Date   : Wed, 05 Mar 1986 12:29:00 PST
From   : Ghenis.pasa@xerox.ARPA
Subject: Re: Printer maintenance

>Anyone know how to tell if a dot-matrix print head needs replacement?
>I've has an Epson FX-80 head for about 6 M characters, and the print
>quality is going down (tops of letters like "h" and "l" are not coming
>out).  Am I due for a change?  What's a good price on print heads?

Before you throw away your print head, try wiping the pins with alcohol.
This will remove any ink residue (picked up from the ribbon) that might
be jamming some of the pins. This has worked very well for me in the
past on my NEC 8023. Another thing to check is the little tin ribbon
guide, which is also a "mask"; if it is slightly out of line it will
block either the upper or lower pins, producing incomplete characters.

Good luck!