D
Doug Goncz
Guest
I didn't give the platen much of a scrub with the green-on-yellow kitchen pad
before I put it in the sink with hot soapy water but that was way better than
sanding it the way I did when I treated it with solvent so many years ago.
It's a Microline 193 wide carriage printer I got at Goodwill. I plugged a new
head into it not long after, after actually trying to repair the head (futile).
So it sat overnight, and I must say, they probably _did_ use water as a
plasticizer in that rubber formulation. After all, it was so old. So the water,
concentrated 100% in the sink, diffused into the rubber, where it might have
been 5% originally and 1% the other day. Now I guess it's 3%, speaking
relative to my 5% estimate.
I ran a few sheets through and it worked OK, but I wanted tacky rubber. Well,
not sticky, but grippy. I'm planning to run the paper in through the slot
underneath with a slot in the table and the paper supply in a drawer. Real
clean lookin'.
So today I asked T for a Christmas paper roll. She peeled off some she wasn't
fond of and gave me the roll. We shot a few hoops with the ball of paper.
I balled up a sheet of letter size paper and rolled it between my palms to get
it ready to glue into the end of the tube. I applied a white glue liberally,
shoved it in, and banged it down onto the table flush with the end of the tube
with a yardstick. White glue tacks and grips quickly so soon it was ready for
the dope.
I pulled a white kitchen garbage bag out of the box in the kitchen and shoved
it in. Damn. So I carefully placed the platen adjacent a side of the bag, right
to the end, and rolled the platen against the countertop to wrap the bag firmly
around it. Now it would go in, but the water wouldn't. It was tight!
I slipped the wrapped platen into the cut-to-length tube and grabbed the end
where you twist the feed knob. I "unscrewed" it into the tube, generating some
water space. I filled this space with a cup and a half of soapy water. Why so
much? The platen is hollow, internally finned, extruded aluminum wrapped in
rubber, and the internal space was greater than the external space.
I capped it off with a clean shot glass, put the extra soapy water in the
fridge to keep it clean, and leant it against the wall near the front door,
where there's a recess. So now, I can add water if needed, and when the water's
gone, I'll say "time's up" and pour it out, wash the whole thing, and flush the
plastic bearings. The shaft is stainless. I think it's made to be refinished.
Somebody somewhere probably sells the appropriate sock, solution, and clip, but
all I saw was a wipe on solvent once long ago when typewriter repair parts
could be had from paper catalogs.
What fun!
My physics project at NVCC:
Google Groups, then "dgoncz" and some of:
ultracapacitor bicycle fluorescent flywheel inverter
4-1-9 Fraud
http://www.secretservice.gov/electronic_evidence.shtml
before I put it in the sink with hot soapy water but that was way better than
sanding it the way I did when I treated it with solvent so many years ago.
It's a Microline 193 wide carriage printer I got at Goodwill. I plugged a new
head into it not long after, after actually trying to repair the head (futile).
So it sat overnight, and I must say, they probably _did_ use water as a
plasticizer in that rubber formulation. After all, it was so old. So the water,
concentrated 100% in the sink, diffused into the rubber, where it might have
been 5% originally and 1% the other day. Now I guess it's 3%, speaking
relative to my 5% estimate.
I ran a few sheets through and it worked OK, but I wanted tacky rubber. Well,
not sticky, but grippy. I'm planning to run the paper in through the slot
underneath with a slot in the table and the paper supply in a drawer. Real
clean lookin'.
So today I asked T for a Christmas paper roll. She peeled off some she wasn't
fond of and gave me the roll. We shot a few hoops with the ball of paper.
I balled up a sheet of letter size paper and rolled it between my palms to get
it ready to glue into the end of the tube. I applied a white glue liberally,
shoved it in, and banged it down onto the table flush with the end of the tube
with a yardstick. White glue tacks and grips quickly so soon it was ready for
the dope.
I pulled a white kitchen garbage bag out of the box in the kitchen and shoved
it in. Damn. So I carefully placed the platen adjacent a side of the bag, right
to the end, and rolled the platen against the countertop to wrap the bag firmly
around it. Now it would go in, but the water wouldn't. It was tight!
I slipped the wrapped platen into the cut-to-length tube and grabbed the end
where you twist the feed knob. I "unscrewed" it into the tube, generating some
water space. I filled this space with a cup and a half of soapy water. Why so
much? The platen is hollow, internally finned, extruded aluminum wrapped in
rubber, and the internal space was greater than the external space.
I capped it off with a clean shot glass, put the extra soapy water in the
fridge to keep it clean, and leant it against the wall near the front door,
where there's a recess. So now, I can add water if needed, and when the water's
gone, I'll say "time's up" and pour it out, wash the whole thing, and flush the
plastic bearings. The shaft is stainless. I think it's made to be refinished.
Somebody somewhere probably sells the appropriate sock, solution, and clip, but
all I saw was a wipe on solvent once long ago when typewriter repair parts
could be had from paper catalogs.
What fun!
My physics project at NVCC:
Google Groups, then "dgoncz" and some of:
ultracapacitor bicycle fluorescent flywheel inverter
4-1-9 Fraud
http://www.secretservice.gov/electronic_evidence.shtml