Looking for some things to bring this DC3+ back to life.

[kcorcoran]

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Picked up an old Summa DC3 thermal printer that was sititng in a covered garage for many years for free. Cleaned it up to see if I could get it running for the hell of it. it. Was. Filthy.
Unfortunately guy didn't have the dongle or software so even after getting through a bunch of errors I wouldnt be able to print anything.
ColorControl is the Summa software but I'm told older versions of flexi and maybe SignMaster Print and Cut(?) will work with limited functionality.
Guys at Airmark have been great, humoring me with calls to tech support and walking me through getting it up and running. Getting closer to the home stretch but looks like either the cartridge chip sensor is bad or all 5 of the carts have bad/expired chips. (This thing has been sitting for a WHILE and there's no telling what and if it worked.)
I got it as far as booting up and checking the carts. But they all read as 'no RC chip' so not sure what the issue is yet.
Any old school folks have any info on this monster of some ribbon or valid chips laying around.. maybe a chip reading sensor I could swap in?

 

[cornholio]

I wouldn't be aware, that those chips have a expiration date.
The "sensor" are just two contacts, that could use a cleaning with alcohol or contact spray.

 

[kcorcoran]

I wouldn't be aware, that those chips have a expiration date.
The "sensor" are just two contacts, that could use a cleaning with alcohol or contact spray.

When I spoke to tech support the 'expiration' is more about how much ribbon is left on the roll. The printer writes to the chip so when you change the ribbon you change the chip... I can't imagine someone would have let an old chip when replacing the ribbon though which is why I feel like this is a sensor issue. I'm going to pull the sensor and clean it to make sure those contacts are actually springing back to make a connection. Had to replace a couple of microswitches that were stuck closed. Maybe I'll get lucky.

I'll be honest.. I'm surprised I got it this far.

 

[netsol]

When I spoke to tech support the 'expiration' is more about how much ribbon is left on the roll. The printer writes to the chip so when you change the ribbon you change the chip... I can't imagine someone would have let an old chip when replacing the ribbon though which is why I feel like this is a sensor issue. I'm going to pull the sensor and clean it to make sure those contacts are actually springing back to make a connection. Had to replace a couple of microswitches that were stuck closed. Maybe I'll get lucky.

I'll be honest.. I'm surprised I got it this far.

if the supplies are available, all well & good
OTHERWISE why not just get a gerber edge on ebay?

 

[kcorcoran]

if the supplies are available, all well & good
OTHERWISE why not just get a gerber edge on ebay?

well this one was more of a project for the hell of it but now that I got it cleaned up and need maybe bunch of parts I don't think it's worth it at all.
f i want/need foil stickers I'll just farm them out.

I might end up just taking it to the scrap yard this weekend and make a few bucks on weight and use the space for the 54" laminator I need.

unfortunately i'm not set up fully yet and not bringing in any money as I want to do commercial graphics on a small scale with my latex printer and vinyl cutter so really this thing is just a distraction.