Quote Originally Posted by Anuvin View Post
I am terrible at electronics, so that tends to be the last thing I think of, but a little piezoelectric speaker just might do it. On the other hand, these ideas do ruin the silent operation of the peachy printer, which is lame. Is there something else that is electric but makes no sound that would create the occasional ripple?
Ultrasonic? Has the advantage of keeping dogs away from the printer while it's active!

Alternatively, we already have a wave-generator ready to go: the dripper. By default it 'drips' under the surface to prevent ripples, but if you move it so that it drips from above the surface you'll get ripples. What I'm not sure about is whether that can be calibrated. One approach would be to have it drip from just above the surface (so there's only a tiny fall, and a small ripple) - but then you have to keep it just above the surface as the level rises.

I know people are looking into pumps to get more consistent drip speed, and those might be able to provide suitable ripple too. Pretty much all the 'cheap' pumps that can accurately provide a small amount of liquid (which rules out impeller pumps) have a pulsing motion. If they're run very slowly then that'll be almost irrelevant. If they're run fast (even if it's just a fast pulse for a single cycle, to avoid raising the level too much) they'll give a much bigger pulse. Not totally silent, but very close.