Replacement Printer for Richard Simon Computapak II Controller UBM Weigher
Richard Simon Computak II Controller
The Richard Simon Computak II Controller is quite widely used in a range of bagging and weighing equipment within industry. It is a custom PLC which outputs data to a serial printer.
The original model was limited to an Epson LX-400 dot matrix printer fitted with an Epson 8143 Serial Card, with both the original printer and the serial card now extremely rare and generally in an industrial environment, the Epson LX-400 is prone to dirt clogging the mechanisms, meaning that it can need regular maintenance to keep it printing. Replacing the printer with a different printer simply did not work, as the Epson 8143 Serial Card needed to be set to support Current Loop printing.
Other companies have since adapted the Controller by adding a new daughterboard to allow it to print to an Epson LQ-300 II using a more standard RS232 serial port connection but again suitable serial port printers are hard to find.
Trying to obtain support for the Computak II Controller and/or the Epson printer was at best unhelpful:
Support Team 1: To go for a long term solution it would be our advice to replace the obsolete Computapak controller for our latest controller the Speedac IQ.
Support Team 2: Kindly note that the lx-400 is a new Zaland model, we are UK support so we will be unable to provide accurate information (even though the LX-400 was clearly marked with Epson Telford (UK) Limited).
Support Team 3: Please verify it with the device vendor where you will use the printer. We can only provide that this printer standard 9-25 pins
So the first step is to identify what printer is currently connected and if you have the later daughterboard. If you have an LX-400 printer, then it is essential to keep that 8143 Serial Card which can be found inside the printer itself, as those settings (and the interface) are key to replacing the printer.
If you want to read about our journey of discovery as we connected the Retro-Printer module to the Computak controllers (and other bag-weighers) then see here.
The Retro-Printer module can be used as an interface between the Computak Controller and a printer. We capture the data using RS232 input (or the Epson 8143 Serial Card) and then logged the output to plain text and PDF files for easier electronic storage, whilst still being able to print the output from the machine on a modern USB or network printer.
If you want to replicate this type of approach to modernise your use of the Richard Simon Computak II Controller, please get in touch.
