I was sent a FAULTY Game Boy Printer | Can I FIX It?

[@felipepubillones2768]

1) hold down feed while you turn it on for a special message. 2) You're 99% done with the repair! The print head needs some TLC. Like all thermal printers, the print head can get dirty and print quality drops. You figured out the paper, but the print head needs basic maintenance too. Full disclosure: totally did a fist pump of nostalgia when it printed anything at all.

[@main_rouge]

You need some SEIKO S-950 paper, the game boy printer was manufactured by Seiko in the first place and this is by far the best working paper for it you can get for it currently, only downside is it won't be sticky like the original gameboy paper

[@Boogie_the_cat]

It's pretty easy to make things sticky at home with no effort. Much less easy to unstick them

[@h8GW]

Spray adhesive turns anything into a sticker. But yeah, I don't know why no one makes sticker thermal paper. I'd imagine the rollers would grab the thicker paper better and have a better print quality.

[@jonathanmartin3375]

When you put the printed picture of Dave next to the original, I couldn't tell which was which!

[@WaRn00b85]

Indeed! The quality of the print is life-like!

[@scragar]

The GB printer uses a non-standard paper width in order to ensure you couldn't buy cheap paper rolls for it. Luckily in the time since it came out a few self printing card payment machines started using 38mm paper, which is the right size without cutting.

[@crunchyfrog555]

Pro tip to anyone - you can always check old thermal printer paper easily by getting something sharpish like a biro lid and quickly scoring it across the paper so it generates a bit of heat. If it "draws!" a clear black line, paper's good.

[@kalin666]

What's a Biro?

[@liberatetheforks]

Also applying pressure from a fingernail on a hard surface onto the paper will cause it to activate. Just don't use hand sanitizers near that paper as it increases absorption of the chemicals 1000%

[@crunchyfrog555]

@@kalin666 i hope youre joking

[@andrewkaminskas7721]

@@crunchyfrog555we call them ballpoint pens in the rest of the world

[@steve.b.23]

Use your soldering iron.

[@steve.b.23]

If you turn the power on while holding down the feed button, you'll get a test print. A pic of Mario on the left, a Game Boy Printer on the right, and "Hello!" inbetween.

[@infin1ty850]

Usually when I see gb printer videos people aren't using new thermal paper. Once it worked that was a major nostalgia kick.

[@samuraidriver4x4]

Also got a nostalgia kick with the first print. The kids these days don't appreciate the top notch quality of the gameboy camera and how special it was back in the day.

[@iaincowell9747]

​@samuraidriver4x4 I don't know, even when the game boy camera came out it had shit quality. Always considered a novelty item

[@kingkarljfs7965]

Top notch battery contact repair, dude! I use 99.9% isopropanol and a cotton bud to clean the thermal printhead on my label printer. Keeps the barcodes and stuff scannable, though that's mostly thanks to it being 300dpi but I digress.

[@hugegamer5988]

When in doubt use your hot air rework pen and set it to to 60C (140F ) high flow and run it over a small piece you hold in tweezers. If it turns dark it’s good. Keep raising the temp on the gun until it does turn dark. If you are past 185C 365F and it’s only looking a little toasty it’s done ski.

[@SamSimmonds-xd1tl]

What humble fans you have. Very amazing community you have built. Always great content.

[@Tech-Nobby]

Maybe a thermal head cleaner pen/wipe would help? We use them on client's printers in kitchens and bars as they get clogged with paper fibres and general pub gunk i know it's old and poor anyway, but y'never know

[@StezStixFix]

That's a good shout, it certainly shouldn't do any harm!

[@callumBee]

@@StezStixFix IPA will do just as good. Its what in these things anyway!

[@chillzwinter]

A fast way to check you have the correct side of the thermal paper is to stroke your fingernail across it as fast as you can like you are drawing a line using only your fingernail. A nice black line will appear on the thermal side. Used to do this when I was fixing fax machines in the 1990's. Also some Isopropyl alcohol and cotton bud across the thermal print head will brighten things up significantly.

[@CallumFaulds1]

That battery connector repair was something else!

[@mcbeardface]

To save any future pairs of tweezers. For the battery terminals have a little tab in the middle that holds it in place. There is a hole in the plastic on the other side. You can bend it and they just come out.

[@wesleybilly8097]

LOL this was a great episode. Good to know the sealed paper I have is shot.

[@CDRaff]

For about half the video I was thinking how cool it would be to have something like this today then I remembered they do make something like this today. I even got one for my daughter that she never uses. I wonder how long I can use it before she notices I stole it?

[@jafearplays4972]

It’s only a bodge if it comes from the Stez region of the UK, everything else is just a sparkling mend.

[@rick5078]

8:01 You could have just used the grinding pen to remove all of the rust without having to cut anything off of that. You could then have used a liberal amount of flux and some solder to replace the nickle plating that you ground off when grinding off the rust and then soldered the new spring plate to the old spring plate.

[@jeffnash00]

Enjoy your content very much. I was wondering what brand and model your grinding pen is? Thanks!

