Atari 1027 Print Head Revisited

[clh333]

I just acquired a 1027 printer, FPO, and as expected the print head has deteriorated to the point of decomposition.  Except for this the printer looks brand new.  Searching for info I see there have already been posts discussing this topic going back several years.  In 2017 there seemed to be some interest in re-manufacturing the character wheel and some discussion of how that might be done. 

 

Rather than rehash all of that, may I ask two questions:  Do we know who made the printer for Atari?  It was made in Japan, says Atarimania, and there had to be a supplier who made the character wheel.  Maybe the mold still exists.  Additionally: has anyone made progress with re-creating the character wheel?  Did the project die for lack of interest or resources?

 

Thanks for your replies,

-CH-

[_The Doctor__]

the replacement material used was not firm enough, but my suggestion using 3d printed ones of the same flexible material used for 3d printed drive belts etc has been done, I have been told it works well. I think I provided links to the materials and videos of the belts etc making the pro and cons of differing material comparison etc.

[+MrFish]

This happened a few years back @Irgendwer.

 

"Revive1027" Order Thread

 

[DavidMil]

Irgendwer's print head material was not strong enough and cracked/broke up after a few weeks of use (at least the two that he sent me did).

Be VERY CAREFUL of the tines, if they are the slightest bit off, they will catch the sides of the raised characters and rip the printhead to pieces

in a heart beat!  I don't know if he ever revisited this project.  I for one would love to get a couple more if he does!

 

DavidMil    

[+MrFish]

5 hours ago, DavidMil said:

Irgendwer's print head material was not strong enough and cracked/broke up after a few weeks of use...

 

Too bad. It seems most old 1027's will end up in the dustbin -- or die a slow death in storage.

 

[clh333]

I still think it reasonable to investigate who the original manufacturer was and how they went about it.  I'm assuming (hoping) someone with this knowledge can be contacted.

 

-CH-

[+DrVenkman]

7 minutes ago, clh333 said:

I still think it reasonable to investigate who the original manufacturer was and how they went about it.  I'm assuming (hoping) someone with this knowledge can be contacted.

 

-CH-

I know I’ve read the info somewhere, probably in old AtariAge posts, but the 1027 is almost certainly some re-branded OEM version of an existing print mech in a custom case. Anyway, there’s nothing magic about the print head - it was a molded rubber product, like all kinds of products. And like most old rubber, it disintegrates and/or turns to goo after a couple decades.

 

It could be remanufactured if someone wanted to spend enough time and money to buy up enough printers, take them apart carefully and do all the same measurements that Irgendwer has already made, then pay the very large sum of money it would take to get a suitable mold made, a suitable rubber compound selected, then have prototypes manufactured and tested, then a bunch more made. 

 

Very much not a cheap undertaking. 

[+mytek]

Other than the novelty of seeing it in action, the 1027 has got to be one of the worse letter quality printers ever made. I personally feel that Atari did far better when they came out with a re-branded Silver Reed EXP 420 daisy-wheel printer called the Atari XDM121 with a built-in SIO interface and pass-thru. Although they are rare and difficult to find on eBay and the likes.

 

I purchased my XDM121 NOS from BEST in 2019 and got the last one he had in stock. Here's a post I did after getting it.

 

 

Edit: you can still purchase printer wheels and ribbons for the XDM121 under the Silver Reed name.

 

Edited November 7, 2021 by mytek

[DavidMil]

This was a while back, but I was doing a lot of searching on the internet and somehow found the company that Atari purchased the print wheels from.

Unfortunately that ended as a dead end because the company was purchased by a larger company that dumped all the printers/parts that they didn't

want, and only kept the printers that sold well.  That info is still out there on the internet. No one at the current company even knew anything about

Atari printers or parts!

 

DavidMil

 

 

[clh333]

16 hours ago, mytek said:

Other than the novelty of seeing it in action, the 1027 has got to be one of the worse letter quality printers ever made. I personally feel that Atari did far better when they came out with a re-branded Silver Reed EXP 420 daisy-wheel printer called the Atari XDM121 with a built-in SIO interface and pass-thru. 

 

Thank you for this information:  I still have a Silver Reed EXP 42 that was the first printer I purchased.  It was essentially a typewriter with a serial port and a serial-to-parallel interface (external) that allowed the unit to be used with a computer - a Kaypro II in this instance.  It featured correctable, lift-off carbon ribbons.  Slow, noisy and single-sheet only but still remarkable for its time.

 

-CH-