In the 1980s the Alps 4-pen printer/plotter mechanism was used by almost every home computer manufacturer, for portable computer printers as well as a number of pieces of medical equipment. While they were not fast, they were compact, and did allow for 4 color printing/plotting at an affordable price.

Over the years they all develop the same problem however, the pinion gears on the stepper motors crack. Plastic shrinks over time and a small plastic gear pressed onto a steel shaft will most likely succumb to age and split. While there have been some 3D printed gears available, they are expensive and not as strong as the original injection molded plastic gears.

After searching for a few years now we finally found a manufacturer that could reproduce these gears in a reasonable quantity and reasonable price and out of brass which will last a lifetime. Now it is possible to fix all those old alps mechanisms and get them printing/plotting again.

The gears are sold in a set of 2 which is enough for 1 printer/plotter mechanism. They must be pressed into place, but you can make a simple tool to do so form a 2”/50mm C-clamp.

Installation video: https://youtu.be/mZAMPPSQpqo

What’s included 1 set of brass gears, 0.25M, 13 Teeth

This is a partial list of equipment which we believe uses the Alps printer/plotter mechanism.

Personal Computer Printers/Plotter: please check your equipment before ordering ALPS DPG-1302 Astron MCP-40X Atari 1020 Canon X-710 Casio FA-10 Casio FA-11 Commodore 1520 Mattel Aquarius 4615 MCP-40 (not the Oric one) Olivetti PL 10 Oric MCP-40 Sega SP-400 Sharp CE-150 Sharp CE-515P Sharp CE-516P Sharp CE-1600P Sharp MZ-1P01 Sharp MZ-1P16 Silver Reed EB50 Sony PRN-C41 Tandy 26-3605 Tandy CGP-115 Texas Instruments HX-1000 Vtech Laser PP-40I

Medial Equipment: please check your equipment before ordering Gravenstein GAT Heinemann AT22, HMT 23, GSI 27, GSI 27A, GSI 28, GSI28A Homoth Combi 2000, Tymp 2000 Homoth Diagnostic-Center Homoth Rhino 2000 / Rhino 2002 / 4000 Homoth Tymp-Rhino-Combi Hörniß&Zeisberg IMP 88 / 89 Hortmann Ultrascan Interacoustics AT22 Otopront Digitale * Steinmeier AUDIOmed SAT10, SAT20, SAM2000 *