We need help with our Violano rebuild.  The tracker bar hole spacing
for original Mills rolls seems to be 0.114 inch [8.77 holes/inch],
but we have some recut rolls which seem to have a spacing of .11428
inch [8.75 holes/inch] and will not play.

The guy doing the rebuild says I may need to choose between playing
only original rolls or only recuts, which seems a little drastic.
Can anyone give advice please?

With thanks from Down Under

Michael Woolf
New Zealand

 [ I asked Mike Ames about his experience.  He replied, "It seems as
 [ though no one since the Mills company has ever agreed on the exact
 [ spacing.  In the old days we would very carefully measure the
 [ dimensions of the phenolic slotted strip that the feeder wires
 [ protrude through, the idea being that the phenolic was much more
 [ stable than the paper.
 [
 [ "By careful adjustment it was possible to set up a compromise
 [ between wet and dry (wider and narrower) original Mills rolls and
 [ the recut rolls available then.
 [
 [ "The compromise adjustment required that you put a shim between the
 [ left take up spool end plate and very carefully adjust the spool
 [ position.  All roll configurations could be barely satisfied.
 [ Hopefully the newer recut rolls fall within these dimensions."
 [
 [ -- Robbie