The perceived quality of dot matrix printers depends on the vertical and horizontal resolution and the ability of the printer to overlap adjacent dots.
However, a dot matrix printer is able to print arbitrary patterns and not just specific characters. Dot matrix printers typically use a print head that moves back and forth or in an up-and-down motion on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a typewriter or line printer.
Write software to keep track of where everything is and get the timing right.Connect the two position feedback lines to inputs.Design an H bridge to allow the motor to be moved in each direction.I'm not sure how much effort you're prepared to put into it but the other steps I can think of you'd need to perform are: For the print head you could do the same until it appeared to be leaving a solid line as the motor moves. You'd need to determine the voltage everything requires, for the motor you could just turn up the voltage until it appeared to be moving at a reasonable rate. The left-most pin appears in the same area appears to be for position feedback by making contact with the 'spokes' on the PCB as it turns around. It's hard to make out when assembled what contacts would touch each other on the last photo, but I guess the two inner pins make continual contact with the inner PCB trace, and the right-most make continual contact with the outer trace so that would be power for the print head. The right hand side appears to be for the print head. On the first photo I'm guessing the wires going to the left are to indicate the end of travel on that end, although the mechanism isn't clear from the photo. So to get it to move left and right you'd need to reverse power to the motor. It appears to be a standard DC motor not a stepper motor. I haven't used anything similar but these are my observations based on the photo: I am familiar with the Propeller chip, software development (my main gig), and basic electronics concepts. Just looking for some help to point me in the right direction here. Definitely have googled a lot to no avail.) (Trying to guess what I need to send to each individual motor to get the right output sounds like a rather difficult way of approaching the problem, was hoping there was some sort of documentation or standardized "protocol" that might exist for the overall unit. If I could at least find some specifications that would describe what I need to send to it, I'd be happy. It would be great if there were some sort of "driver" for this for use from Propeller Spin code, but I realize that most likely doesn't exist. It seems like I can get specs on the large silver motor from here: but don't know on the rest. Is anyone familiar with how one of these things works? I don't see any chips or other electronics on it, so I assume it's just stepping motor control. (See images below.) It's the printer from this: print to) with a Parallax Propeller board. I have small dot matrix printing device that I'm trying to control (i.e.