Apple ImageWriter II
ImageWriter IIs are a dime-a-dozen. Everyone had one and nobody wants them. That made this one pretty easy to get when I saw it up on Craigslist near me. It had been stored in a closet unused (and away from the UV rays) for more than one decade. It also came with a color cartridge, which was the main draw for me. This was, after all, one of the few easily attainable dot matrix printers with the ability to print in color.
The color cartridge had rollers that had completely disintegrated, of course, but I was thankfully aware of that issue. So I took it apart, cleaned them out, and created new rollers by building up layers of some fake leather (cotton-based) that I had on hand and strips of double-sided tape. It occurs to me that I should include photos of this on this page as well. One more thing on the to-do list for this site.
One thing that I am struck by when comparing this to the OkiData, is just how heavy and high-quality this machine is. It easily weighs twice as much, if not more. The platons also grip the paper far better, and it is more precise with its movements.