Quote Originally Posted by jstrack2 View Post
I think that a potentiometric transducer would work as well. It might be easier than the caliper I think. I would prefer the caliper though all things being equal since I think it would be more precise and more importantly much more accurate. A weakness of the caliper's approach is it takes a relatively long time to make measurements. But this is irrelevant for the Peachy Printer, since the liquid level shouldn't rise to the top in a second or two! haha

As for sending the signal to the computer I think maybe the voltage could be just directly sent to the computer via the headphone jack just like the drip does. If using the caliper a microcontroller would probably be needed, such as a PIC. Some microcontrollers can be bought for only a dollar or two though so I don't think this rules calipers out. It's nice that there are multiple options!

this is essentialy what my original suggestion was before it evolved into the discussion we are currently at.