- poortypist
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Re: Keep Warm with a Thermal
OregonJim wrote:
My biggest issue is the lifetime of the print head. I was tasked with designing a portable barcode printer back in the early '90s, about the same time as these thermal typewriters were on the market. We researched those thermal print heads and, IIRC, they were only good for 100k to 250k characters before burning out. That's about 20k -50k words on a typewriter, or roughly 100 - 250 single-spaced pages. Who knows how much of that lifetime was used up by the previous owner(s)! In the end, we decided to use inkjet cartridges with integrated print heads for our product instead of thermal (Canon Bubblejet - it was new technology at the time). Run out of ink, get a new cartridge - and with it, a brand new print head. I'm fairly sure the limited lifetime of the print head is one reason why thermal typewriters didn't last long on the market...
I have many thermal typewriters in my collection, none of which have bad printheads. In one of the manuals, it suggests cleaning the printhead. I haven’t even had to do that.
I’m curious about the limits you mention above. Both thermal label printers and receipt printers use the exact same technology, but they can last many years. So I wouldn’t worry about the printheads failing.
Far more pressing, I think, is the availability of thermal paper. How much longer will it be manufactured?
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- poortypist
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Re: Keep Warm with a Thermal
So, what’s your favorite thermal machine so far?
Oh dear! This reply is overdue by about three years! Sorry about that, Joe.
Fortunately, in that time I have used a lot more thermal typewriters. I find myself enjoying the later Brother models without the screens: EP5, 7, and 150. They don’t have the distraction of the screen, and they offer dedicated physical switches to access the features. So there’s no cycling through all the settings, as on the TypeStars.
By far, still the best keyboards are on the Casiowriter 10 and 16. I’m hoping to one day stumble across an even later model that resolves the noise issues. (By the way, the EP150 mentioned above is by far the quietest in my collection.)
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Thread Starter- OregonJim
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Re: Keep Warm with a Thermal
My biggest issue is the lifetime of the print head. I was tasked with designing a portable barcode printer back in the early '90s, about the same time as these thermal typewriters were on the market. We researched those thermal print heads and, IIRC, they were only good for 100k to 250k characters before burning out. That's about 20k -50k words on a typewriter, or roughly 100 - 250 single-spaced pages. Who knows how much of that lifetime was used up by the previous owner(s)! In the end, we decided to use inkjet cartridges with integrated print heads for our product instead of thermal (Canon Bubblejet - it was new technology at the time). Run out of ink, get a new cartridge - and with it, a brand new print head. I'm fairly sure the limited lifetime of the print head is one reason why thermal typewriters didn't last long on the market...
I have many thermal typewriters in my collection, none of which have bad printheads. In one of the manuals, it suggests cleaning the printhead. I haven’t even had to do that.
I’m curious about the limits you mention above. Both thermal label printers and receipt printers use the exact same technology, but they can last many years. So I wouldn’t worry about the printheads failing.
Far more pressing, I think, is the availability of thermal paper. How much longer will it be manufactured?
Thermal printheads manufactured in the '80s and '90s were infant technology - their rated life was far shorter than those made today, which are now rated for approx. 1 million linear inches. That's roughly 150 rolls of standard thermal paper.
Most high volume receipt printers are thermal TRANSFER printers, not thermal DIRECT printers like typewriters. They require wax or resin-impregnated ribbons to print. The ribbon is literally melted onto the paper. The printheads are still of limited lifetime, but the wear is distributed to the ribbon.
The link below was about all I could find online on the subject. Vintage thermal printheads don't seem to be of interest to anyone. 
- OregonJim
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Re: Keep Warm with a Thermal
Thermal printheads manufactured in the '80s and '90s were infant technology - their rated life was far shorter than those made today, which are now rated for approx. 1 million linear inches. That's roughly 150 rolls of standard thermal paper [...]
To clarify, that's 150 rolls of receipt paper, which works out to about 1700 pages of letter-sized paper in a typewriter. So, even if a new thermal typewriter were available with current technology, it would only have a useful lifetime of 1700 pages, give or take.
- poortypist
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Re: Keep Warm with a Thermal
Thermal printheads manufactured in the '80s and '90s were infant technology - their rated life was far shorter than those made today, which are now rated for approx. 1 million linear inches. That's roughly 150 rolls of standard thermal paper.
Most high volume receipt printers are thermal TRANSFER printers, not thermal DIRECT printers like typewriters. They require wax or resin-impregnated ribbons to print. The ribbon is literally melted onto the paper. The printheads are still of limited lifetime, but the wear is distributed to the ribbon.
The link below was about all I could find online on the subject. Vintage thermal printheads don't seem to be of interest to anyone.
This is excellent information! And good to know given my love for thermal typewriters. I’ll check out the link when I’m at home. Thanks for your insightful contribution to this thread!
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Thread Starter- OregonJim
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Re: Keep Warm with a Thermal
This is excellent information! And good to know given my love for thermal typewriters. I’ll check out the link when I’m at home. Thanks for your insightful contribution to this thread!
No problem! The main point I wanted to make is that thermal printheads are consumables. Don't expect them to last like the type slugs on a manual typewriter, or even as long as a plastic daisywheel.
I have a Brother EP-43 thermal typewriter that I found at a thrift store, still in the original box. It worked great for about a month, and then the printhead died. Even though I have the tools and knowledge to replace it easily, a replacement head is nowhere to be found...
