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06-1-2016 03:43:39  #1


Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

Another part of the reason I recycled a Canon Typestar 10-II last year was that I bought the thing, and the ink died in under a sentence. Being a 90s kid, and remembering all my audio cassettes,, I took out a butterknife and tried to rewind the little booger, since I didn't see any 'rewind ink' button. I've owned maybe 3-4 electric typewriters, but I usually never use them, and end up giving them away.. so I actually have no idea if electric ink cassettes rewind or not. I suppose they run out, and you hope you can find more.

CR-100 ink is possibly the rarest ink I've come across. I saw some online for sale, last year, singles, sold for about $60/ea. Not knowing how long one of these lasts, I didn't want to sink $60 in to something that would die in a week of mild typing. I did locate a fellow in America who claimed to have a misplaced box of the stuff, but he never did find them. I was planning to see what he wanted each/for the whole box.

My other reasons for giving my ill-fated friend the heave-ho was that in a year of multiple moves, several pieces had gone missing. I, to this day, do not think I could have found replacements for the digital display or the end cap of the roller.. let alone the case and owner's manual.


They call me "Hammerhands".
 

06-1-2016 12:24:00  #2


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

If the cartridge has the plastic film ribbon with carbon-based "ink," it's one-time use only, because the carbon peels off the clear plastic film when struck by the type slug, leaving a clear letter shape in the film. So if you rewind and try over-typing the used ribbon, the new letters won't imprint clearly, there will be gaps and missing pieces to the letters.

Since both the plastic film ribbons and cloth ribbons are 1/2" wide, perhaps you could open a cartridge and replace the plastic film ribbon with a cloth type. Do this to two cartridges and when one runs out, just swap out the cartridges and keep typing, then later you can manually rewind the used one.

~Joe

 

06-1-2016 12:42:12  #3


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

JoeV wrote:

Since both the plastic film ribbons and cloth ribbons are 1/2" wide, perhaps you could open a cartridge and replace the plastic film ribbon with a cloth type.

Are the ribbons used for word processing typewriters that large? It was my impression that their sizes were proprietary just as their cartridge systems were. I know that the earlier electric models that I own use the standard 13 mm (½ in.) ribbon, but I thought all bets were off when it came to the later electronic machines (one of the reasons that I've avoided them).


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

06-1-2016 17:36:47  #4


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

The vast majority of ribbon cartridges for daisywheel typewriters are filled with 8mm ribbon.  Usually it is carbon ribbon, which is single-use only.  I am pretty sure that back in the day, you could buy a ribbon rewinding device so that you could use the cartridge a second time - perhaps for draft work.  However, you can also get (or maybe used to be able to get) fabric ribbon cartridges for most machines which contain a continuous loop of fabric ribbon instead of film.  The down side, of course, is that you have to use a messy cover-up tape (or maybe Tippex - aka 'White Out') and the appearance of the print is more like a manual typewriter.

 

06-1-2016 18:15:34  #5


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

Some you can reuse, but most you cannot because of reasons stated by the others.


Back from a long break.

Starting fresh with my favorite typer. A Royal Futura!
 

06-1-2016 18:31:16  #6


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

I was speaking only from my experience of owning a 1980's era Smith-Corona daisy wheel electric. They had a ribbon cartridge and a separate erasing cartridge. Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly 1/2" wide, but it looked close, from memory.

And aren't the Selectric ribbons close to 1-2" wide? Hmm....

~Joe

 

06-1-2016 19:00:34  #7


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

Thanks for the advice. (:


They call me "Hammerhands".
     Thread Starter
 

06-4-2016 23:07:01  #8


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

I remember winding carbon ribbons for IBM typebar models for quite sometime.  I really wish there was a way I could take apart a Smith-Corona ribbon cartridge and use some of that IBM carbon ribbon I still have and refill them.  After I tore up about three of them, I found you have to have about nineteen fingers and three toes just to hold everything in place.  Oh well, so much for that idea.


Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
 

24-9-2016 08:44:34  #9


Re: Can you rewind electric ink cassettes?

Sorry for posting in an old thread, but there seem to be more types of ribbon for daisy wheel typewriters/printers. I just checked the box of supplies for my Olympia Comfort MD and found this: Olympia branded carts labeled as "Single strike carbon ribbon" and "Multi-strike carbon ribbon"; the multi-strike carbon ones are marked with a blue dot and the single strike ones with a yellow dot. The other unbranded compatible carts are all nylon. In the machine I have installed a nylon one and it works great, letters as clear as carbon.

 

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