Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Hello everybody,

I was curious about whether the TS2040 has its own belt. So, I decided to open it up then take a few photos of the certain printer and its innards. Surprise! NO BELT at all!

Thank you very much in advance.

Cheers,
DesSony

That's right no flimsy belt, no puny styli,just a motor idler gear and platen. The paper slides under the platen to the fixed print head which has a matrix of small dimples/points/dots which when heated in the correct sequence cause the thermal paper to react accordingly and hey presto words appear.

TS2040's print head is vibrating sideways, not fixed! Someday, I will video its print head movement then post it here.

DesSony

Thermal printers are in the main fixed head,when possessing a full matrix of dots/dimples.
The Alphacom/Timex being a relatively cheap device has an equally cheap head without a full compliment of dots so there is a need to shuffle the head slightly side to side to make up for a deficient matrix, so a semi floating head would be a better term in this printers case as it doesn't move the full width of the paper.

Apologies for not making this clear by using a general description of thermal printers instead of this specific model.

Maybe you should replace that big electrolytic capacitor by a new one .....

Siggi