Re: No more printed smartcards.
Just got a couple of non-working card printers to try and resurrect.
Just won a Javelin J420C that was listed on eBay with 'Mechanical Error' showing on the display, so only attracted a few bids and sold for around $50. Again it's an old machine that's out of support, but is a slightly newer version of the one I have (with the addition of a duplexer). Will have to wait until it turns up to see what's wrong with it, but 'Mechanical Error' on the display at power on is usually a sensor problem, and may just need cleaning.
Second one is a much newer Zebra P330i. This was a current model until about a year ago, and is still in full support for another 4 years, so there shouldn't be any problems getting parts for it. I've had this one for a couple of days now, and the (somewhat obvious) fault is that the print-head carrier has been physically broken off from it's mountings. It's only a small plastic part that needs replacing (which has just been delivered), but it's a significant amount of disassembly to get to it. I've found some service manuals and technician training materials for this model on a Russian FTP site, so just looking through them now to read up on the disassembly and the reassembly/realignment procedures before I dive in.
There's a fair chance that the print-head on the P330i has been damaged when the printer was broken, but if I'm confident that the rest of the printer is in good condition, it is likely to be a much better investment than spending similar amounts on my other (ancient and obsolete) printers.
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