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IBM 5152 Paper and Ink Cartridges

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bettablue

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2011
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Eugene, OR
I have been looking at getting a box of paper and and ink ribbon for my IBM 5152 DMP. I have looked at Home Depot, Staples, Wally World, K-Mart, and even searched Google tilll I was almost blue in the face. Prices for the tractor pin feed paper has really gone up since the last time I bought paper about 10 years ago. A box of single sheet continuous feed paper 9 1/2 X 11 5000 sheets at around $80.00 is the best I could come up with.

So out of curiosity, where do you buy your paper from? I've seen quite a few ribbons ranging from #6.75 all the way to $10.00, which I find acceptable. But $80.00 just seems like too much. I will pay that if I have to, but I really would like to find something cheaper. Even mail order will be fine as long as the shipping cos doesn't make the total more than that.

Got someplace you would recomend my friends?

Thanks for reading.
 
I've noticed the jump in paper price too and was shocked. The best I've found is about the same as you, $46 for 2300 sheets at Staples. I doesn't seem that long ago that I paid around 10 bucks for a 5000 sheet box at Future Shop. If you asked them now, they'd probably give you a blank stare or call security.

It's become a speciality item, but I've found a good source that's dirt cheap. The thrift stores! It's amazing how often this stuff shows up there. Typically it's a barely used box or just a bundle, but I got an almost full 2500 sheet box recently. This stuff usually goes to kindergartens and daycares for making purple crayon fridge drawings, so in reality I'm stealing from the little kids. I feel bad, but I gotta do it. I can't help it - I'm a perf paper junkie. :(

BTW: I'm hoarding mine, so don't ask, because I'm not paying $80 either. :)
 
I've got 5 or 6 boxes of different sizes but of course shipping's a killer, although by bus within Canada wouldn't be *too* bad I suppose...

Good tip about the thrifts though, although these days they're getting pretty fussy about what they take.
 
MikeS said:
. . . Good tip about the thrifts though, although these days they're getting pretty fussy about what they take.
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Well my wife picks it up and she asked someone there to hold that stuff for her. This is doable, because perf paper is still recognizable by someone who couldn't identify the business end of a computer.

Yes, they don't take a lot of stuff. Computers, for instance. I wonder what they've turned away. I see crumbs from what looked like good stuff. One time I found an IBM DOSv3.3 with the disks too. Another time I found a VIC-20 power supply of a less common variety. I guess the rest of it went to the dump. I took the PS just to save it for somebody. Anybody want a Part No.902502-02?
 
FWIW, you might want to check some of your local printing shops. I say local... we've one in my county, and there seems to be a specialty paper shop every few counties down here. Find them, call 'em up, and ask if they make it or sell it. You might be surprised that they've some laying around their warehouse that they'd like to get rid of. Don't forget that a lot of businesses still use perf paper for dual and tri-copy invoices. Just around the Daytona area, I see them in welding and auto shops, including Sears Auto shops, and they're still in use at the County Courthouse as well for some items (although most printing has gone to ink or laser, of course)

Also, hit up your local Craigslist and Freecycle... someone might be itching to get that old dusty box out from in-behind their computer desk!
 
Nice reply. I did as you suggested and called a couple printing shops. I guess there is still a pretty good demand for pin feed paper here in Vegas. So I called places like Office Depot. Single sheet, 9-1/2 X 11 sells for $44.00 to get 2300 sheets. I guess that's a lot better than what I found online. Looking at some of the "recommended" sites on Google was like being ripped off, even before I bought anything. Prices STARTED at $89.00 for the same amount of paper! What are they smoking!?!?!

On the plus side, I got a reply from my Graigslist ad. A guy has three boxes of 9-1/2 x 11 paper, 2500 sheets per box and he's going to give them to me. I let him know that I'm currently disabled and was going to have my wife pick it up, but he lives close enough that he told me to expect a delivery tomorrow afternoon. Nice guy! I am definitely going to hold on to whatever he brings. With prices going up like they are, I want to have this for as long as possible.

The funny part about all of this is that printer ribbons are cheap. Office Depot has them for my IBM 5152 for only $6.00. My wife will be getting a couple for me tomorrow as well.

So thanks again my friends. As always, I get the best advice right here.

Happy Holidays folks.

Maverick1978 said:
FWIW, you might want to check some of your local printing shops. I say local... we've one in my county, and there seems to be a specialty paper shop every few counties down here. Find them, call 'em up, and ask if they make it or sell it. You might be surprised that they've some laying around their warehouse that they'd like to get rid of. Don't forget that a lot of businesses still use perf paper for dual and tri-copy invoices. Just around the Daytona area, I see them in welding and auto shops, including Sears Auto shops, and they're still in use at the County Courthouse as well for some items (although most printing has gone to ink or laser, of course)

Also, hit up your local Craigslist and Freecycle... someone might be itching to get that old dusty box out from in-behind their computer desk!
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bettablue said:
The funny part about all of this is that printer ribbons are cheap. Office Depot has them for my IBM 5152 for only $6.00.
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Shush, don't give them any ideas. :) I too am surprised that the price of common cartridges don't seem to have gone up. There are a few expensive specialty ones, but I've got a Tandy DWP220 daisy wheel printer which I might as well take to the dump because you can't get ribbons any more at any price.
 
I feel sorry for you. If it helps any, I just got off the phone with another "donor" who just happens to have a brand new box of 20 lb paper 9-1/2 X 11 along with 2 unopened IBM 5152/Epson FX-80 ribons all for the whopping price of $0.00, if, and only if I can get to her office tomorrow. I had to tell me wife to go for me because I'm still laid up with a broken leg. My wife was more than happy to make the trip, especially since she knows what the paper would have cost if we bought a box of paper plus ribbons from Office Depot or any other office supply places in Vegas. So, again, I got lucky. My IBM 5150 is getting to be a very happy computer. So is it's owner. Want some pics?
 
