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Atari 1020 help.


Star castler

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Okay, so I just got a 1020 from ebay in fairly good shape. So I power it on and the pens are dry, but I can see the pattern. Then the paper wouldn't move enough, it would go about 1/3 of the way down/up. Print head just needs new pens, and it moves perfectly fine. Needing help on getting the paper to move properly, so anybody know what I should do?

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Many many years ago I used a 1020. Mine had trouble with the tiny plastic gear on the drive motors slipping and splitting or splitting and slipping. You might check to see if the gear is intact on the motor that drives paper advance.

 

As for pens, I had seen something on the web where a person drilled a tiny hole in the pen case and used a hypodermic needle to inject ink.

 

I used to get pens and paper from radio shack because their cgp-115 printer used the same mechanism.

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Same thing happened to mine. I got replacement heads new from somewhere but never got around to installing or replacing them but it was indeed the plastic gears at fault. Nevermind the fact that obtaining new pens seemed impossible - I found a source but never imported them because I just never got around to replacing the head/gears or cared enough to pursue it after some time passed.

 

It would be nice if we could have some metal gears 3D printed but would it even be worth the effort with pen availability and many pepople probably not even using the 1020s at all...

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I know the Best Electronics page isn't really user friendly, but they have what you need, no real need to hunt elsewhere in my opinion, unless you don't want to pay what they are asking.

 

Just send them an email:

 

Page 143 1020 Platen Motor Unit FC100371 Sold Out

1020 Head Motor Unit FC100370 Sold Out

1020 Printer Mechanism CB101170 Sold Out

1020 Small gear set (2) for the Platen and Head Motors CB101727 $15.00 Limit of 2 sets per customer

Page 148 Atari 820 40 Column Printer Paper roll. CB101922 $5.95 Limit 1

Atari 820 Ribbon CO14854 $7.95 Limit 1

Atari 1020 BX4204 Color Pen Set (4 pens per set) $3.00 New Limit 10 sets per customer

Atari 1020 BX4206 Black Pen Set (4 pens per set) $3.00

Atari 1020 Plotter paper roll set (2 Rolls per package) These are the original Japanese Alps (the manufacture who made the Atari 1020 internal printer mech.) made 1020 printer rolls with the very smooth surface and bright white color. Be aware of generic after market 1020 printer replacement paper with a rough surface and very off white/ light brown color. Generic replacement 1020 paper not made Alps, does not print with the same quality as the OEM Alps made 1020 paper. CO61533 $6.50 Limit of 1 Pack per customer

 

It appears they have increased their limit on color pen sets which is cool!

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Interesting to know Best has those. I suppose they are NOS parts and not improved gears? If the replacements have the same failure rate, you might have to have friends and relatives order gears to get around the two sets per customer limit.

 

1020 is fun to watch work. I even used it once to print out program listings in 80 col. Kind of fun to have the little scrolls on my shelf.

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I've never purchased the gears myself, as I was lucky to get one of the 1% machines that worked out-of-the-box I guess. I'd say email Bradley and ask him your questions, he checks and responds to emails daily. Just make sure you put the word Atari in the subject line, to keep it out of his spam filters.

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I've never purchased the gears myself, as I was lucky to get one of the 1% machines that worked out-of-the-box I guess. I'd say email Bradley and ask him your questions, he checks and responds to emails daily. Just make sure you put the word Atari in the subject line, to keep it out of his spam filters.

The problem is the gears are so thin that eventually they split from the stress of the friction fit. If the center hole had been a little bigger they may have lasted but then may not have been tight enough on the shaft not to slip.

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