ZX Printer Belt

[zx81jens]

I count 48 teeth. And between the two Contacts I count 23 free teeth!!

Greetings
Jens

[mhudson52]

So if the mounting points for the styli are considered as being teeth in addition to the other 46, that will indeed give us 48 all total. It was difficult to determine that from the drawing in the Service Manual.

I will do a re-draw of the CAD file to reflect that.

Thanks for the info, Jens!

Mike

[mhudson52]

Here is the first print of the ZXprinter belt using Ninjaflex Cheetah 1.75mm filament. I don't have a printer to test fit it on, so if someone Stateside would like to give it shot, let me know. Shipping to the UK costs a little over $14 USD.

It's hard to photograph something black and shiny, but here goes:

[McKlaud]

Looks good! Unfortunately I live on "the wrong" side of the pond.

[mrtinb]

It won’t help much without a place to mount the styluses.

[Andy Rea]

Could the stylus be " melted " into place ?

I know nothing about these materials used

Andy

[mhudson52]

After further searching on the interwebs I did come across a couple of fairly decent photos of how the styli are attached. Since the material does allow for some stretching, only minor modifications to my current drawing will be will required and dimensional accuracy will not be critical.

I had considered purchasing a printer off Ebay to help with the design issues, but since I plan to practically give these things away (a couple of bucks to pay for filament) that would not be cost effective.

[mhudson52]

Alrighty, here is a screen cap of the latest iteration of the printer belt with mounting points for the styli.

All I need now is a volunteer to give it a test.

[RWAP]

The mounting points actually stand proud of the rest of the belt from memory - I don't have a ZX Printer (nor a belt) to try...

[Moggy]

A section of belt showing the mounting post and a picture of the stylus and the hollow rubber tube that holds it to the post if this helps in any way.

I took them at a fair resolution to allow adequate zooming in.