I made this thing, appreciate the attention and kind words, to answer some questions/concerns:

- Paper is BPA free, got it from here https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0932QVYBQ

- Photos do have a lifetime, although no idea how long, the ones I have for a while seem to do better than the average store receipt

- It's not really _poor man's_ polaroid, but as someone else mentioned, price difference is not that big, while a single photo is a LOT cheaper

And there's a permalink for english language, in case OP or someone else can update it - https://boxart.lt/en/blog/poor_mans_polaroid

Do thermal prints still use materials that are endocrine disruptors, I don't know. But something to consider. https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/human-exp...

Note that this is an existing product category, usually cheap too.

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.

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.

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.

Sveikinimai lietuviskam projektui HN pirmam puslapy ;) dziugu geras projektas

Nice build. There are cheap (<$20) commercial versions, often targeted at kids. They make fantastic gifts, I thought it would be a bit of a gimmick but having instant printouts capturing happy moments added a fun dynamic to a few family trips, and our fridge is covered with an ever-rotating cast of family pics. And because they're ~free, it overcomes the blocker of a polaroid having to be 'special' while still keeping some constraints vs just snapping a cellphone pic.

Funny, it's not two days that I've published what I called 'we have Polaroid at home' https://www.printables.com/model/1622259-14mm-label-tape-pic...

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

One should know that thermopaper contains Bisphenol A aka BPA.

(1) So many people have told me they thought Polaroid film was crazy expensive

(2) There are the BPA concerns other people talk about but thermal prints don't age well at all. I made some prints of Pokemon characters about 5 years ago like this one

https://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1821741

and these are barely legible now. (Pokemon sample art is designed on the assumption that their art is going to be viewed on horrible screens, I'm going to argue that Lusamine respects Ansel Adams' "Zone Theory" really well which makes it work great as a thermal print)

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 $X/shot proprietary cartridges and be able to shoot and snap without thinking. Mementos for everyone!

* ... without thinking of costs involved. $2 per polaroid with half of them not even developing properly is a bit too high for spontaneous photography urges.

Fun project. But if you just want the end result, you can buy one of these thermopaper toy cameras on Amazon for like $20.

Funny story comes to my mind, I bought my daughter Instax because I was pretty sure it is digital, i.e. has a printer inside. However, I had trouble finding the resolution of the printer there... When we got it, I understood this is real photography paper, not a printer at all!

this is a great idea and wonderful execution, inspiring others(me) to build one!

This is a really inspiring project and exactly the type of content I'm looking for on Hacker News.

A bit surprising that so many people in the comments would rather see links to cheap temu polaroid knockoffs.

Reminds me a lot of https://mitxela.com/projects/thermal_paper_polaroid

Too bad the thermal prints may not last very long.

There are actually cheap pocketable good quality bluetooth photo printers one can buy.

This is already available on online shops.

Obligatory "be careful with that poisonous paper" warning[1]

[1]: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...