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Radio Shack trs 80 model 3 and daisy wheel 2 printer for sale ( Printer is museum Qua

A

artbaron

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Joined
Dec 25, 2015
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12
Hi. I recently purchased a trs-80 model 3 from the daughter of the late owner in Ontario and she threw in a daisy wheel printer 2 model 26 11-58, as she just wanted to get rid of it. It was not until i got it home that i realized the printer which cost $2000 in 1982 has probably never been used and it is in museum quality condition. I have a couple of pictures on ebay under the number 131685330045 where i am selling just the manuals and asking if anyone would know what the printer is worth or where i should try to market it. The printer looks like the day it came off the assembly line and whether it ever was used the most important thing is that it was well stored. I also have the trs -80 model 3 in very good condition. I have tested the computer but have left the printer alone for the moment. Besides the system i also have the programs superscriptsit and visical. At this point i do not know if it would be better for me to sell the system in pieces or together or if there is even a right answer to that question, I can only find one daisy wheel printer 26-1158 for sale , which is on ebay and the ask is $4000 US, but the seller told me he does not expect to get anywhere near that price. I was hoping that someone on here may be able to give me some advice and be able to tell me what it is worth, whether i should sell the system in pieces or where i might inquire to learn more. I am certain that i will end up marketing it in the US since there does not seem to be a big demand in Canada and I am open to offers.

any advice would be appreciated

Murray Flewelling
Fredericton NBIMG_0278.jpgIMG_0280.jpgIMG_0283.jpg
 
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Hate to be the bearer of bad news but virtually all TRS-80 printers are next to worthless regardless of their initial cost. The DW2 was one of the workhorse printers which was made by Diablo (correct me if I'm wrong) which sold in huge numbers despite its high cost, and is so over engineered that people like me who bought them new still use them regularly and they still run like the day they were made.

I'd say ask $3-400 for it but take any offer over $100.

I recently bought a DW2 as part of a Model 4 system a doctor was selling in Melbourne. He wanted $75 for it and if I didn't take it he was going to send it to the metal recyclers. I was about to walk but realised it did come with the cut-sheet feeder option which when new cost some 3/4 the cost of the printer itself. As you would imagine though it was $75 well spend as when I got it home, as expected, after installing a new ribbon it fired up and ran like the day it was made. Anyone need one of these in Melbourne, Au?

Ian.
 
I realize something is only worth what ever the market determines and i am not surprised by the info that you have provided me and much appreciated. I will try to figure out a way to load some pictures on here because i was amazed at how new the machine looks. It weights 55 pounds lol and i may just keep it as a decoration if it is only worth $100.

Thanks again for your advice.
 
attachment.php
]Does your printer look like this. I see a lot of printers listed on ebay as dw2 but they are different models. I understand what you mean by the price they where has no bearing which is sad because this printer is a beauty
 

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Hi Ian.

I do not think that this particular machine was produced by Diablo. They did produce a 630 model with the daisy wheel technology but this particular printer was made in Japan for Tandy and was marketed as the tandy daisy wheel 2 model 26 - 1158
 
As Ian mentioned, the top of the line printers that Tandy offered are built like tanks. Incredibly robust devices built to print day in and day out for years. Unfortunately, that means they are very large and heavy and are typically not worth the cost of shipping. They also take up a lot of room in the precious space that most collectors have available. Given that, and the fact that most enthusiasts today don't care about printers at all, leads to few options. The fact that yours is mint may help for that one guy who is building a printer collection. I'm not sure if he exists though.
 
Despite how well built and nice these printers are, there is a "fly in the ointment". Availability of printer ribbons (or lack of).
I have several really nice printers that I have had zero luck in finding ribbons for.
 
I have one of their large dot matrix business printers that was unfortunately packed very poorly, and it arrived in pieces. I think I can glue it all back together, but it was still quite a disappointment even before I opened the obviously mangled box to find the mess inside.
 
Chuckster_in_Jax said:
Despite how well built and nice these printers are, there is a "fly in the ointment". Availability of printer ribbons (or lack of).
I have several really nice printers that I have had zero luck in finding ribbons for.
Click to expand...

Which model ribbons are you looking for?
 
That's unfortunate. This particular printer is made almost entirely of metal and weighs 50 pounds. I am not to concerned about shipping though. I use to sell large pictures on ebay and we where able to keep the glass from breaking more than ninety percent of the time. We found early on that none of the large companies want to pay out even when we where covered (it took literally months to settle small claims). Looks like the challenge will be to find someone who really wants it and i will probably just sell the model 3 alone.

