I have become obsessed with vintage printers.

[MichaelThwaite]

It's an odd obsession but, yeah, I'm with you, after all, modern ink-jets are like cats – they crave attention, are always busy when you need them and are forever cleaning themselves!

However, does anyone know a good resource for advice on fixing old dot matrix? (if not here!)

I started with three recent examples, a DecWriter 65, a Tandy DMP-207 & a (mint in box) Citizen GSX-220, which are all clones of the Citizen and all have the same fault! They all fail to micro-feed the paper forward during printing and produce the attached.

Happy to go into more but fear this might be off-topic here. Thanks.

 

[djg]

They all fail to micro-feed the paper forward during printing and produce the attached.

If this is friction feed check to make sure the paper isn't slipping. I had to use rubber rejuvenator on platen and pinch roller to make paper feed reliably on other printers.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

I would second the question of if this is friction feed. I've noticed the same problem of hardening rubber surfaces with an old IBM typewriter I picked up for laughs. If you were seeing issues like this with tractor feed paper that would be a much more serious problem.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Hardening of rubber is a common product. There are treatments for that; methyl salicylate in a light solvent is what I use. Keeps the rubber soft and grippy. And you shop gets to smell like an old folks' home.

 

[MichaelThwaite]

Thanks, I'll give the methyl salicylate in a light solvent a go.

That said, so far I'd ruled that out as, if you feed the paper in, you can literally lift the printer by the paper so that led me to assume that they must be ok. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[powerlot]

Hardening of rubber is a common product. There are treatments for that; methyl salicylate in a light solvent is what I use. Keeps the rubber soft and grippy. And you shop gets to smell like an old folks' home.

Any details here? What's an example for a light solvent and how much do you dilute it? How do you apply it?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Xylol is one such solvent. Or you can purchase a ready-made product, such as Rubber Renu.

 

[MichaelThwaite]

Hit all three printers with 408C Rubber Renew from MG Chemicals (Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PRS3gi) and wow, yes, the house...

gets to smell like an old folks' home

... event though I did it outside!

My rubber bits are like new but sadly the printers are not fixed

However, every cloud... When it came to re-mantling the printers, I noticed that they all had a similar variation of the same fault - the drive rollers sit on a bar that terminates in a hole through the plastic mechanism frame, on the other side, a one-way clutch that stops the feed going backwards. The plastic frame is so brittle, even on the newest unit, that the clips that hold everything in place just crumble and allow the whole bar to float on one end.

After re-mantling the Citizen, I did a test print and watched the bar flopping about, jammed a screwdriver in to pin it in place and voila!

Looking at the plastic frame, I've posited a few solutions but the whole thing is so brittle now I'm fearful that the game is at an end.

Perhaps I'll see/hear some inspiration at VCF East next week.

 

[boraxman]

The Epson LX400 I have was the first "big" purchase I ever made in my life, about $240AUD back in the mid 90s. I bought it to print my schoolwork. I think it says something about a teenager, when they save up their birthday money to buy... a printer. I used it up until 2008 or so, though not all that often. Never ever failed me, and I still have it, though it hasn't been used in many many years.

Now that I've seen this thread, I might start it up again.

 

[keenerb]

I tracked down a Brother printer with built-in Laserjet and FX-800 emulation. Testing it out now, is pretty neat so far...