Rubber drive wheel for Apple Imagewriter II printer colour ribbon cartridge

The apple imagewriter II is still today very serviceable, but the carts are getting rare, because a) the rubber drive wheels deteriorate over time b) because the ribbon dries out and gets stuck.

To remedy this i have re-created the drive wheel as a STL file, to be printed in TPU flex material.

Materials needed:

1- 8 3D printed rubber drive wheels
2- tweezers to remove the old ones
3- alcohol 95% for cleaning
4- rubber gloves, that ink could be quite nasty
5- Naphta oil spray (3M spray lubricant)

Follow these steps:
1- get a spudger and carefully lift the lid off the ribbon cartridge
2- once open push the ribbon to the side and remove the two wheel posts from the cart (careful, one of them has a spring attached)
3- remove the holders from them and remove the old wheels, they are foamy and usually white
4- once removed, clean with alcohol
5-now replace the wheels, you can pull on them a bit to make them fit, they should be flat with the surface of the post
6- place the holders back
7- place the top holder first, and guide the ribbon below it
8- place the bottom, spring-loaded holder and pinch the ribbon between the two
9-rotate it a few times to se if all is free
10- spray a small amount of lubricant spray inside, spray lightly and try to get it inside the ribbon.
11- place the top back on the cart and squeeze it shut
12- test wind it with the knob, make sure its not too heavy
13- place the cart in the printer and make a test print (Power on while holding the bottom key down)
14- let the printer print 5 pages so the whole ribbon will have made a full circle.

Enjoy!