Thread by @mjtech01

This is our venerable Canon PW-1080A dot matrix printer. Bought for use with our BBC Micro in about 1985, it still works perfectly. But bringing it back in to use recently revealed a problem 🧵/1

It hasn't had a new ribbon since about 1990, and the one that's in there had been re-inked several times before that. Finally the hammering of the print head wore the ribbon to the point that it shredded and broke. Oh no! /2

Oddly, in the intervening 33 years, ribbons for the Canon PW-1080A (or equivalent Taxan KP810) seem to have become unavailable! The nearest I could find was an Epson FX80 ribbon, in which at least the fabric itself is the same width, 12.7mm. /3

But the housings are completely different shapes. What to do? Transfer the ribbon itself from the new Epson housing to the old Canon one. /4

Dismantle the Canon one and pull out all the old ribbon. Note the foam roller top right which can hold extra ink. Interestingly, the Epson ribbon doesn't have this feature. /5

Insert a loop of the new ribbon in to the cartridge... /6

...put the top back on and use the knob to wind the ribbon from new to old. /7

With a bit of fiddling, it all winds in OK. Pull the top off the Epson housing and remove it. Job done! Maybe... /8

It prints, but there's a horrible noise and the ribbon isn't advancing as it should. /9

It's all jammed up inside the housing because the Epson ribbon is too long. We need to remove some length. /10

Can you splice a ribbon? Let's try. Cut it at an angle like recording tape and, erm, superglue it together. Keep the left-over bit for next time we do this. /11

Try another test print and it's working perfectly. The printer is back in action so my children can print their masterpieces from AMX Art again. /end