19 Feb
1998
19 Feb
'98
5:40 p.m.
At 08:57 PM 2/19/98 +0000, you wrote:
>
> At 10:07 PM 2/18/98 -0800, you wrote:
>
> >
> >Ever see the 'Plotter' they had? The paper was a roll like is used in
cash
> >registers, and it had 4 miniature ball point
pens. Now that was a lame
> >printer.
>
> Is that the same plotter that Radio Shack sold? I think it was a
> CGP-115? I added NiCad batterie sto one and interfaced it to my HP-41
> using the HP-IL, pretty neat. I think I still have one around here
somewhere.
The Commodore one was the 1520 AFIAK (I have the service manual
upstairs...), but the same mechanism (with different electronics) went
into the CGP115 from Tandy, the Oric printer, and probably a few others.
There was a narrower (2", maybe a little more) that went onto the Sharp
PC1500 calculator.
There's a design fault IMHO. The plastic pinion on the stepper motor
spindle is force-fitted, and it cracks and slips. _All_ the plotters I
have like this have suffered from this on at least one axis. Alas the
parts list for the mechanism doesn't list the pinion separately, only
with the motor. And I've not (yet) found a supplier of replacements.
Sometimes enlarging the central hole so that it's a sliding fit on the
spindle with the crack closed and using iso-cyano acrylic
hydro-copolymerising adhesive to fix it will work.
I had the same problem with one of mine. I took it to a Radio Shack
service center and tried to order one. They said they wouldn't sell me the
part unless their technicians checked the printer first. I asked if there
was a charge for that and they got cagey. I kept asking until they finally
admitted that there was a "minor" charge. I kept asking them exactly how
much their "minor charge" was and they finally admitted that there was a 1
hour minimum and their hourly rate was $54 per hour! Needless to say I
didn't buy the part. Several months later I meet a guy that owned a Radio
shack store and I was complaining to him about it. He told me to bring the
printer to his store. I did and he looked at it (at no charge) and ordered
the part for me at no charge. I think he said they only cost 39 cents. I
was happy with the service from the individually owned store but needless
to say I NEVER bought another thing from Radio Shack.
Joe