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Old printers

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Ec1564

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2008
Messages
49
Location
Arcadia, Fla
I have two Tandy printers DMP107 and DMP132 of which the ribbons are dried out from years of sitting.
Is there a way to revive old ribbons using the new reinking kits that are out there? Or other kind of inks? I also have a full box of tractor paper thats probly old as the printers too! Intresting things you find when closet/attic diving for the xmas tree and decorations!
 
What I usually do is open the cartridge and inject some ink into the ink sponge, then put the cartridge back togther and wind the ribbon advance knob either by hand or by printing some block of text to it until letters start showing up on the page.

It is better to put a bit too little ink into the sponge and add a bit more than to inject too much.

I usually use black ink for "dip and fill" fountain pens.
 
Ec1564 said:
I have two Tandy printers DMP107 and DMP132 of which the ribbons are dried out from years of sitting.
Is there a way to revive old ribbons using the new reinking kits that are out there? Or other kind of inks? . . .
Click to expand...

I may be wrong here, but I 'think' a thin spray of WD-40 might work, to get things going again with those dried out ribbons.

If it doesn't work, then you didn't hear it from me, but I think it will work :)
 
WD-40 should work okay, but spray the ribbon and seal it in a plastic bag for a few days to let the vapors penetrate and soften the ink.

You can also still get the MacInker if you've a mind to re-ink your own ribbons.

A word of caution on both the WD-40 and re-inking, however. Eventually, after a lot of use, a ribbon gets worn and no longer has enough fibers to hold ink very well. Time to get a new ribbon.

It used to be possible to get bulk ribbon for refilling your own cartridges. I don't know if it still is.
 
And of course you could also replace the ribbon itself with one out of a new one with the same width. But it's surprising how many of the old ribbons are still available out there.
 
It might be worth checking Staples.
They still carry a surprising number of dot matrix ribbons.

If you don't find the ribbon listed under the manufacturer's model number. you might try searching for the OEM.
For example, many small dot matrix printers sold in the mid-Eighties were just rebranded a C.Itoh 8510A.
I understand the Tandy DMP132 may have been made by Seikosha.

HTH.
Andy
 
af_pelican.jpg


Pelikan?
 
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