What is the rick for restoring a printer ribbon?
For cartridge ribbons, such as the one in ImageWriter II, it is easy to ‘restore’ a ribbon to dark printing with a few spritzes of WD-40. Using a pocket knife, pry off the lid of the cartridge, and, as evenly as possible, lightly spritz the bunched-up ribbon. Restore the lid and roll the tape back and forth a few inches. Let the cartridge sit for several days in a plastic bag. The idea is that the WD-40 spreads unused ink into the ribbon’s print area; so, it will not work for restoring multi-Color ribbons. Since you are adding no ink, this trick is good for only one or two ‘restorations’.