By Mick Needham. In issue 19 Chris Richardson explained
his method of re-inking ribbons, having
used a similar method I found it messy
and time consuming, so after some
careful thought I came up with the
following method, which, after a few
modifications to ribbon cartridge takes
seconds and does not require the ribbon
removing from the printer.
The ink cartridge on my printer (a
Citizen 120D), is the full width of the
carriage with an arm at each end from
which the ribbon is fed, the print head
moves between the arms, as the shape
and size of printer cartridges differ
the method described may not be
suitable for all cartridges.
The top of the cartridge should be
carefully removed so the ribbon is not
disturbed (yards of ribbon over the
living room carpet is not to be
recommended as I discovered!), where
the ribbon exits the cartridge two
partitions extend from each side wall
to the centre, leaving a small gap in
the middle for the ribbon to pass
through, this stops the ribbon from
jamming. Behind this partition is a
space, if you fill this space with
enough cotton wool to touch the ribbon,
then soak the cotton wool with
endorsing ink. As the ribbon leaves the
cartridge it will ink itself as the
printer is used, you should then cut a
small V shaped slot in the top of the
printer cartridge above the cotton
wool. Replace the cartridge top.
Replace the cartridge in the printer
and away you go, as the print fades, a
few drops of endorsing ink on the
cotton wool and the ribbon is as good
as new.