[@TokkanFX]

Use the tip of your soldering iron to test the thermal paper :) Or any heat source .....

[@marshalsea000]

Came for the gameboy tat, stayed for the awesome rendition of Centerfold!

[@My_Op]

I like that you improved your diction because I could understand the lyrics of your "song to my patrons" without reading the subtitles for once.

[@davidworsley7969]

I think your brain just auto adjusted.

[@everythinginfullspectrum8625]

Is there a potentiometer to control the burner's resistance ? Like in ps2 ps1 laser for example ? Nice fix! And dave's post mortem is very exiting to follow, what a lucky bug! ;D

[@brianwebb6310]

Just checked on Ebay australia and rolls are available to buy as they were listed as coming from america.Hope this is helpful.

[@kenabi]

i wound up modding mine, had a cord attached to a wall wart coming out the back. should really get around to putting a proper switched dc barrel jack in it at some point. constantly feeding it batteries was suck.

[@teknikal6969]

Reminds me of a ZX Spectrum printer which was a little larger than this and printed to a silver roll of some type of thermal paper. Was a novelty at the time and I remember printing loading screens and stuff. Also wondering if till roll (receipt) would work on this I think those are thermal and look about the same size.

[@rigell2764]

I loved my game boy printer back in the day. I never had the camera, just a few random games, but it was amazing to be able to print pictures out.

[@TheReddkatt]

great skill in fixing Ste.....cob it straight int bin

[@wisher21uk]

Great repair Really enjoyed the video thanks Steve 😊

[@TheRepeatloader]

love the videos-- thankyou, thought for the day--or question -- if you have a transister,in circuit, can you deduce if it is pnp or npn by determinig if it has two connecting to ground vs one pin connecting to ground? (im new to this stuff so i hope its not a dumb question) for anyone that can or wants to answer

[@coondogtheman]

I ha ve one of these and it does still work. The sticky paper that comes with these printers is no good because the chemicals fade over time. I ended up buying some receipt paper at walmart and cutting it to size and it worked. I'm not sure exactly how to clean the heads of these because i cannot figure out how to get to the print heads to clean them.

[@christophereric7]

I really love your videos. Thanks Steve!

[@pocketsuke]

yeah thermal paper expires. needs new paper. you can use till recipt paper :)

[@bobbiojoseph5547]

Really loved this video, Steve You make me laugh...Thanks..

[@jamesjesterng7659]

Well all I can say is "Your on a roll"

[@ISquishWorms]

🤣Someone had to say it.

[@andrewgrant6516]

A cheese roll.

[@kenneth7610]

Nice!

[@rciancia]

Nice job.. I would say the Thermal print head is dirty or has residue on it....

[@thefray123]

The gameboy related content is always the best!

[@mtshark7]

Nicely done Steve!

[@brianhirt3918]

Get the Seiko S-950 paper, it's perfect for the Game Boy Printer. The GB Printer was manufactured by Seiko as it is.

[@Saor_Alba]

Magic, this takes me back, the pictures were just like a Polaroid camera I owned in the 70s,

[@bentbilliard]

I just bought a whole box of replacement paper for mine after having the same issue. It works perfectly fine with the new paper.

[@delta250a]

I would love to get one of those some day. Only come across the box of the camera in the wild so far!

[@ValuedTeamMember]

Oh lordy. Thank you for the "count down timer". I take every thing I ever said back. It's true what the Interwebs are saying, you do RoCk (now:)

[@MrPinback1]

great fix, just sad that the paper issue took longer than the actual fix on the battery terminals. But I am glad the corrosion only took out the terminals and the board was intact

[@bruce11121314]

10:20 "The spring's just breaking apart" he says as he violently yanks on the spring

[@jaffa789]

Looks to be the same size a pdq roll no? Maybe that’d be worth a try instead of cutting full till roll

[@CrAzZyTheCodingBoss]

This repair deserves the quality bodge Seal..... It means its almost legit... Congrads

[@eddiekelly181087]

You can buy a modern version of this printer in asda supermarket, they sell replacement rolls that look the same size to.

[@bLock_c1pher_Gaming]

One more Fun vid, thank you man. take care. GG!, big W.

[@petehayward7478]

Steve….dont forget the circuit board screws. Hope that helps 😀.

[@franckozon]

Nice

[@NikBoff]

Never skip the tunes, it makes the vid

[@sarcasticat]

You can buy new paper. And there's definitely still something wrong with printer, since picture outline should be pretty black, not wash-out gray (gb printer with new paper owner here)

[@ShadowcasterZero]

If art = effort, then this is fine art 🎭 🎨

[@nickg0999]

Awesome

[@MichaelRadelet]

As a Canadian that lives Cabelas, nice shirt!

[@zednott]

i feel sry for anyone who bought one of them when it came out expecting a decent picture

[@MightyGimp]

A link for the grinding pen would be appreciated 👍🏻

[@marcochiantore7892]

perhaps for those metal plates as long as they are thin enough you may want to be using the electric spot welder. the two plates won't come apart. However I'm no expert.

