Topcat Card Reader Ribbon Cable

[Duane Hess]

Are you referring to the flat flexible cable that goes to the print head?

Haven't looked inside a 9x in a long time; only printer cable I remember. Isn't the FFC permanently attached to the print head? If we're referring to the same cable, apparently not permanently attached.

Irrespective of the above, can your source fabricate the FFC suitable for the HP Thinkjet? Including the ink cartridge end of the cable with the "bumps"?

There are scads of thermal inkjet printers ("bubble-jets") which use the same ink cartridge as the Thinkjet. I have several calculators (not HP) which use the same cartridge; hence the cartridge mating end of the cable match the Thinkjet. However, the PCB end may be shaped/spaced different. And the "routing" shape on the cartridge end may be different. i.e. straight-in to the cartridge connection area or "L" shaped, etc.

If your source can make a Thinkjet cable, I'd think there would be a significant customer base for a small number of cables for other products also. But they all would have the same print-head end where the ink cartridge seats.

Attached is a picture of the cable end I'm referring to from a Thinkjet manual.

** EDIT **:
The reason I ask: a lot of us know the bubblejet type printers often have ink leakage on the FFC cartridge mating surface. So the connection gets damaged as the ink "eats off" the conductive surface on the FFC. Hence, missing dots when you print (or none at all).

Often wondered if a thin layer of a dielectric grease might help protect the cartridge/FFC mating surface.