8-bit Software (c) Duncan Webster April 1992
Issue 19 (c) Duncan Webster 3rd April 1992
PRINTER RIBBON RE-INKING
(Chris Richardson)
I have re-inked my printer ribbons for about 5 years. Some people
reckon that if you re-ink your ribbons with endorsing ink (the type
used on rubber stamp pads) you are likely to gum up your printer head
and possibly melt it or glue it up solid. I have never come accross
this problem. In fact, I write this note after having just dismamtled
my printer head to clean it, it didn't require any attention
whatsoever. The ribbon that I have just been forced to discard
served me faithfully for 2 years and must have been re-inked at least
20 times before it finally gave up and wore out.
I have used various re-inking techniques over the years. My present
method is to put a glossy magazine onto a wooden board, place the
ribbon on top of the magazine and gently clamp it all together with a
G clamp. I use a large tap washer with the centre hole enlarged
slightly so that it fits snugly over the knob on the ribbon cassette.
I then hold the axle of a small electric motor salvaged from a kids
toy onto the edge of the washer, when wired up to my mains converter
it turns the ribbon at just the right speed for re-inking. I hold the
bottle of endorsing ink angled downwards with the edge touching the
centre of the ribbon, this puts a fine line of ink along the centre of
the ribbon which soaks accross to just about the right amount. If
there are areas that have been over inked a gentle wipe with a lint
free cloth will take it off. At first the ribbon may be slightly
over inked, if this happens, I usually print out a manual or my study
notes. It is important to have the right sort of bottle for this job,
the opaque squeezy sort with a cap that has a small hole in it enables
you to see the ink and control it's exit from the bottle. One bottle
of ink generally lasts about 6 to 8 re-inkings, that works out about
10p a time, quite a large saving. If you are going to have a go, I
suggest that you wear disposable gloves and carry the operation out in
the shed, because if you have an accident the evidence will be around
for some time to come!