Keep the ribbons in a cool, somewhat damper than normal area and they won't dry as fast. I used to keep the ones for my 5224 in a refrigerator and they lasted as much as 18 months without any drying. -----Original Message----- From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Terry Collins Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 3:32 AM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Ribbon Re-inking, Re: OT: replacment tray for HP DJ1200C printer Mike Ford wrote: My own 2c is on Nylon ribbons for Dot Matrix - even sealed in plastic, these do have a shelf life as the ink dries up. I purchased about 20 all up for my NEC P5200 and basically used them in lots of five. I.E. Use a ribbon until faint, swap to next ribbon, use to faint, etc, then re-ink a lot. Reinking was a really messy business requiring holding the bits, much metho, etc. I kept on with the use - reink cycle until either ribbon wore through or the internal feed mechanism wore out. By the time I had used up the first 10, the second 10 had all dried out (about 10 years (?). However, the old WD40 trick recovers them for a first use, then I re-ink. Still doing it, but the printer needs a major service, so I tend to just do text printing off the HP laser now as the need for multi-layer forms has passed and it is such a messy business to re-ink. Having helped a lot of people re-ink ribbons (PC printer only) over the years, you get to learn alot about ribbons. The best were the printers that ran a moebius strip and printed in the top or bottom half. The worse was a little brother that had about 6" of ribbon which brushed a sponge tank inside to re-ink the ribbon. My experience of refilling inkjet cartridges was that it sometime works and sometimes doesn't. There seems to be a vapour lock problem, plus it takes an enormous amount of cleaning and testing to clean out blocked heads. $ wise, it was just as easy to shop around and buy generic cartridges. If you are buying for the long term, get a printer with separate refills for each of the four colours. Then vapour lock on one doesn't render the other colours lost. -- Terry Collins {:-)}}} Ph(02) 4627 2186 Fax(02) 4628 7861 email: terryc(a)woa.com.au www: http://www.woa.com.au WOA Computer Services <lan/wan, linux/unix, novell> "People without trees are like fish without clean water"