Bringing the 1027 printer back from the dead

[Geister]

I'm tempted to try the flexible 3-D printer medium and the printer instructions left on the print belt thread to see if that material works any better.

 

I tracked down the information on the ?laptop? power supply I got at Radio Shack. It's an APD (Asian Power Devices) DA-60F19 model.  A 19 volt 3.5 Amp supply with a 3mmX6.5mm female barrel connector.  I have not been able to find a replacement connector on Digi-Key.  Hah!   I just found a compatible connector at Newark Electronics (Element 14)  https://www.newark.com/mcm/27-860/6-3mm-x-3-0mm-barrel-plug/dp/38C920.  It's a bit smaller on the outside diameter but should work.

[_The Doctor__]

9.5 V AC  40 VA  (4.2 A)  Atari#CO61636

Power Adaptor 1027

9.5 VAC  4.2A  (39.9 VA)  Max:53W  Atari#CO61636
Power Adaptor 1027

 

you might want to reconsider that power supply....

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by _The Doctor__

[Geister]

I'm not using the 19 volt supply to power the printer.  I just bought it to snag the connector which I'm going to graft onto an Amazon sourced UpBright supply that advertises it fits the 1027 but had the wrong connector.  It may also be a little weak as it's only 9.0 VAC.  

 

So, just as a warning for anyone that finds the UpBright supply on Amazon, it might make a good 400/800 supply or a 1050 disk drive supply, but don't buy it for use on a 1027 printer. 

[CGSmith]

Hi!

 

I recently bought a 1027, and am eagerly looking forward to getting it working. I have some ideas for the print head, namely - to cast rather than 3d print the rubber. To do this, I plan on 3d modeling a mold, 3d printing it and then casting soft parts from it. I'd like to do this with the smoothest model possible. Does anyone know if there is a non-faceted model of the print head - like a nurbs based file, preferably Rhino? Thanks!

 

[Mrarkus]

I got a 1027 as part of a larger purchase. Not expecting much, I hooked everything up, and after putting a new roller on, it started printing perfectly! A full page of repeating BASIC program printing uppercase, lowercase, and numbers/characters.

 

And then it started printing garbage... I can print HELLO for example, cleanly every time, but if I try HELLO WORLD, the second word is garbled. Any advice on what it could be? At first look everything looks fine, even oiled the shaft as per instructions. 

[_The Doctor__]

normally it comes down to it being super clean and oiled as the 1027 manual describes... perhaps grease and oil has dried in other locations no normally accessible and certainly not in the owners manual... grab the fsm.... don't get oil on the print head itself.. that's the bands with the letters and numbers on them... you can use a needle to get in between the moving parts though... careful and meticulous work will win the day. 

[Gavin1968]

Did anyone even come up with a solution for this printer? Just got one and the rollers have completely fallen apart. 

[+Philsan]

Irgendwer made a replacement two years ago:

 

[tschak909]

I will gladly buy a 1027 with new rollers for my daughter's setup.

 

-Thom

 

(I am asking this BECAUSE I have cerebral palsy, and I would very much like a small matching printer for my daughter's setup. If anyone can help.)

Edited October 13, 2019 by tschak909

[+Philsan]

If someone's interested, here is data to build replacement:

 

[+Nezgar]

Most atari barrell connectors I've seen are 5.5mm outer diameter, 2.5mm inner. 400,800,1200xl,810,850,1050,XF551 all use this same connector, and all use 9V AC transformers. I'd be very surprised if the 1027 is different. Only the max amperage ratings varied, with the disk drived requiring the most (2.4A or higher, usually 31VA).

 

You will also commonly find 5.5/2.1 connectors on 3rd party supplies. As you have suggested you can splice on the correct connector (polarity does not matter for AC supplies) or use an adapter like this:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/292936289945

 

[Jeffrey Worley]

On 10/13/2019 at 3:46 PM, Nezgar said:

Most atari barrell connectors I've seen are 5.5mm outer diameter, 2.5mm inner. 400,800,1200xl,810,850,1050,XF551 all use this same connector, and all use 9V AC transformers. I'd be very surprised if the 1027 is different. Only the max amperage ratings varied, with the disk drived requiring the most (2.4A or higher, usually 31VA).

 

You will also commonly find 5.5/2.1 connectors on 3rd party supplies. As you have suggested you can splice on the correct connector (polarity does not matter for AC supplies) or use an adapter like this:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/292936289945

 

The power supply for the 1027 is the same voltage but quite a bit beefier for amperage, than the standard 400/800 power pack.  IIRC, the 800's is 31va (about 3.4amp) and the 1027's is 51va (or better than 5 amp),  The barrel connector is larger for the 1027, so you can't plug in the smaller supply into it, but not so much larger that you cannot use the 1027's power supply with a 400/800/1050/810/850/1200xl///////.

 

Best,

 

jeff

[calaluisrodrigo]

On 10/13/2019 at 3:12 PM, Gavin1968 said:

Did anyone even come up with a solution for this printer? Just got one and the rollers have completely fallen apart. 

The exact same thing happened to me, and I fully share it.

 

I do not know if in this place they could get a spare: https://www.gulton.com/thermal-printheads?gclid=CjwKCAjw6qqDBhB-EiwACBs6x6EYlqowGpvepfKSxkMnqkfKUjMKJ_JctJTETCkPq25qPaLh6aYUDRoCbo8QAvD_BwE

[AllenPrunty]

Does a sheet feeder exist for this?  Wasn't one available?

 

[leech]

On 3/22/2024 at 9:12 PM, AllenPrunty said:

Does a sheet feeder exist for this?  Wasn't one available?

 

I could have sworn it came with one... but I haven't owned one since the 80s.  The last LQ / Daisy wheel printer I recall using was this massive Brother printer my grandmother gave my family... it would shake the entire wooden desk we had it sitting on when it printed.  The thing was huge, I think you could actually print on an A4 paper size in landscape... Granted, I was smaller, so maybe it wasn't that big.

[+mytek]

I've never owned a 1027 printer, but from watching videos showing it in operation I would never want one myself. Besides it being very noisy in operation (in my opinion worse than any daisy wheel printer), it's erratic placement of characters when printing would not be acceptable in anything calling itself "letter quality".

 

However Atari did produce a true letter quality printer in the XDM121, which was quite nice and very reliable based upon an actual interchangeable daisy wheel print head. I had one for a short time and posted about it...

 

 

When FujiNet came out with its ability to print to the PC, emulating any conceivable printer that might have been used on the Atari BITD, I donated it to a friend that could really appreciate it.

 

These are not easy to find in the wild, and I lucked out that I got the last NOS one from Best Electronics.