New ImageWriter II Color Ribbons

[eraser]

Hi folks.

As you all know many of the existing color IW II ribbons are unusable because the foam rollers have deteriorated.  I find it a bit sad that the IW II can't be used for color printing anymore.  

I was looking around and I found an interesting Chinese site:

http://www.flower-pr.com/apple-printer-ribbon/

http://www.flower-pr.com/order.php?selects[]=282&action=add

They claim to be able to produce NEW IW II ribbons with your choice of either felt or gear rollers.  They also offer a choice of different ink colors that are different from the original Apple specs.  (It's interesting although that wouldn't be very useful.)

I am considering contacting them and talking to them about what the minimum order would be.  It seems like with the gear driven ones they would last indefinitely because the ink won't dry as long as they stay sealed.

Thoughts?

 

[trag]

I am interested in what you can find out.

 

[CC_333]

Indeed.

c

 

[Juror22]

Color me intrigued also...

 

[eraser]

I've contacted them so I'll let you guys know what I find out.

 

[eraser]

UPDATE:  I have worked with the factory and we have reached an agreement.  I've paid them and they are preparing to manufacture some new ImageWriter color ribbons.  These are probably going to be the first ImageWriter ribbons manufactured in a decade.  

When they get through customs and such and I verify that they are quality I will post a "For Sale" thread on the Trading Post.  Right now, based on the cost per unit + taxes/duties and such that I estimate a price of $7.25 + shipping per ribbon cartridge.

If all goes well the IW II shall print in color once again!

 

[CC_333]

WOW!!!

Any chance you could get some black ribbons made up as well? Or are those somehow less susceptible to age?

c

 

[olePigeon]

I think you can still buy compatible black ribbons, they're still manufactured for impact printers for retail settings (making carbon-copy receipts.)

 

[eraser]

Any chance you could get some black ribbons made up as well? Or are those somehow less susceptible to age?

Many black ribbons used a plastic gear mechanism for advancing the ribbon.  This mechanism didn't deteriorate like the felt rollers inside the color ribbons.  In making these new ones I have specifically asked the factory to make them with the gear drive instead of felt rollers so they will last longer in storage.  Since I had a say in manufacturing process I figured it would be stupid to repeat a design that we now know was a bad idea.

It is possible to have them make black ones as well.  They actually offered a color choice for the single-color ones and if needed can make the ribbons print in a color other than black.  That seems like it would be kinda cool but not worth spending the money do have different colors made at this point.

I think you can still buy compatible black ribbons, they're still manufactured for impact printers for retail settings (making carbon-copy receipts.)

You are correct that ribbons are still being manufactured for impact printers although I don't think they are being made specifically for ImageWriters anymore.  Having said that, you can buy new black ribbons for these printers on eBay for a couple dollars a piece.  They are so cheap that it doesn't make financial sense to have them manufactured again until the supply is exhausted (which is the case with the color ones.)

There are three reasons (that I know of) for black ribbons still being easy to find:

1. Black ribbons were more widely distributed, manufactured in MUCH greater numbers and had much higher demand.  Nearly every office supply store in the 1990s was guaranteed to have black ImageWriter ribbons.  That's a big supply.  Color ribbons were pretty expensive when they were new and they were a niche product even then.  On a recent episode of the RetroMacCast John talked about how he was the color re-inking guy for his local computer club.  The color ribbons were so expensive that they would bring their spent ribbons to him to be re-inked rather than buy new ones. 

2. Apple never officially released a color driver for the ImageWriter II.  Only Apple II users could natively print in color on the IW II and late in the life of the printer Apple IIs were fading and Macs were on the rise.  Yes, there is a third party driver but at the time you had to pay for it and most people didn't.  Chances are, if you went to buy a ribbon for an IW II, it was a black one.

3. For some reason many of the black ribbons used the gear drive instead of the felt rollers.  This makes them more reliable and less susceptible to failure over time.  Therefore, if you find a stack of black ribbons that are still sealed, they will probably still work like new.  (This is not the case for color.)  I have no idea why these used gears and the color used rollers.  I'd love to hear from an engineer to figure out why there is this design difference.  

 

[joethezombie]

I recently bought some black ribbons off Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G7UQ6K). They work very well. I wonder the date of manufacture. Anyway I will be interested in the color versions! Yay!

 

[CC_333]

Is there a way to have an IWII connect via Mac serial-to-USB converter for use on a modern machine?

If so, I may totally do this, if only for the novelty (and because I have two perfectly good ImageWriter II's rotting and collecting dust in my workshed that I would like to get some use out of).

EDIT: Incidentally, the type of paper the IWII uses natively is still available somewhat inexpensively, which is good if one has any need for such things (and besides, what good are your nice, new color ribbons without decent paper?!)

c

 

[eraser]

Is there a way to have an IWII connect via Mac serial-to-USB converter for use on a modern machine?

Yeah, and here is a driver:

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/macosx/imagewriter

Here is a video of someone getting an IW II to print from an iPad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvpRIn10Mcw

EDIT: Incidentally, the type of paper the IWII uses natively is still available somewhat inexpensively, which is good if one has any need for such things (and besides, what good are your nice, new color ribbons without decent paper?!)

Yes.  Also, tractor-feed labels are available on Amazon and printing them on an IW II is incredibly cheap.  It costs about 1/5th what it costs to use a Dymo label maker.    

 

[NJRoadfan]

The Mac Imagewriter driver was never updated to print in color? That would be surprising considering the Imagewriter LQ driver could print in color and was a backwards compatible printer (extended the IW II ESC command set), but good luck finding a ribbon for one of those!

The Imagewriter driver found in OS X and Linux comes from Ghostscript, that driver never had color support added to it. Ghostscript is mostly open source, so adding color support is possible. One could "borrow" code from Ghostscript's Epson LQ driver to add color support.

 

[eraser]

The Mac Imagewriter driver was never updated to print in color? That would be surprising considering the Imagewriter LQ driver could print in color and was a backwards compatible printer (extended the IW II ESC command set), but good luck finding a ribbon for one of those!

Correct, sadly.  In order to print in color you need MacPalette II.  

http://www.jagshouse.com/colorimagewriter.html

The Imagewriter driver found in OS X and Linux comes from Ghostscript, that driver never had color support added to it. Ghostscript is mostly open source, so adding color support is possible. One could "borrow" code from Ghostscript's Epson LQ driver to add color support.

That would be fantastic!  I wonder how much work it would take.  The IW II uses a C.ITOH printing engine so if any other related printers have color support then that code might also work.

 

[trag]

Yes.  Also, tractor-feed labels are available on Amazon and printing them on an IW II is incredibly cheap.  It costs about 1/5th what it costs to use a Dymo label maker.

Many of the Avery brand form feed labels have gone out of production in the last couple of years. There's a company that still makes them, but the page size (number of labels per page) is different.

 

[aplmak]

Way cool thread!!! I would totally be interested in color ribbons too!!! The quality is not perfect but sure beats the inkjet or laserjet color prices!!!!

 

[techknight]

I still have a color ribbon NOS. I tried to use it the other day on my imagewriter, attempting to print a USPS label. Well, needless to say, that didnt go over well. lol. 

 

[Unknown_K]

So the few unopened color ones I have are junk then?

 

[CC_333]

Apparently so.

Which stinks, because I have a couple myself. I even have one that was installed in the IW I got with my first ever SE/30 back in 2005. It worked fine back then, but I guess they hadn't totally wasted away quite yet?

c