cdols@ux3.lbl.gov (Charles G Dols) (06/21/89)
On 29 April 89 Paul S. R. Chisholm wrote:
["The *real* secret to getting good output from a dot matrix
[printer has nothing to do with font design or number of pins.
[It's much simpler: use a good, dark ribbon!"
The first two new ribbon cassettes I used in this Panasonic
KX-P1124 were not very dark. (The third was better.)
These cassettes are easily opened. It seems that a couple of drops
of the APPROPRIATE liquid on the reinker sponge disk might make a
"good, dark ribbon".
Experience, cautions, sources, advice -- anyone?
Please respond by mail. I'll post a summary.
16012_3705@uwovax.uwo.ca (Jeff Racine) (06/22/89)
In article <2857@helios.ee.lbl.gov>, cdols@ux3.lbl.gov (Charles G Dols) writes: > On 29 April 89 Paul S. R. Chisholm wrote: > > ["The *real* secret to getting good output from a dot matrix > [printer has nothing to do with font design or number of pins. > [It's much simpler: use a good, dark ribbon!" > > These cassettes are easily opened. It seems that a couple of drops > of the APPROPRIATE liquid on the reinker sponge disk might make a > "good, dark ribbon". > > advice -- anyone? > A few years back I read an article which suggested that the author used a bit of WD-40 (available at your local hardware store) on his old ribbons and this (supposedly) works like a charm: Good luck... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Racine E-Mail: Department of Economics University of Western Ontario Bitnet: racine@uwovax.bitnet London, Ontario, Canada racine@uwovax.uwo.ca N6A 5B7 ARPA: racine@uwo.ca (519) 679-2111 ext. 6418 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
pmd@cbnews.ATT.COM (Paul Dubuc) (06/24/89)
I've thought of trying to re-ink the expensive ribbons for my Panasonic 1124 printer, but I'm wary of just buying any old ink and putting a few drops on the reinking wheel. I've heard that the ink serves to lubricate the pins on dot matrix printers and using the wrong kind of ink could ruin the print head (sort of like using straight gasoline in a 2 cycle engine). Any truth to this? -- Paul Dubuc | "How could God reveal himself in a way that would leave att!asr1!pmd | no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there | would be no room for me." | Frederick Buechner
holtman@cbnews.ATT.COM (James P. Holtman) (06/25/89)
One way of rejuvenating your ribbon is to remove the top of the ribbon carrier, spray it with WD-40 and then let it sit for a couple of day to dry out. I have used this for a couple of years and you can get several extra 'cycles' out of the ribbon. WD-40 is also a good lubricant, so maybe that is why it works.
stephen@ziebmef.uucp (Stephen M. Dunn) (07/04/89)
In article <7732@cbnews.ATT.COM> holtman@cbnews.ATT.COM (James P. Holtman) writes:
$One way of rejuvenating your ribbon is to remove the top of the
$ribbon carrier, spray it with WD-40 and then let it sit for a
$couple of day to dry out. I have used this for a couple of years
$and you can get several extra 'cycles' out of the ribbon. WD-40
$is also a good lubricant, so maybe that is why it works.
I did this with the original ribbon in my Star NX-1000. The original
ribbon was getting very faint after about 4 months, so I squirted in some
WD-40. I ended up having to do about 15 pages worth of the printer's self-
test pattern before the printing became fairly evenly dark (what I mean is
that it would go through a dark patch, then get faint, etc.). For the first
week or so, I had to leave everything I printed sitting around overnight so
that it didn't smell like a garage, but after that the smell became so faint
as to be unnoticeable.
This fix lasted about two months of light usage before printing once
again became rather faint. I don't know how many times you can WD-40 a
ribbon before it finally dies.
One of my guesses as to why it works is as follows. If you look at a
dying ribbon, you'll notice that the middle third of the ribbon (width-wise)
is faint, while the outer two-thirds or so are still dark (because the ribbon
has to be much wider than the print head). Perhaps the WD-40 dissolves some
of the ink from the outer part and it ends up getting transported to the
center of the ribbon.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! Stephen M. Dunn stephen@ziebmef.UUCP ! DISCLAIMER: Who'd ever !
! Take off to the Great White North eh, ya hosehead ! claim such dumb ideas? !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP (Michael R. Volow) (07/08/89)
[deleted stuff about using WD40 to extend Dot Matrix ribbon life] Had a doggy IBM Proprinter with very sticky pins, output look awful. Then WD40'd the print head a couple of times (got a few messy pages) but eventually the output looked as good as the machine was capable of (which isn't much but it was then useable). M Volow, VA Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705 mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP 919 286 0411