Steel wire cut to length

Course ten, you run into the seller who wants $50 for a BJC-200 with a NIB cartridge dated 5 years ago and claims it is still worth the retail price or will sell without the boxed cartridge for $30. Thanks, but no thanks. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I have one of those Compaqs myself. Not real lightweight but it still functions. I actually use it running DOS with a couple radio programming items.

You psid too much. I have about 100 printers I got for free, and about 50 inkjet cartridges.

O I C Thanks!

--Winston

But are the cartridges readily refillable? Printers are basically the same as Blood Glucose meters, the manufacturers get their profit from the consumables. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Does Cliff crap in the woods? :) I have been re-inking ribbons and refilling cartridges for over ten years.

That is why I get so many free printers. Some work, some need ink, and some are damaged. Who cares, when you have five or six that are the same model, and a dozen spare, refillable cartridges? Ny IBM 4019 printer finally died. I used it for over five years before the fuser died, and I only had a total of $5 in it. I have another IBM / Lexmark

4019 in storage, so I'm not spending 275 for a fuser assembly. I have repaired printers for over 20 years. My first was built from a pair of Heathkit H-14 printers I bought for $30 at a hamfest in 1983. I still have at least a half dozen spare print heads. It used the same 'Practical Automation' print head as some Diebold ATMs, and I used to work next door to one of their service centers. Lots of good equipment used to hit their dumpsters.

I keep a web page of spare printers & parts so I can check it from anywhere. It lists the printer, interface, power supply, manuals and drivers. There are lots of free printers & cartridges on the local Freecycle groups.

I started by replacing the head cable on one of the old Star printers with a hand formed piece floppy drive cable, then a couple years latter, I moved the toothed belt half way round to get to the unused portion. I sold that printer at a yard sale in 1996 and saw it again at a yard sale a couple years ago with the gray cable still working. I wish now that I had bought it back for old times sake. I used to buy surplus ribbon cartridges and re-load the ribbon into other bodies that fit the printer currently in use. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I have repaired electronics since I was a little kid. I rarely ever bought anything new. A couple computers, two TVs and a couple printers, but just about everything else was free, or salvaged and repaired. I am in my mid 50s and still do some repairs, health permitting. RIght now I can't use my right eye. I had a palsy, and can't control movement, or keep the lid up for more than a few seconds because of the double vision. Of course, it was the better of the two, leaving me almost blind.