henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (08/07/83)
The other day, I investigated a jammed Sanders ribbon, and discovered
that the problem is that the ribbon is not getting wound tightly enough
around the takeup reel. Eventually the ribbon pack on the takeup reel
gets big enough to rub against the capstan, and chaos ensues. This
explains why it systematically happens near the end of the ribbon.
Heather and I came up with a possible fix: add another rubber band,
to increase the tension on the takeup reel. I tested this briefly,
using a second rubber band taken from a jammed ribbon, and it didn't
seem to break anything. We're running that way now, so remember to
transfer the extra rubber band when changing ribbons.
So far we've run out of ribbon only once since the change, and it
behaved itself then.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry