Restoration of 1980 Apple Silentype printer, not quite finished.

[VERAULT]

Over a year ago I received an Apple Silentype Printer in somewhat sad shape. It has a serial number of 5132 so that seems pretty low to me. I have been restoring the printer trying to get it back to 100%. I replaced the single capacitor on the board. I cleaned the print rails thoroughly as they were completely covered in gunk. I cleaned the Platen Rod and rubber rings (basic O-rings) which were gross. Retrobrighted the front plastic cover and buffed the paint on the rear metal paper cover.

The main problem with the printer is it wont pull paper. Cleaning the rubber and rails helped but we are not there completely. The printer only came with one of the two spring pins which the roll of paper rides on. Odd thing, the core of the roll is a different size diameter hole on each side?! I have the smaller spring pin/plug.. but missing the larger diameter pin.

So here is the problem. The printer will print 2 or 3 lines of text but when it has the paper taut it has trouble pulling in paper and starts printing over the previous line since It cant form feed. I feel this is because there is a slight cockeye since the roll of paper is only really resting on one pin. With the second pin the paper will be lever and the weight distributed.

The only workaround I have come up with is to feed out 4 or 5 inches of paper and then using the platen to roll it back in. This takes tension off the paper so it can be printed to and fed. Any more it starts printing over lines again.

Anyone have this plug or know of a 3d printed replacement? I really want to get this thing functional.

 

[VERAULT]

This is what it looks like when it starts printing over lines. You can see the paper is a tad lopsided on the left as its missing the paper pin. You can also see the spacing decreased as it starts having trouble feeding paper.

 

[HoJoPo]

Did you try a new roll of thermal / fax paper? Old paper may be stiff / sticking to itself.

If it is new paper, maybe it's too slick, and you need to make the platen a little stickier?

 

[VERAULT]

Its a brand new roll. And like I mentioned I am 99% sure the problem is its missing one of the two push in spring rollers that the roll of paper rides on, so its cockeyed.. so its causing the paper to load funny,.

 

[HoJoPo]

Its a brand new roll. And like I mentioned I am 99% sure the problem is its missing one of the two push in spring rollers that the roll of paper rides on, so its cockeyed.. so its causing the paper to load funny,.

Yes, that would likely cause the problem. Maybe you could 3d print a new one or a pair of them, printing in two pieces?

 

[VERAULT]

I dont own a 3D printer. Would be happy to order some if the files existed. Otherwise I need to try my hand at whittling.

 

[eswan]

Could you use a dowel running the full length of the spool? Maybe notched near the ends to keep it from moving left/right.

 

[VERAULT]

A dowel is pretty much where im leaning if i cant figure anything else out

 

[VERAULT]

So the Silentype printer is now fully restored!

I ended up going with a 7/16" Wooden dowel. cut to lenght. Sanded to be perfectly smooth and whittled the ends down to fit into the frame slots.



That helped but did not fix the issue. Turns out the Platten rod and rubber R-rings were slipping. The rod was originally glued into the motor but came undone and the O-rings were firm; not brittle just firm. I purchased this multipack of O-rings to give me choices from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRF9YYC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

In this photo the O-rings to the far left are the originals. The middle were a similar but thinner O-ring. The Far right are the thicker O-rings I went with labeled 12X3 in the multikit.


I added a dap of super glue to the platten rod connection to the motor and a tiny amount of glue to each of the 4 O-rings to keep them from slipping as well. As you can see the spacing is perfect and this old printer works again. Found a new roll of sealed thermal paper for a good price so there is a backup of paper on the way.

 

[ScutBoy]

Nice work!

Do these printers require a specific card for the Apple ][ machines? I seem to remember that, vs. it being just a "regular" serial printer.

 

[VERAULT]

Nice work!

Do these printers require a specific card for the Apple ][ machines? I seem to remember that, vs. it being just a "regular" serial printer.

Thank you.

This printer can be connected directly to an Apple ///, but an Apple II needs the Synch Printer Interface Card 820-0027

 

[thenzero]

Wow great job. That’s really neat.

 

[VERAULT]

Thanks. I think I will pair it with my newly restored Apple /// and save the Synch card just in case I find another of these down the road. Its a really, really small printer and only prints 7.5" wide rather than the standard 8" but its got a place in history and its super quiet. Shame the paper isnt plentiful.