ImageWriter II Single Color Issue

[turbo]

I've got an ImageWriter II that I just got a fresh MacEffects color cartridge for. The printer has printed with no issues on black cartridges for as long as I've had it. I've never had a color cartridge before, and I believe it to be installed correctly.

The problem is the self-test, and in fact all printing, only prints in blue. My understanding is the self-test should be multi-color, so I'm guessing whatever mechanism either moves the print head or the ribbon is non-functional. How is this supposed to work? Is there a particular part I should be focused on cleaning/lubing?

 

[adespoton]

From back when I had an IWII with color ribbons, I recall it printing in blue when it thought it was using a black ribbon and wasn't printing color. Possibly the pin that gets pressed by the color ribbon cartridge is stuck?

 

[turbo]

Thank you for this! With your tip I was able to do some more troubleshooting. The button was a little mushy, so I replaced it with an on/off switch I can trip manually.

Unfortunately, what I found out was that the mechanism that raises and lowers the cartridge doesn't appear to be working. Seems like there's some other issue... going to dive into the service manual but if anyone knows a quick test or fix, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Scott Baret]

Following. I have an IWII doing this right now (it also isn't pressing well against the page even with a new ribbon). I'm probably going to make it a long-term project and put its PSU into my IWII with a good print head, but it would be great to get it up and running as a functional spare/extra printer.

 

[adespoton]

The "pressing against the page" bit can be fixed with a screwdriver IIRC; the manual has a section for adjusting alignment so the ribbon and print head are the right distance from the roller. It's been too long since I've worked with them for me to remember the solution for raising and lowering the ribbon, unfortunately.

 

[chelseayr]

not to be a bit too cruel here but this sounds like "percussive maintenance" with something not too blunt (so if you were thinking of using one then I'm going to have to tell you to put that sledgehammer down *right now!* hehe..) but yet enough to make the old thing still work again hm?

 

[turbo]

I've been working on this on and off for the past few days. I thought the ribbon motor might be stuck, so I removed it and it appears to be in good condition and the shaft spins freely on it. It does not move when the printer is in operation, which is clearly why the color is not working as expected.

I've been reading through the service manual (page 148), and it has me pulling resistance values off the flexible cable:

Pins	Expected resistance (ohms)	Measured resistance (ohms)
3-7	120	216
5-7	120	111
4-8	120	117
6-8	120	117
3-5	240	110
4-6	240	234

I'm guessing this is measuring the ribbon stepper motor, but the errors I observed here seems like it could easily be a misprint in the service manual. If anyone's got a working one and could check this, I'd love to see if this is an error of my printer or the manual.

The parts for these are just as expensive as buying a whole printer (shipping aside), so if I can avoid buying a drive PCB or a ribbon motor PCB, that'd be ideal. The work continues...

 

[adespoton]

Ooh; you just reminded me of something I remember from way back -- it wasn't MY IWII, so I'd completely forgotten. Someone I know had a cracked cable going to the motor; they'd checked everything else, and hadn't bothered to check the ribbon cable (which has to flex quite a bit over its lifetime). Might be worth running the ohmmeter just across the cable itself to ensure all the traces are fully intact. Because if they aren't, just a bit of flex could be enough to kill the signal.