Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucla-cs!uci-ics!truesdel
From: truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: IW II print head burning hole in ribbon.
Keywords: Help!!!!!
Message-ID: <1989Oct11.023150.26028@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Date: 11 Oct 89 02:31:50 GMT
References: <9894@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Sender: news@paris.ics.uci.edu (Network News)
Organization: UC Irvine Department of ICS
Lines: 25


What's happening is that the ribbon is failing to advance in the cartridge.
This can be due to :

  1. Not seating the cartridge well into its saddle.

  2. Cheap loose-mesh ribbons trapping a printhead wire and causing 
     the ribbon to stall while the other print wires burn away.

  3. Damaged ribbon transport mechanism, augmented by #2 possibly.

If it's not too late (#3), make sure that #1 and #2 are not the cause.
You can tell if the ribbon is too loose a weave if you can see daylight
through it. 

I safegard against #1 by always moving the print cartridge back and forth
and observing the ribbon advance mechanism at work (or if it's in bad
lighting, FEELing the ribbon advance.

Hope this helps.

  --scott

--
Scott Truesdell