atschnei@vlsi.waterloo.edu (Todd Schneider) (01/23/91)
A summary describing how to replace the paper guide on an Imagewriter ][. Thanks to ... consp22@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu trajmar@CS.UCLA.EDU andyp@treehouse clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu wwtaroli@rodan.acs.syr.edu Here's what to do (condensed from the information provided by people listed above). 0. Buy a replacement paper guide. I got one for $6(Can) from our campus repair people. What a deal :-). 1. TURN THE PRINTER OFF AND DISCONNECT ALL CABLES (SAFETY FIRST!). 2. Remove the top cover and lift up the roller that presses against the platen. 3. Remove the ribbon. 4. Bend the white angular tab (to the right of the print head) to the right. 5. Lift the head straight up. (Be sure to pull straight up ... otherwise the connector or PCB edge contacts could be broken.) Don't force the white tab too hard ... they can break. 6. Once the print head is removed, carefully unscrew the two screws holding the clear plastic paper guide in place. Leaving them on the paper guide, carefully lift the guide and the screws out of the printer. 7. Install the new paper guide. Install the screws but don't tighten them. 8. Put a piece of paper in the printer using the platen knob ... leave the power off! 9. Replace the print head by inserting it into the socket and guides while pushing the white plastic clip to the right. Make sure you insert the print-head straight down ... and be careful not to break the print-head pcb interconnect or the socket!! You must also push slightly forward while installing the head to fit it into the aluminum guide slot. 10.Move the paper thickness adjust so that the print-head is set closest to the platen. Adjust the newly installed paper guide so that it is close against the sheet of but no pressing hard against it (there's not very much adjustment here ... you could probably just tighten down the screws and call it a day). Thighten the screws until they are snug (we don't want to break our expensive new paper guide). If you're not sure you can do this yourself ... take it to a repair place. It's (at most) a 15 minute job if they know what they're doing. Kathy Strong (clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) also provided some futher advice. >We Thunderscan users are VERY familiar with that particular problem... :-) > >[Instructions deleted] > >I used to just carve away the folded part of the silver foil with an >Xacto knife, but after three times I got wise and just pulled the whole >thing off. Didn't make any difference that I could tell--if you have >problems with ribbon smearing onto paper, you might use the adjuster >to move the head back one notch. An aside ... the new printer guide I purchased does not use metal for the part that peeled off on the old one. Instead it uses a brown plastic material. Maybe this bonds better to the clear plastic? Thanks again to all those who replied. The net comes through once again! Todd. (atschnei@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca)