WolfWing

I would be interested, but what would you estimate shipping to be? And would you want a check or by paypal?

Greetings, I had forgotten I was uploading photos to deviant art, then finished it tonight when I remembered. I took pictures of the printhead of an Atari 1027 Printer So people could get a sense of scale, font, proportions, and such. I only offer these as a service to help record details that would otherwise get lost to history and time. You can view them here: http://sirsillyboy.deviantart.com/gallery/#Atari-1027-Printer I hope you find these of some small interest.

I quite agree. The people who are spending their time and energy on reviving the 1027 just need to let it go. Perhaps it filled a certain niche at the time it came out, for people who really absolutely positively could not afford anything better, but the world is much different now and the 1027 doesn't have a place in it anymore. (And for those who would respond, "well, you could say the same thing about Atari's computers, too, so why are you picking on the 1027 when you still like the computers?" ... no. The computers are still very enjoyable and useful today, but the 1027 in particular has been made completely obsolete, even if new print heads did exist for it.) If you're feeling nostalgic for the 1027, clean it up all nice and pretty and put it on a shelf next to your bed, so it will be the first thing you see when you open your eyes in the morning. But if you really want good letter-quality printing from the 8-bit computers, I think you'd be better off figuring out how to connect modern USB-only printers without resorting to APE, or spending the $50 on a new XDM121 from B&C. Leave the 1027 in the past where it belongs. Oh, at 10 minutes a sheet, I'm not looking to USE the 1027 (well, once or twice just to run it - but only after the possibilities of replacing the head with a modern remake is exhausted or realized). It was just a pretty nifty thing to pick up really cheap on EBay. I am merely documenting the head because I can and no one else has. Just my small contribution. As for a modern printer: I have already mentioned they still make parallel port dot matrixes. The 8-bit FAQ mentions that for inkjet and laser printers to look for Epson (RX, LX, MX, etc) emulation mode. I've also seen Epson compatible dot matrixes and even Epson dot matrixes. It may not make text that is pretty looking, but it works. A laser printer or inkjet should look prettier than dot matrix, at least for text. Of course, said inkjet or laser printer would need to have a parallel port. I don't know what it takes to make a printer with a parallel (or serial) port and Epson emulation work once you have the proper cable adaptors and SIO to RS-232 Serial or Centronics Parallel connected ot your Atari. It might require writing your own driver for it. Ideally it would be plug and play, but how lucky would that be?

I do not want to risk wearing out the head unduly, even with only a line or two of text, if it is to be used to cast molds from. I don't see anyone else offering their printhead for such a purpose, so best to treat mine extra-conservatively. As for a small sample of what it looks like on paper: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n11/printer_guide.html That is an old magazine article comparing printers, it includes type samples. Not quite high resolution nor the whole set. But for now, it's the only such sample I know of. Honestly, though, I just got an 8-bit computer in the mail today from EBay. I'm going to be working on it, learning to work on it - you know, hack the video for a cleaner signal anad other fun projects - so I wouldn't be able to fire it up and print out just yet anyways. But do let me know what would be more useful. Molds or precise measurements of all dimensions, even those of the characters (how tall, wide, and thick. The x size, ascenders and descenders, etc).

Just as a matter of update, I am slowly loading to deviant art. I took a lot of pictures. I have 25 in the gallery now and that is not a full revolution. I took pics of the wheel twice, once from the front of the printer, and again from the rear. One variation should have sufficed, but I figure it doesn't hurt to have more. The current set is from the front of the printer. I wish the pics were more consistant. The rechargable were running low and I didn't always wait long enough for the flash to recycle. But even with resh alkalines placed in, the lighting varied. However, if any picture is insufficent, just ask for a retake and I'll see what I can do. As a matter of suggestion, while copying (or molding) the font exactly is pleasing from a purist point of view, any typeface is better than none at all. Be it Serif, Sans-Serif, Gothic, Italic, Uncial, or even a standard typewriter font. Having a durable replacement part may not be any real priority, but by photographing this part I am hoping to contribute in some small way to the community. When I get good measuring equipment, I'll try removing the wheel completely. I'll then take more photos again of it outside of the printer, from all angles. I can also try learning how to cast molds. The question is, to whom do I give the molds to in order to best archive this part for posterity? Who has the resource to produce actual parts from the molds? Ideally, said parts could be offered for sale throught the usual Atari shops. But I know I'm not capable of such a venture. I'll post in a new topic when I finish uploading. But for those who wants to look now: http://sirsillyboy.deviantart.com/gallery/

