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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment. |
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8th Mar 2014, 6:36 pm | #1 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
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Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
I have found some printer Ribbons for an Amstrad 8256/9512 printer.
They are boxed and still in their sealed wrappers but will date from the late 1980s. Are they likely to be any good? (The computer is long gone.) |
8th Mar 2014, 8:06 pm | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,349
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
If they are dried up, they can be made useable by re-inking with endorsing ink. Good enough for general printing. That is what I used to do for my own PCW8256, saving a carbon ribbon for anything important.
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9th Mar 2014, 9:19 am | #3 |
Hexode
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 262
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
In the days when I used a PCW8256 the trick for rejuvenating a dry ribbon was to (carefully) open up the cassette and give it a light spray of good old WD40, reclose the ribbon cassette, wait overnight for the stuff to soak in evenly, then away you go. If I remember correctly, I only got through two ribbons in about 3 years.
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Terry the Morganist |
10th Mar 2014, 2:22 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
In the days when some of us still used clockwork teleprinters, it was not unknown for an old ribbon to be rejuvenated by being stood overnight in a tobacco-tin with a tablespoon of car brake-fluid.
Be careful if trying to do this on ribbons that are to be used with a printer having plastic parts - brake-fluid can dissolve them! Proceed at your own risk...... |
9th Apr 2014, 4:29 am | #5 |
Banned
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Middlewich, Cheshire, UK. & Winter in the Philippines.
Posts: 3,897
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
Ah, the days of re-inkable ribbons.
Better than Brake fluid, we used Baby Oil, only a little though. Or fine sewing machine oil eg. 3 in 1. We had ribbons phisically worn away, they had been done so many times! Boater Sam. |
9th Apr 2014, 2:55 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
Don't try that with a 24-pin printer -- they were much fussier about ribbon condition than 9-pin ones. I managed to shear off a printhead pin, trying to get one page too many out of a worn ribbon. Talk about a false economy .....
I also remember being able to buy just the ribbons; you could split open an old cartridge, dump out the spent ribbon and wind in the new one. If you were careful, you could even do it without getting ink on your fingers!
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If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on a pile of failed experiments. |
9th Apr 2014, 3:49 pm | #7 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,642
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
You'll need to sacrifice one and open it by the look of it.
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22nd May 2014, 9:54 pm | #8 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK.
Posts: 2
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Re: Amstrad 8256/9512 Printer Ribbons
I don't think it will be a sacrifice, just be careful opening the box. The ribbon can act like a Jack-in-the-box, and leap out at you. At the school where I worked, I used a ribbon re-inker machine which wound the ribbon past an ink saturated sponge. I would also use the last bit of toner from a few cartridges and manage to fill another. Saved a few Pounds.
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