printer pick-up roller replacement sources

Hi...

I wouldn't consider this except as the very last resort, immediately before hauling them to the dump, but...

I've had a bit of luck with old irreplacable capstan idlers (old ampex reel to reel stuff) giving them just the gentlest of sanding with a fine grit sandpaper.

Remove just enough to take away the glaze and discoloured rubber, and expose nice fresh black stuff.

It seems that removing the outermost "dead" layer of rubber exposes new, better stuff underneath.

Take care.

Ken

Have you tried wetting the rollers with a damp soapy cloth? When I encounter a problem with HP printers failing to grab a sheet of paper, I wet a small cloth and apply dish soap to it. Pressing the line feed button to make the roller move while holding the soapy cloth so that the roller surface gets wet, will solve that problem. You might try it on your printers.

L PRB Line Rubber Cleaner Revitalizer Part # RCR-21 Manufactured for Projector Recorder Belt Whitewater, Wisconsin

Caution: irritating vapor .. use with ventilation. Harmful if swallowed

Not a chemist, so can't tell you what's in it, but perhaps you might be able to find something like this. I got this stuff ages ago, so doubt its still being made (do they make VCRs anymore?)

Bill, KB8EB

Sometimes it's not the pickup rollers but the paper tray springs loose the oomph! remove the tray, if you can and stretch those springs so they push that paper UP

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Bill-

Check out

and click on PRB Line. It appears to still be available in their downloadable catalog's chemicals section.

PRB apparently stands for Projector Recorder Belt Co.

Fred

That sounds like some useful stuff.

To the OP: if you're going to try some solvent on the rollers, the easiest way to get it on them will be to put some on a piece of paper and send it through. If you want to try sanding them, send a piece of pretty fine sandpaper in and hold it so the rollers spin on it a little, then pull it back out. I'd not use anything coarser than about a 120 grit, maybe a little finer than that.

John

Thanks for all the suggestions! Hopefully a solution (no pun intended) will come out of this discussion.

Hi John...

Given that the "sanding" suggestion originally came from me, I'd respectfully suggest re-thinking sanding the rollers while they're still in place in the machine.

I'd be wondering where any grains of sand from the paper might end up... along with any tiny bits of removed dead rubber might go...

For my nickel, I'd much rather remove the roller first, clean it thoroughly before re-installing it.

Just a thought...

Ken

All tape machines have a pinch roller somewhere in the tape path. (On

8-tracks it's in the cartridges instead of the machine, but it's there.) These are a common replacement part. Depending on how big the rubber areas on the printer rollers are, perhaps you could substitute the "skin" of a new pinch roller. Places with VCR parts (MCM Electronics?) might be the best place to look for replacement pinch rollers.

If you can find sheet rubber of the right consistency, you might be able to cut strips of it and wrap it around the pickup roller, securing it with glue. This might cause problems if the seam catches the edge of a piece of paper, though.

Matt Roberds

I am curious if you tried calling the authorized TI repair servicers for the parts? Most times with business equipment, you cannot buy from the manufacture direct, but have to call a business products dealer/servicer.

I used to have a bottle of 'rubber belt rejuvenator', It worked very well on vcr pinchrollers and the like. The wholesalers stopped selling it as they said it was classed as hazardous. At the time my next door neighbour was a chemist, he took a sniff and pronounced it xylene, Hazardous when inhaled, and disolves many plastics.

Ron (UK)

--
Lune Valley Audio
Public address system
Hire, Sales, Repairs
www.lunevalleyaudio.com

No, I didn't know that was the case. I guess I'll look around for one that has an online presence then.

Hmm, so "rubber rejuvenator" simply dissolves crap that is making the rubber surface slick? Or does it react with the rubber in some way to reverse its drying?

I was under the impression it softens the rubber.

With time, rubber such as this gets hard, and that's a problem. They'd have these mixtures to soften it.

From what I've read, the same sort of thing applied to the platens of typewriters, and the stuff was available for that, too.

Michael

Right, but xylene is a rather typical solvent. Which is why I was wondering if it reacts with rubber in a particular way to soften it up, or if any old solvent (such as toluene, isopropanol, MEK, acetone, etc) would do the trick.

Maybe the real question I'm asking here is what is the mechanism by which rubber hardens with age? (And I'm assuming it is age and not dirt we are addressing here.) With knowledge of that, the reason for using a solvent might come right out.

xylene seems to make the surface more 'grabby' it seems to kind of etch it slightly, it doesn`t work with really hardened rubber like those Philips pinch rollers.

Ron

--
Lune Valley Audio
Public address system
Hire, Sales, Repairs
www.lunevalleyaudio.com

On a related note, my father used to do offset litho printing - one of the substances used in that was sold as "blanket rejuvenator" by some companies - the blanket of the machine is made of rubber - and under its chemical name by others - MEK, otherwise known as butanone! That's good provided it doesn't attack what you're working on, but it is noted to be highly flammable and extremely volatile, so great care would be needed if you tried that.

We also had some "blanket reviver" which was 1,1,1-trichloroethane. It didn't prove that useful.

--
Phil Reynolds
mail: phil@tinsleyviaduct.com (though I'd prefer followups on group)
Web: http://www.tinsleyviaduct.com/phil/
Waltham 67, Emley Moor 69, Droitwich 79, Windows 95

I would guess whatever plasticiser is used to keep the rubber pliable leaches out eventually - that`s presuming it`s not just pure rubber - even neophrene belts and rollers dry out eventually.

VCR pinch rollers get a hard shiny layer of oxide from the tape, which is usually easily removed.

I once 'resurfaced' a pick up roller for an old Gestetner rotary copying machine by rolling some thin rubber tubing onto the original roller- bicycle innertube actually. Tho the tolerances weren`t so great as a computer printer, it worked a treat.

Ron (UK)

--
Lune Valley Audio
Public address system
Hire, Sales, Repairs
www.lunevalleyaudio.com

Ron-

That is my understanding of how the rollers stop working. The plasticizer is absorbed by the paper.

Another approach is to apply a plasticizer to the rollers, replacing that which has leached out. Some chemicals used to restore plastic dashboards and seat covers in cars, as well as to shine-up tires, may be such a plasticizer, and should work to rejuvenate printer rollers.

Fred