I recently purschased this Imagewriter II.
I am not familar with these as I have owned a few of the original model Imagewriter in the past.
It appears to be complete, however can any spot anything missing from it other than the top cover?
Does it require the top cover to operate?
As when I turn it on the carriage moves across, returns then the red error light is constantly on. The line feed and form feed switches don't appear to do anything but I'm guessing that may be due to the error.
Any help would be much appreciated in reviving this old printer.
The ImageWriter II needs its front cover for operations, which is why you see the red light and cannot use the paper controls. The red light will blink when the cover is off and will remain steady when the printer is out of paper regardless of the presence of a top cover. Since you're feeding single sheets, make sure you have the paper lever in the rear set correctly. However, you'll need a front cover for the printer to operate. It appears as though your printer is otherwise intact.
When shopping for a replacement, be aware there are two different front cover panels--the single tab variety (which you need) and the later double tab revision. Single tab top covers were used on early platinum and old white models, so either model can be used as a donor. However, newer platinum models (which don't have serial numbers printed on the ImageWriter II label itself) used the double tab model and cannot be swapped with the older model.
Here is the part in question: http://www.blujay.com/item/Apple-ImageWriter-II-Dot-Matrix-Printer-Front-Cover-Door-9010400-3640973
You'll also need the correct cable for your computer. There are several different cables available, all of which have a Mini DIN-8 on one end (for the ImageWriter II). The following cables exist:
-Apple II/II+/IIe via Super Serial Card (uses the Apple IIe Printer-8 cable with a large DB-style connector at one end)
-Apple III/Lisa (uses the Apple IIe Modem-8 cable, not the same as the above cable)
-Apple IIc (uses the Apple IIc Peripheral-8 cable, large DIN connector at one end)
-Apple IIc+/Apple IIGS/Macintosh Plus or newer (uses the cable with a DIN-8 at both ends)
-Macintosh 128K/512K (uses the cable with a DB-9 at one end)
pdf
imagewriter II service source
Apple ImageWriter II Owner's Manual (Apple2Online)
Apple Hardware - Click on the PDF file you would like to view/download
Thank you to both of you for your kind assistance,
just the information that I needed, thanks.
The top cover has a magnet on it which will complete a circuit to let the printer know if it's going topless or not. Other than that, you don't really need the cover, mostly just the magnet is needed.
I have a replacement cover on the way in the post.
Thanks guys for all your help.
Located and fitted a replacement cover and new ribbon and she fired out a test page.
not bad for a $6 "parts" printer.
thanks for everyone's help.
Is there a current source for new/fresh color ribbons for the Imagewriter II?
I have this one but the shipping is beyond belief! Your call.
Gary