Thanks for your imput
 
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artbaron said:
That's unfortunate. This particular printer is made almost entirely of metal and weighs 50 pounds. I am not to concerned about shipping though. I use to sell large pictures on ebay and we where able to keep the glass from breaking more than ninety percent of the time. We found early on that none of the large companies want to pay out even when we where covered (it took literally months to settle small claims). Looks like the challenge will be to find someone who really wants it and i will probably just sell the model 3 alone.

Thanks for your imput

Last edited by artbaron; Today at 05:17 PM. Reason: spelling
Click to expand...
Really? Coulda' fooled me. :)

It's still full of errors.

Bottom line -- GET A SPELL CHECKER!
 
"originally posted by stone -Really? Coulda' fooled me.

It's still full of errors.

Bottom line -- GET A SPELL CHECKER!"

I think the above is an example of what my friends always referred to as trolling for a purpose.
 
The problem with Printers is that most collectors have a limited amount of space , so they fill it with computers. As you have noted, like many other printers this one is large and bulky.... and would take up the space of two computers....
... I think you may have a problem shifting it...
 
It is a really nice printer even by today's technology, So it will not be the end of the world if i end up giving away the printer i have now and keeping the daisy permanently.

Thanks for everyone's input

Murray
 
Hi Ian.

I just got the model 4 and when it arrived the screen was all wavy. I took it a part and was able to get it to focus and boot up. It asks for the date which i enter as 12/30/15 (at the time) but when i enter it nothing happens. I am use to modern computers so i am not sure if i need to add something like run etc. Second question.I just bought a coco and so far i have not been able to get life out of it. I can hear clicking when i push the reset but i just think that probably the switch. I saw on another form that you are fairly familiar with the trs-80's so i was wondering if you sell different testers for trouble shooting. There is an expansion module with the coco but i am assuming there is no way to test the module without the coco on. Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

Murray
N.B Canada
 
artbaron said:
It asks for the date which i enter as 12/30/15 (at the time) but when i enter it nothing happens.
Click to expand...

Do you actually have a boot disk for it? Is your disk corrupted?

I believe the model 4 is the same as the model 3 in the aspect that if you hold down the BREAK key while turning it on, it will boot into BASIC mode. You may want to try that.

It seems there's other boot options on the Model 4 that you could try here:

http://www.trs-80.com/wordpress/zaps-patches-pokes-tips/model-4p-tipstricks/

If you don't have a proper boot disk, then you will need one to do anything useful on it unless you enter BASIC programs and save them on cassette.

As for your coco, you may have to open it up and take some voltage measurements. You realize that you have to connect the "to TV" output to a box like this, correct?

tvswitch_2_large.jpg
 
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Hi Murray, a good date to try to enter which works on all operating systems and is easy to remember is 11/11/87

With your Coco, if you are trying to connect it to a composite monitor via an RCA cable into the yellow 'Video' input that won't work, it needs to go into the Antenna connection on a television set. In the US this was accomplished via a switchbox, in the rest of the world (in Australia anyway) RS just supplied a cable with an RCA connector on one end and a Antenna male connector on the other.

Without having a monitor connection you can do this simple test to confirm if the machine is basically operational and responding to input:

Turn the Coco on and type MOTORON
As you press enter, listen for a click inside the computer
type MOTOROFF
again as you press Enter listen for another click.

Note: if you have a very early Coco (with the memory size emblem on the top) the click will be a very VERY faint ping. All CCs after that used a proper relay which has a very audible click to it.

Hope this helps,

Ian.
 
Thank you for the advice. Ian suggested the date 11/11/87 and it accepted that. Moving forward !!
 
Hi Ian.

We have some progress as the date was accepted. I have more in to the model 4 and it is such a clean machine that i would much rather see that one working than the coco. The coco is a silver model 3003 and is the 333rd machine for the Canadian market. I noticed somewhere that both the number 1 US and Canada models are still around so they must be well built. The coco came with the expansion module 3024 and so far i have not been able to get them to say anything. I did not hear any noise so i assume my best bet now would be to get a tester for the fuse. Regarding the model 4 when i turned it on the first time the screen was wavy but as soon as i took the cover off it looked fine (laying on the side) . When i put the cover on it is wavy again so i assume it is being pinched somewhere and an easy fix. I will move it around carefully but if you have a good idea what is causing this i am all ears.

Thanks for the great advice

Murray
 
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