atari printers

On 5/23/06, M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote: ISTR putting dead pens in a pan of hot water for a few minutes may have helped, but it's not really a permanent solution - they gum up again rather soon. And just since someone brought it up, did anyone ever come up with a solution to the common problem with these plotters - broken gears? I don't have the specifics on hand (we did debate the gear characteristics endlessly) but the small gears that slide directly on the motor shafts tend to crack, allowing them to slip on the shaft, causing registration errors. My memory of this topic is that these aren't a terribly common gear, and finding an off-the-shelf replacement is somewhat problematic. I have several mechanisms, some as printers (Atari, Commodore), some as bare frames (surplus from Electronic Goldmine a few years back) - I don't think I have 4 good gears in the entire pile. Anyone here ever come up with a solution? -ethan