[@yourhalf01]

Not that it helps now but there is a self test mode for the printer. If you hold down the feed button while powering it on it will print a one line graphic.

[@Wranorn]

If I may suggest, use a 18650 spot welder for this type of fix.

[@stephenbaker7786]

Very rewarding 😬

[@MrBrianms]

A failing capacitor is losing charge as the lines get grayer. Does the electrode head need to be cleaned of carbon deposits? It should look better, like a receipt.

[@CTCTraining1]

Perfect - reminds me of my pics from Snappy Snaps 😀👍

[@HjalleCalibursChannel]

Does the grinding pen have drillbits too?

[@denniswoycheshen]

14:20 yep, just as good as I remember

[@fraenkiboii]

tbh the best about this thing is the 8bit music. Brings me back to the late 80s.

[@mainelement4139]

thats a sweet gameboy. very clean

[@danieltimms1463]

Steve where did you get your engraving pen from ???

[@jonogrimmer6013]

Brings back memories of dot matrix printer quality

[@2xtreem4u]

Letter written in Comic Sans MS :)

[@keithnsearle7393]

You could use paper that they use for a DYMO printer.

[@ebenezerlm]

That quality... Just... Damn!

[@DankerTVTimeCapsule]

yeap you can. aliexpress temu and many others as they have a brand new version of thermal printers.

[@hteekay]

There are tons of thermal printer for children toy camera selling online right now... I wonder if there's a way to mod it to print from gameboy camera?

[@Aragorn6519]

Thats some serious MacGyverishnessosity! Rock on!!!👍🤙👏

[@mrsmw2020]

You could clean the thermal “print” head. It might help. They do get gunkked up after time.

[@h8GW]

While you were in there, you should've cleaned the rollers so they could grip the paper better, especially since non-sticker replacement thermal paper is gonna be thinner.

[@CidZombie]

You can also take some 70-99% isopropyl alchohol to the thermal strip to rid of any debris, gunk and so on! after this the prints darker regardless of the paper!

[@davelordy]

I can't see how you can live in the modern world without a little electric screwdriver like the Wowstick (or similar), especially when you're unscrewing and screwing a dozen little screws each time you open and close something . . . since I got mine I couldn't live without it 🙂👌👍

[@yotoprules9361]

I bought a similar one from aliexpress and it broke in 2 weeks, never again lol. I bought another thats a lot more powerful called the Banjo tool, its significantly better but is of course no good for small electronics. It's fine for laptops etc though.

[@billysmidway7032]

I won’t use power tools for screws into old plastic. It’s too easy to break the plastic or cross thread it and make it worse. Always use a screwdriver by hand, then turn the screw in the loosen direction (some are reverse thread, so I purposely didn’t say right or left) then, when you feel the screw threads “bump” over the hole threads, you can now carefully turn it until it’s snug but not too tight since it risks breaking the plastic.

[@VampyRagDoll]

There’s thermal sticker paper for tiny printers you can get on Temu and Amazon and places like that. Not sure if it’s the same. Size but at least you can get some. Those printers aren’t much better lol.

[@jinxnatorx]

Oooooo I miss captain bodge maybe you should dig out the old T shirt my dear old friend 😂 ❤

[@becky15675]

just go into Asda and ask if you can pilfer a till roll

[@Gribbo9999]

That looks like a picture of the Moon as beamed back by a very early Moon probe. Dave-on-the-Moon. I'd call it.

[@Unjustself]

The thermal head could probably do with a quick clean to improve quality

[@stuartbrittain6650]

Nearly impossible to get adhesive paper for it, but most 38mm thermal credit card printer paper will work.

[@Fingerprintguy]

Nice shirt!

[@ronny332]

12:19 welcome to the club 🙂 Just a day ago I completed a GPU swap on a Xbox360 fat and was SO SURE, everything went right. Of course, the DVD eject button was still sitting on the table. Applause.

[@josephking6515]

Don't know about your location but I know *Nintendo Australia* is likely able to fix it. They have parts from the 1990 consoles and handhelds only from then because that's when the Australian branch was opened..

[@cerd6292]

I think the printer “heads” need to be aligned and calibrated now. But it’s working….

[@LindaGolfGTI]

U can use the happy printer paper... Its like a sticker alsow

[@evilmissf]

Love this fix, kinda reminds me of the old thermal printer for the ZX spectrum, lol those were the days lol 😆

[@barthanes1]

Stunning 64x48 pixel resolution.

[@fatbelly2438]

that till roll looks wide enough for a zx spectrum printer

[@itsmemerijn]

Think most of the verifone recite paper should work as well that also very small stuff

[@evansdm2008]

You could end with the chorus from “this corrosion” by sisters of mercy. But then that’s most repair videos…

[@starvr]

How did you not find any GB printer paper? I google searched and it came up with 6 hits, mostly from Ebay! LOL

[@murfilo7]

Good work👌🏻 F for the tweezers😂

[@oldskooldaze]

Sweet 😎

[@doOf3r]

Well it's still less hassle than when I ever try and get my Epson to print anything from my PC...