Done. The head was in fine shape. Hopefully the pics prove useful. I'll be posting them to pbase or deviantart (or some sort of online gallery) and starting a new topic thread with a link to it once I get them online. By eye and ruler (I'll have to acquire precision calipers to get a proper measurement) I'd say each disk was about 3mm wide and all 5 disks are about 17mm wide. I'd have to remove the printhead to get a proper diameter measure, but eyeballing the ruler slid into the printer, measuring top to bottom, I'd say it was about 30mm or more. As the typeface is a standard 12 characters per inch (that is pica, right? or elite?), that should hopefully inform proper typesetting as well as analysis of my photos. It came with a nearly empty bottle of oil for the printer, Launa 40 for 1027. Any ideas on a modern equivalent? It came with a spare ink roller. Both look good. Hopefully, if need be, I can find something compatible still. Even if a little dissassembly and frakensteining is required to make it fit. At least, I can buy good quality calligraphic archival ink to ink it with. When time permits, I'd like to refurbish it. Remove the yellowing from the case (or learn to mold and cast a new case), rebuild the printhead (and motor, gears, or whatever else I may need to do), and so forth just to be able to say I managed to rebuild something. I'll be learning as I go.

Well, I'm new to the Atari Age scene here. Got a 2600 and am now ebaying to get a 8bit computer and peripherals. Seems like a fun way to learn how to work with the innards of a computer and all. I doubt the 1027 I won on ebay (it was dirt cheap, so I figured 'why not' just to say I have one) will be in any good condition. But however it arrives, I am willing to take photographic documentation of the print head. I can buy some precision calipers and make measurements at some point. Etc. No guarentees. The reason it is so cheap on ebay may have been the poor condition the print head is in. As for a printing sample, while not all letters are represented, you can see an image of a printed sheet from a number of printers here: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n11/printer_guide.html As for using a printer. They still make dot matrixes. These tend to have serial and parallel ports. Or at least a parallel port. Epson still has a FX line of printer. Epson, Okidata, Tally, etc all make something. Now, I do not know how easy it will be to interface to an Atari. If ATASCII to ASCII is needed, etc. But it is a starting point for something made brand new. If enough information can be gathered to facilitate the production of new printheads (and perhaps how to replace other parts of the printer like the stepper motors), then why not offer a couple different font typefaces. Also, does the ink roller match any currently available for a calculator? Being able to ink the rollers is important, but no one has mentioned how that part has fared over time. Anyways, I am new here. I'll try to keep any of my pipedreams quiet, but I am interested in learning how to use, modify, and customize the hardware and software. To that end, I am willing to see if what I get by EBay can be useful. Even if I only lay a ruler by the printhead and take a close-up picture with my DSLR. It is something more than what we have now. I think probably most of the hurdle so far has been figuring out how to "save" what we need to save. I know the 1027 I had the printhead is gone. So I don't have one to measure/mold/photograph. It does sound like you know quite a bit about the process. I guess the first part would be identifying who has a printhead that while might still be very fragile, hasn't disintegrated to the point of where we could use it to measure/mold/photograph. Then the next step is what do we do to get something that we can make the steel molds made? For me, it's just a lack of knowledge in the process. I know someone who runs a machine shop and will see if I can call and ask him his opinion. He might not even have the right type of machines or shop but it's worth a try. Also, should we splinter this off to a new thread? One that people can ignore if they really don't want to hear about 1027's?