OK, everyone - wow... we're already at the 100+ price level.  I'll be getting a quote for the next tiers.  So it looks like they will be $13/ea or less expensive.

I've also e-mailed the Atari 1020 retailers at the beginning of this thread info on this group buy to see if they might be interested in getting some.

This is awesome!!! 

Quote from: RobertB on September 12, 2008, 01:55 PM

Quote from: acadiel on September 12, 2008, 01:47 PMOf course, if we don't do a group buy, I'll probably not get a proof.  It sounds like the $300 charge for one is just a setup charge, and I doubt they'll send me a free proof without making an order first. 

Then I'd like to order four of the gears.

Robert, I'll be keeping track of the pre-orders - please send me an e-mail at acadiel/guidry/org (@ .) and I'll keep track until 10/15 to see how many are wanted.  I'll send out a mass e-mail (bcc'd) to everyone who wanted on to let everyone know how many people wanted total and the price point at which the manufacturer will make them (based on the quantity.)

Thanks!
Jon

Quote from: RobertB on September 12, 2008, 01:27 PM

Quote from: acadiel on September 12, 2008, 01:14 PMI have a quote for metal gears.  (Stainless steel)

Wow, that's service!  And these stainless steel gears fit and function perfectly?

Hmm.. not sure what just happened to my reply to this, but oh well, I'll write it again.

If we get enough interest for a group buy, I'm asking the vendor if they will send me a proof to make sure they fit and work well before they make the rest of the batch.  I sent them the stepper motor and the adjacent gear for proper fit.  If the fit isn't correct, I'm going to ask them to re-do the gear. 

Of course, if we don't do a group buy, I'll probably not get a proof.  It sounds like the $300 charge for one is just a setup charge, and I doubt they'll send me a free proof without making an order first. 

I don't want a bum gear any more than the next person...

Jon

OK, guys -

I have a quote for metal gears.  (Stainless steel)

I'm willing to coordinate a group buy, if we get enough interest.  You might also want to advertise to the other folks (the Atari folks and the TRS-80 folks) to drum up interest (I'm going to advertise to the TI-99/4A folks, because the HX1010 uses the same gear.)

Here's the cost for just the gears (not including shipping), rounded up to the nearest dollar, based upon quantities:

Qty  Cost
1     $335 (eek!)
5     $74   ($370 total for group buy)
25   $23   ($575 total for group buy)
50   $16   ($800 total for group buy)
100 $13   ($1300 total for group buy)

Now, I'm thinking that enough people probably read this board and the TI online user group to order 25 units ($23/ea).  However, I want to get preorders from everyone (no payments yet!) to see if we have enough interest.  Example: If we get people to order two (one for each side) and get 25 people, we can then get into the $16/ea bracket.

Once we have enough interest, I can initiate a group buy and get these gears and ship them out (probably small packages with delivery confirmation), so there will be a S/H cost (envelope, postage, and handling to make up for any Paypal fees).

If anyone needs confirmation that I'm a good guy, here's my e-bay feedback (the picture is probably 10 years old...):

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=jdguidry

So.....
If you want to express interest in pre-ordering gear(s), send an e-mail to acadiel/guidry/org with the Subject "Gears".  I'll collect these, and by October 15th I will see how many people want gears.

Thanks
Jon

I sent in some sample gears (as well as a stepper motor) to a manufacturer to see if I can get some metal ones made.  Stay tuned.

Quote from: airship on August 27, 2008, 11:32 PM

QuoteI'd be great if we could find some metal replacement gears.  They were hinted at in this post:

Unfortunately that post was written in 1994! Note that it also says pens are still available at Radio Shack, which they were in 1994, but they are long gone from the Shack's shelves now.

I'm sure a long search among some gear manufacturers would turn up the proper gear. I haven't done the measurements to find the diameter, shaft hole size, and gear pitch. But if we had those numbers, we could probably batch order a few metal replacements for a decent cost.

You never know who has Cecure's old stock... someone had to buy them out, and it was probably another vintage computer seller.  :-)  I have a small caliper - I'll try and take some rough measurements (and do I mean rough...)

Wow - thanks for this thread!  I just happened upon a TI CC-40 HX-1000, which uses the same exact mechanism.

I've posted a few detailed pictures here:

http://www.guidry.org/ti994a/hexbus/hx1000/HX-1000_Printer_Plotter.html

My gear is going out on the right side (you can see the crack in the full size pic).  I ordered some from the site mentioned in this guide; hopefully I get a good one.

I'd be great if we could find some metal replacement gears.  They were hinted at in this post:

http://www.99er.net/cc40art.html

---Hexbus Printer Plotter.  This cute little printer uses adding
     machine paper to print on.  There are four little ball point pens,
     each of a different color.  Replacement pens can still be purchased at
     Radio Shack stores.  You can program the X-Y axis movement of each pen
     as you print multicolored graphs, and drawings.  Several different
     text sizes from teeny tiny to about 1 inch tall are available.  Text
     can be printed in any direction (vertically facing either left or
     right,  horizontally, and even upside down).  Although this printer
     does have some unique features, it is not really useful in printing
     documents.  Also, it has some reliability problems.  There is an
     internal plastic gear that has a history of breaking (Cecure has a
     metal replacement gear), and its alkaline battery is soldered in and
     cannot easily be replaced.  If the battery fails to hold a charge you
     are out of luck even if you use the optional AC adapter.

I found the mechanism (DPG1302) on a bunch of Chinese websites - from where I read, there's 800-1000 of these still over there in Asia.  Maybe we can do some of bulk buy.  The quotes I've gotten are around $1.6 USD apiece.