Greetings all,  In response to Duaine Hechler's posting about
making 88-note rolls, I can share my experiences.

I had visions of recutting Welte-Mignon rolls, both Licensee and
T100.  I bootstrapped from Richard Tonnesen's design, which he
graciously allowed me to photograph in great detail.  My device
was wooden framed with a crankshaft, offset connecting rods and
a counterweight; 100 solenoids in ten rows of 10 solenoids each,
arranged 50 per side of the punch and die.

I found a sympathetic master machinist who did most of the precision
metal work for me (shaking his head and smiling, every time I entered
his shop).  He made the interposer bars as well as the interchangeable
9-to-the-inch and T100 punch and die sets.  Another friend designed
and made the solenoid controller boards, mostly out of pity.  I put
the six rolls of blank paper underneath the apparatus, fed it up and
around to the inlet side of the punch.

The perforator ended up being about 7 feet long and 5 feet high,
on rollers, running off a Windows 98 computer system (who says they
aren't good for something else?).  Robbie Rhodes was most helpful and
we actually punched out a T100 roll that looked playable.  I realized
that more work remained to be done but I had run out of interest and
enthusiasm by this time.  I was working full-time and had family
obligations, as well.

All in all, I suppose that the cost of making the beast was probably
around $6,000 or $7,000 (1990s timeframe).  Designing and fabricating
the circuit boards plus the interface software would be more.  I have
some photos somewhere and could probably dig them up.  My advice would
be to tackle the project after retirement, as it does consume a lot of
time and money (kinda like restoring a reproducing grand).

Good luck and keep chasing those punchkins!

John McClelland