TI-59: PC-100A print head fixable?

[Tinue]

Yesterday I got a PC-100A printer, along with a TI-59. When I print, several rows are missing. 40 years ago, I would have used the head cleaning sheet to remove dust, but this is not the problem today:

   

The head looks clean, so I guess some of the individual heating elements are dead. I don't think that this is fixable. Short of finding a replacement print head there is probably no remedy for the problem.

Am I right, or is there a way to get the missing rows back?

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

(08-07-2020 01:45 PM)Tinue Wrote:  Yesterday I got a PC-100A printer, along with a TI-59. When I print, several rows are missing. 40 years ago, I would have used the head cleaning sheet to remove dust, but this is not the problem today:



The head looks clean, so I guess some of the individual heating elements are dead. I don't think that this is fixable. Short of finding a replacement print head there is probably no remedy for the problem.

Am I right, or is there a way to get the missing rows back?

That is correct, unless there is some contamination on the head blocking the element, the only solution is to replace the head. Forty years ago when I bought a 58C and PC-100(A)? I went through a few print heads while it was still on warranty all due to failed heating elements. The print head has individual heating elements for each dot column unlike the printer in the 97, but like the printer in 9825 and 9835.

From you picture it looks like an area towards the right in the picture overheated, this could be cause by a logic problem in the printer, the heating element are only designed to be on for a very short time, if turned on to long they overheat and burn out.

Paul.

[cruff]

Is that discolored area removable with a cotton swab or pad and some isopropyl alcohol?

[Tinue]

The missing pixels are surprisingly not in the discolored area of the print head. They are in parts that look clean. I swabbed the entire head with IPA quite vigorously, but this did not change anything.
Thanks for the confirmation! The print head is most likely partially damaged.
The case had heat signatures on the inside as well, but I remember that my printer back in the days showed the same thing.