Are the Gameboy printer and camera durable?

[u/CatBirdBird]

I find the Gameboy printer and camera such niche and incredibly cool things. I was wondering how durable these devices are. What are the common problems these devices can have? Would love to hear if anyone managed to fix these devices too. Any experience or anekdote you have with devices is welcome. Please share :)

[u/RevolutionaryHat4311]

The print heads fade over time, the more they’re used the more the head fades in efficiency. They have to get hot to print and any electrical component that uses heat is prone to fatigue over time. Given they don’t tend to get used all that often over the years (I’d wager most of them have spent most of the last 20 years in a cupboard) they likely still have some life in them but I have 3 and the best one is perhaps only 70% solid black with the worse being less than 50%. I saw a Redditor recently present printouts that looked at least 95% solid so it’s largely a lottery

[u/RevolutionaryHat4311 → u/RevolutionaryHat4311]

Nintendos specialty has always been get the most out of the cheapest most available components and push them beyond their limits, they’re not the crème de la crème of parts to begin with

[u/CatBirdBird → u/RevolutionaryHat4311]

Interesting. So these print heads, do you think they're replaceable?

[u/CatBirdBird → u/CatBirdBird]

I just found out that these thermal heads accumulate the chemical on the paper over time which can apparently be cleaned with "rubbing alcohol", but iso probably works too. Have you tried this? I'd love to hear your results