Hi!

That brings back nightmares of printers long gone. *I won't ask why
you're fixing such an old printer.

Because it fulfills a need (sort of) and because I can. You didn't
ask, but now you know. :-)

It's not a big deal. I have an IBM ProPrinter XL24E with a network
adapter hanging off of the parallel port. The Okidata unit could be a
backup in case the IBM goes down (yeah, right!) or I could put
different paper in it.

I find the impact printers very handy for reasonably fast, low cost
printing of text reports. When using a draft font, they are very
quickly. I've been given boxes of suitable paper over the years, which
only drives the cost down that much further. Sometimes I still have a
need for doing two part forms, and nothing else quite comes close for
that application.

Ok, that's normal for an old printer. *However, you're not done yet.
If you look at the ends of the head traveler, you'll probably find a
wad of accumulated crud on both sides.

It's really remarkably clean. I did find some scrunched up paper and
"holes" at the edges, all of which are now gone.

The head does move freely without a cartridge installed, although it
has more resistance at each end of its travel that I think it should.
With the cartridge in place, there is more resistance. I guess I'll
have to pop it out of there and have a look to see what might be
changing to hold it up.

Yep. *Make sure the track teeth are cleaned with a brush. *Crud in the
teeth will cause the head to skip a tooth.

That track is very clean, with no obvious signs of damage or missing
teeth.

Yep. *Too much friction. *Probably the ribbon cart.

It's a brand new Dataproducts ribbon. The old Okidata ribbon only
behaves slightly differently, so I don't feel that finding an Okidata
cartridge would be a worthwhile endeavor.

Have no fear. *The ribbon is not part of the lube system. *See
previous description for removal and cleaning of the head. *The real
danger of running the head like that is that the paper and ribbon
protect the patten.

I have not printed without paper, and I did think to back the head
position out almost to the end of its travel. I will not try to print
without paper. And I will take the head out to examine it. I may also
pull the entire assembly (so long as it is not risking disaster to do
so) to see how that little motor looks and if maybe it is gummed up.

Anyway, you ribbon cart is gummed up inside. *Spin the knob on the
cart and see if it drags. *There should be a little friction, but not
so much that you have to use force to turn the knob. *New carts are
still available.

My new cartridges seem to be fine in this regard.

The last time I saw an ML-182 was perhaps 10 years ago. *As I recall,
they were not the best quality construction. *The ritual repair was
the same for all such printers.... tear it apart and clean everything.

I was always really happy with the first one I had. It was a
workhorse, although it was no IBM ProPrinter. I had to finally retire
it when the print head started to malfunction. No amount of cleaning
would help it, and eventually the missing lines got so bad that the
output was unreadable.

The only dot matrix printer I ever had that was truly awful was a
Panasonic KX-P2123. I actually bought it as a replacement for the
Okidata, but the tractor feed was so unreliable that the Okidata went
right back into use and the Panasonic went away.

William