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ImageWriter LQ

Unknown_K

Well-known member
I have one also (with the localtalk card and the cutsheet feeder options). My ribbon is dried out and I need to see why there is a feed problem (something could be loose).

Havn't messed with it much, it is big, bulky, and heavy.

 

wally

Well-known member
...and I need to see why there is a feed problem (something could be loose)...
If the rubber platten and guide rollers are hard/glazed, the MG Chemicals "Rubber Renue" liquid product (applied outdoors and allowed to dry) along with lubricating the guide roller bearings MAY eliminate skidding/skewing in the paper path feed.

http://www.mgchemicals.com/

 

Kami

Well-known member
Big, heavy, loud, and very fast.

Mine has the localtalk and sheet feed option as well. I haven't used it in a while but I do remember preferring the print quality from the LQ versus the IW II.

I do have extra ribbons sealed in their original plastic wrap

 

tomlee59

Well-known member
Wally -- have you used that "rubber renue" liquid? I'm curious as to how well it works (initially, as well as over time). Even if it just works long enough to keep things from jamming until a replacement part comes in, it would be well worth it.

In any case, thanks for the link to the product!

 

wally

Well-known member
Tom, I have used the Rubber Renue product exactly once, about six years ago on my sister's Imagewriter printer rubber rollers that had become hard and glazed over. When she did envelopes and non-pin fed individual sheets the feed would hesitate, so the first two lines printed overprinted each other partially, and they would alllow further down the page a diagonal slippage so later lines were not quite parallel. This was not due to the paper thickness lever on the right hand side being misadjusted. As an experiment I lubricated all roller bearings with sewing machine oil. This allowed the idler rollers to spin more freely but did nothing to the feed slippage. Then I got some Rubber Renue (100 ml) and used quite generously (used about 20 ml) first scrubbing it onto all rubber and then wiping it all off, then recoating with a clean applicator and letting it dry undistrubed. I used wipes and a hemostat since I did not care to get the chemical on my fingers. It did not noticeably soften the rubber, I think for this you need brand new rubber rollers! But it did increase surface tack enough that, although it was not sticky to the touch, all visible paper slippage disappeared. I was amazed. She still uses that printer, mostly in pin feed mode doing multipart forms printing, but some individual letter and envelope stuff for her export company job. She has never asked me for a repeat treatment, she reports that it seems to hold up well.

So I think it is a good surface tack treatment that stands up well to light use over time. I am thinking that it will be useless on the soft, almost foamlike rollers at the output of the Personal LaserWriters that take a wasp waist compression set and then with reduced diameter scrunch the paper out of the fuser by having insufficient sfm to keep up with the fuser feed rate. I further speculate that it should work well initially on laser printer feedcam paper pickup rubber to eliminate multiple feeds, but since every sheet starts with a slip/stick motion I expect the tack surface treatment to wear off down to glaze fairly rapidly, and for Rubber Renue to be thus more suited for paired pinch roller applications like the ImagerWriters than for feed cams.

 

tomlee59

Well-known member
Thanks a bunch, Wally -- I appreciate the careful experimentation that you've done. I'm going to order some of that miracle goop. It sounds like it would be a good thing to have on hand.

 
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