Slightly OT... but I have to ask: what do you guys use the perf paper or old dot matrix printers for? Are you guys still using them for word processing? Payroll? Spreadsheets? etc?

I've thought about firing up my old favorite DOS word processor and using it upon ocassion, but frankly, I've gotten so used to Word 2000/2003 that it's really not worth it, especially since I can get better output with my laser. Certainly I don't find dot matrix printers to be junk, but by and large, they're what I pull out when I need to print dual-copy invoices and installation orders. They haven't been used for any other task in many years.
 
I don't know about bb, but I often have one hooked up to my DOS box because it's a no-hassle way to print in that environment. Usually it's just a list or proof for some text. Yes, modern printers have clearer output and fonts, but I've not had the best of luck getting them to take raw ascii input. Like I said, dot matrix printers are hassle free.

They're also kind of cool in a vintage kind of way. :) A few years ago I made a nice little art booklet on a 9pin - just for the style and novelty. In fact I think that the novelty factor is even higher in 2012. I'll also bring a dot matrix printout, with the perf still attached, to a meeting sometimes as an even more creative accessory than a pocket protector or taped glasses.
 
I agree with Ole Juul on this one. When you're working in the environment, and have an old word processing document pulled up, it's just easier to print from the machine tha's up and running. However too, there are many instances where working on a program and you need a print out to troubleshoot some error, or coding issue, whether in BASIC, COBOL or even FORTRAN, I do sometimes need to be able to track down some point within that program. I prefer to run these old programming lanuages on the original systems too. Running them on a modern computer, even with the availability of emulators, just isn't the same. Newer computers are sometimes just too fast. I also use my old IBM for plain old word processing, and believe it or not, there are still a few databases out there that require an old system like mine to track down data errors too. There are many reasons.

Probably my biggest reason for wanting the DMP and continuous feed paper is the nostalgia and geek factors.

Ole Juul said:
I don't know about bb, but I often have one hooked up to my DOS box because it's a no-hassle way to print in that environment. Usually it's just a list or proof for some text. Yes, modern printers have clearer output and fonts, but I've not had the best of luck getting them to take raw ascii input. Like I said, dot matrix printers are hassle free.

They're also kind of cool in a vintage kind of way. :) A few years ago I made a nice little art booklet on a 9pin - just for the style and novelty. In fact I think that the novelty factor is even higher in 2012. I'll also bring a dot matrix printout, with the perf still attached, to a meeting sometimes as an even more creative accessory than a pocket protector or taped glasses.
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Like OJ I still use DOS a lot, as does a client of mine, but I haven't ever run across any problems using HP laser printers to print ASCII text, and between us we do go through a lot of paper; printing's much neater, much faster, more fonts available, etc. and the fact that the LJ has to print a page at a time is never a problem.

The client in question also uses a dot matrix printer to print mailing labels every month; cheaper and sometimes more convenient than using label sheets. I still occasionally use one to print diskette directories on 5 1/2" tractor feed paper that I can insert in the diskette envelope, and a wide carriage printer for the times when I need a 14x11 printout.

As long as you can find a ribbon cartridge with the right type and width you can usually refill a cart that's no longer available, even (especially) one-time LQ carbon ribbons that can't be re-inked.
 
MikeS said:
. . . As long as you can find a ribbon cartridge with the right type and width you can usually refill a cart that's no longer available, even (especially) one-time LQ carbon ribbons that can't be re-inked.
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I considered that, but it's work that I didn't really want to do. There are lots of carbon ribbons available at a reasonable cost, so it makes more sense to look for a decent brand of printer instead.
 
Ole Juul said:
I considered that, but it's work that I didn't really want to do. There are lots of carbon ribbons available at a reasonable cost, so it makes more sense to look for a decent brand of printer instead.
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Bah! What kind of vintage computerist are you, throwing away a classic printer just because you can't be bothered making your own ribbon?

;-)
 
Yeah, some people. And to think we're all into vintage computing, which in the very nature, means doing a lot of repurposing.

MikeS said:
Bah! What kind of vintage computerist are you, throwing away a classic printer just because you can't be bothered making your own ribbon?

;-)
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MikeS said:
Bah! What kind of vintage computerist are you, throwing away a classic printer just because you can't be bothered making your own ribbon? ;-)
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Well, not really a normal one. :) Of course I can't bring myself to throw anything out and always want things to go to someone who appreciates them - I don't have any appreciation for Tandy myself though. Anyway, the fact is I don't want a daisy wheel for vintage reasons but rather for the quality of the print. I'm probably even weirder than you thought.
 
Well, you aren't strange until you've used a thermal receipt printer that is a whopping 10 column machine and came with instructions in what else but Chinese...that was fun trying to get it to work...I still have 2 of them somewhere, might try them again someday.
 
At my work with UPS technical support, I have to work with agent who are troubleshooting thermal printers with our customers every day. Sometimes it's pretty simple and sometimes not, depending on the brand and it's age. What kind of thermal printers are you using?

Compgeke said:
Well, you aren't strange until you've used a thermal receipt printer that is a whopping 10 column machine and came with instructions in what else but Chinese...that was fun trying to get it to work...I still have 2 of them somewhere, might try them again someday.
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These are some no-brand ones that connect using a parallel port and have some awesome Chinese instructions (useful if I could read that). I contacted the person I got them from and they said it was a basic text only 10 column printer. I can get a picture later, however I don't really feel like taking a picture with my camera (film) and finding a place to get it developed quickly, I would rather wait for my mom to get home with the digital camrea, far simpler for quick shots.
 
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