toaster, but an office is an unlikely place for toast.
But then, with paper jam!
:OP
~adamvan2000
Duplexing toast would be cool, but possibly problematic... mebbe a prism to split the beam somehow. And yes I know how a laser printer with toner works. I am thinking how to do it with a real laser, like those kit ones.
~adamvan2000
Or is this mostly just a joke?
Maybe you could put one of those cooling fans back inside, pointed at a hole in the casing so that when you shred something it blows a cloud of shredded paper at you. Would be great for office parties or dramatically destroying important documents.
http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/XeroxShredder/Overview.aspx
~adamvan2000
Great 'ible :P I see a mistake in step 3 though:
"waste" should be
"handy parts to use in other 'ibles" xD!
I once used the heater element (like a long thin light bulb) as part of an acrylic bender :D
Do you remember the voltage? I also saved the heater.
You can most likely use an ordinary light dimmer switch to vary the temperature, as the filament represents a resistive load -- exactly like a light bulb.
I agree with Zack247.
I like the office space idea better....lets all just face it....sometimes things just deserved to get punched in the face a few times.
http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/XeroxShredder/Overview.aspx
you could use that shredder without putting it in the printer also.
But that was just for the fun. This printer was more destroying than printing. Half-shredding. I found it funny to make it perfectly shred.
The hero of this ible is still the printer, not the shredder hidden inside.
might be a bit better with a real trademark sighn-- copy paste away!
ShredDirect ®
What about using the shredder directly ?