Gen1 printer problem (or maybe WBA 13?)

[ScottyK]

Hello everyone.  I'm having some issues with my Gen1 printer, which is installed on my 19” GK, and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how I can remedy this situation.

As you can see from the photo, the printer prints with “gaps” in the bar code (along with some of the writing, which is less critical, of course), and the WBA 13 on the machine has a difficult time reading it.  What's interesting about this also is that I can take those tickets and put them into my BB1 with a Mars reader, and the optos read the tickets with no problem.  Also, the BB1 has a Gen2 printer on it, and the tickets that are printed from that are readable in the GK with the WBA 13 (naturally, because the printer quality is better, with no gaps in the bar code).
Here's what I've done so far:
 

• I opened up the WBA 13 and cleaned the opto lens (both sides) with alcohol on a Qtip; I also checked and cleaned the rubber parts.
• I used calibration paper to reset the WBA 13.
• I took out the Gen1 printer and lifted the head to clean the rubber rollers.

Still after all of this, there has been no change.

So my question is this; is there any servicing remaining that I can do to make the Gen1 printer print better?  Would it just be better to replace the Gen1 printer outright (or the WBA 13)?  I think if I were to go with a Gen2, then I would probably need to get a different bezel for the printer so that it fits properly, no?
I would certainly welcome any suggestions you might have.  Thanks in advance!

[Sunrise Side]

You may just have some debris on the printer roller that needs cleaned  or that rubber roller that mates with the thermal head, has a flat spot in it from sitting against  the print head with pressure on it  . and  not being used.  You have to lift the decal on the outside, top side of the printer head with a razor knife and remove 2 screws that hold a metal plate inside where the roller is hidden behind it. You maybe be able use a Qtip with some paint stripper onto the flat spot for 15 minutes and then wipe it off. The paint stripper may swell the flat spot. 

[gameking6]

How does the WBA 13 do with cash? I'm dealing with a WBA 13 that is 100% with cash but it takes 3 or 4 times before it can read my tickets and they are printing perfectly. I've taken the same actions as you,, next it has been suggested to replace the O-rings on the roller (available at home depot (bring the original to compare)). You could give that a try, but I would guess the printing needs to be improved before the WBA 13 will read them.

[Stayouttadabunker]

The thermal printing would indeed be improved if the rollers were more round.

I would totally dismantle the unit and thoroughly inspect/then replace every rubber belt and rollers needed  throughout the printer and bill acceptor.
After the total rebuild, these units should last many more years.

The rubber and once-totally clear plastic optic lens is what has degraded beyond it's lifetime use....especially when some $15 per hour " slot tech" slob like me used alcohol wipes on everything in the beginning not realizing that...>>>"Wow! It works great!" back then...turned into you-know-what today!

So next time I cleaned everything with alcohol wipes again, then again, and again until I've scratched every "clear" plastic optical lens into cumulus clouds and basically melted anything that was made of rubber. 

[ScottyK]

Thanks so much for the suggestions everyone.  I'll be giving those a try and report back the results. 

[ScottyK]

I finally had a chance to address this over the last weekend, with some interesting results...


I decided to focus my attention on the printer, as tickets that had been printed on the BB1/Gen2 printer were able to be read by the WBA13 with no problem.  I removed the printer from the top of the GK, and lifted the head, and saw that indeed there were what I would call a few "flat spots" on the roller.  As Sunrise suggested, I applied some paint stripper to the flat areas of the roller, let it sit for a while, then cleaned it off, and you could now see that the flat spots were now raised up a bit.  After reinstalling the printer, I printed a couple of tickets, but unfortunately had the same results with the small gaps in the barcode.  I took the printer out again, but this time focused the paint stripper on the part of the roller where the gap was being printed.  I took one of the faulty tickets and slid it in between the roller and head so I could see where the gap lined up with the roller, and put the paint stripper on this area, and repeated the process.  This time when I reinstalled the printer and ran off some tickets, the barcodes seemed better, but now the ends of the ticket were a little weak where the writing was.  As getting the barcodes to be read was the priority here, I didn't really care all that much about the writing on the ends, and this time the barcodes were being read correctly, so it would seem that solved the problem.


I came back to it the next day, thinking all was well, but to my dismay, after printing several tickets, the gaps were showing up again as before!  I didn't have the inclination to deal with it at that time, so I just let it be for the rest of the day.  The next day I came back, printed a few, but this time, while the gaps were still present, they were much less so, to the point that I could insert the ticket after a couple of tries.  I took the printer out, and this time just wiped the roller down with a soft cloth.  I put it back in, and the printing was much better.  I haven't checked in with it today yet, but I'll be interested to see what comes out.


After all of this, I seem to think that the only real solution to this problem would be to replace the roller with one without the flaws in it.  I'm not exactly certain where I would be able to get the parts that I need (I did a Google search to no avail) or how to even go about putting it in.  I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open for printers that are being sold for parts.


Once again, thanks to all for the suggestions!

[rickhunter]

It is worth pointing out that the placing  for the optical lens on the various validators are in slightly different positions.  It is probably why your tickets work on some validator types vs others.  You should be able to find scrap gen 1's almost anywhere, or even fully working gen1's for real cheap.