[GreenKeys] UGC-136 ribbon replacement

[Nick England]

Back the head adjustment lever off a notch? Or does that reduce print
quality too much? Could just be the new ribbons are so heavily inked?

The spring just adjusts pulling gear tension, but the LH feeding side just
pulls ribbon from the cartridge with no tension mechanism. Might be just
because it is the first time through the cartridge and tension is less. Or
because we have different thickness of the new ribbons. The new ribbon is 8
yds vs original spec of 16 yards, but SRC measured an original ribbon and
found 12 yards.

In other words, dang if I know.

Nick England K4NYW
Chapel Hill NC
www.navy-radio.com


On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 8:06 PM Eric Moore <mooreericnyc at gmail.com> wrote:

> That is super cool, my ribbon bleeds onto the paper when left idle, I am
> curious if a manufactured ribbon would have the same issue.
>
> It seems like a tension problem, the second blade you sent helped, but
> keeping it from making contact with the paper at all and still getting good
> print quality is tricky.
>
> -Eric
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:02 PM Nick England via GreenKeys <
> greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>
>> Yes, this week I’ve been corresponding with a Navy contractor (SRC)
>> tasked with coming up with a solution for the ones still in use aboard
>> missile subs. He’s pretty delighted that we’ve already done all the work!
>> I’ve given them the 3D files and the ribbon manufacturer contact and he’s
>> already ordered some. I sent him one of our 3D printed versions to test.
>>
>> Not sure what we’ll get out of it other than a Bravo Zulu. Maybe a source
>> for ribbons for the future. I’m going to ask for a photo of the UGC-136 in
>> use aboard a sub, but probably they are a little funny about photos there….
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Nick England K4NYW
>> Chapel Hill NC
>> www.navy-radio.com
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 7:44 PM Daniel Jones <djones at k6yic.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks again for more great info Nick,
>>>
>>> I remember you said the Navy had reached out to you looking for
>>> ribbons?  Are they still utilizing these machines and did they ever request
>>> any of these new designed ones?
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>>
>>>
>>> www.K6YIC.com
>>> DJones at K6YIC.com
>>> HH#11973
>>>
>>> On Jan 31, 2026, at 16:12, Nick England via GreenKeys <
>>> greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>> I think this will work for replacing the ribbon in an original UGC-136
>>> cartridge. Either a new ribbon or remove, re-ink and replace an old one.
>>> https://www.navy-radio.com/tty/ugc136/ribbon-r-r.htm
>>>
>>> The 3D-printed cartridges don’t need this mod, because we changed the
>>> design from the original.
>>>
>>> Nick England K4NYW
>>> www.navy-radio.com
>>>
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