One of the biggest problems with mailing labels is that
they gum up the paper path. This happens to all dot-matrix
printers. The damage is done after printing labels. Many
people try to save as many of the mailing labels as possible
by reversing the direction that the labels flow through
the printer. These people grab the labels on the inbound
path and pull them out of the printer. Unfortunately, no
labels come out. The labels peel off inside the printer,
gumming up everything. Often, you can use a cloth rag to
clean the platen without removing the platen. If you cannot
feed the paper through the path anymore, find a thin, flexible,
plastic ruler. Force the ruler through the paper path and
push out the mailing label. If this does not work, you must
remove the platen. The process of removing the platen, cleaning,
and reassembling it can take up to four hours. The best
solution to this problem is to buy a second printer to use
only for mailing labels.
Teach people to waste mailing labels. If the mailing labels
get stuck, teach people to clean the printer before the
labels dry. Use a flexible plastic ruler to push the labels
out and clean the platen with a rag; then you will not have
to take the printer apart.In addition to printing mailing
labels, you may want to use your printer to make stencils.
The 24-pin dot-matrix printer can make excellent stencils
even better than typewriters. The little holes created can
deposit more precise quantities of ink, making the mimeographed
documents look much bet-ter. Many people remove the printer's
ribbon to more accurately control the holes created. The
drawback of printing stencils is that they can gum up the
dot-matrix print head.
Squid inkjets : When you print with certain mimeograph stencil brands,
wax from the stencil can gum up the dot-matrix printer pins.
Try leaving a thin, faint, old fabric ribbon in to shield
the print head. Also, purchase stencils made especially
for computer printers.
Squid inkjets : When making drawings, underlining, or drawing rules,
try using dotted lines rather than solids when printing
on stencils. Solid lines tear the stencil and make reproduction
hard and sometimes impossible. The same is true for printing
solid black; instead, try to print using gray fill patterns.
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