•[ David Dewey asked, in 131019 MMDigest : > Which do people prefer: buying the pre-punched disks, or buying > a skin and punching their own discs? Which is more economical? I've had some great replies, both on list and off list, many thanks, all. I never thought about calculating the area as a squa...

•A company named Pace Punches sells tubular punches in a huge variety of sizes, both English and metric. They have feed-through punches (that's probably what you want) as well as other types (ID, OD etc). The minimum orders are small and prices are low so you can buy all sorts of stuff you don't nee...

•The popular webpage Boing Boing has an article on a person who has hand-punched the song "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell onto a length of punched roll for a small music box that he apparently bought as a kit. (It's from the 1980s; I know of it because it was used in a funny TV ad a decade or so back.) ...

•[ Kip Williams wrote in 210123 MMDigest -- > It's offbeat, and it's an example of a younger person looking into > mechanical music. (I got through the whole post without calling him > a "kid"! This doesn't count.) You're showing your age when someone 50 years old is a "kid"! Tom Dimock ...

The recent discussions of serial punchers has gotten me reinterested in an idea I had a while ago but thought was too primitive. I would like to build a combination scanner and punch of the one hole serial type. It would have all parameters such as roll width, hole size, hole spacing, and step size ...

As a past tool and die designer, perhaps I can put some input into this roll perforator discussion. I have never made one myself, but I have thought about it and have seen a couple in operation (Ed F---, and ) Making a punch, die, and stripper plate for a moving carriage assembly should not be too d...

Rev. Robert Linnstaedt writes about his hand-punched manivelle. I have a rather similar item. This is the "SANKYO Computer Music." A modern, streamlined plastic case (with a Scots tartan top design!) and card strips 2 3/4 x 16 1/3 inches, some pre-programmed and others blank for self-arrangement. Th...

Andy LaTorre wrote of the difficulties of partial-punched materials and the problems they cause. Having a hand in manufacturing for the last 6 years, I have had a chance to closely inspect punches that are used to make Numerical Control (NC) machine data paper strips used to write out NC machine pro...

Back around 1967 I purchased such a machine from Haverhill's, a mail-order adult toy store in San Francisco, for aobut $20, as a gift for my father, who loved music and gadgets as much as I do. Called the "Melodean" and made in Japan, it was a small psuedo-wooden box that played cardboard music stri...

1. Andy LaTorre's point about cupping the roll punch is extremely valuable. The cupping should be different for a roll punch since only the first hole in an extended perf actually cuts on the front and back at once. The cupping is not like a dish, but like a cylinder placed crosswise to the directio...

Several articles have been sent on this subject over the last few weeks. I recently saw an ad by: VISION & MOTION SURPLUS Marlboro, MA, 1-800-471-0747 for a $99 linear motion mechanism with a frame, 15 inch motion, .005 inch accuracy. I would think that anyone with a 150+ I.Q. & computer/mechanical ...

This note is intended primarily for Spencer Chase, but is presented through the Digest for the benefit of other readers with an interest in the subject. Spencer, you have raised an interesting question that has never been satisfactorily investigated or answered. The punch advance (also called step i...

Wayne Stahnke's comment about punch advance was very informative; you learn something every day! He stated that the Ampico advance is 356 per foot rather than 360. That's only 0.030 inches per step or 30 per inch. Lets say the paper has expanded 1%. That would be 356 X 0.01 = 3.56 punch advances -- ...

As before, this note is intended primarily for Spencer Chase, but it is provided through the Digest for the benefit of other subscribers with an interest in the subject. Spencer, the editor of the Digest pointed out that I had not in fact answered the question you posed. This note is an attempt to m...

The perforator advance rate seems to be less critical than the relative positions of the perforations in time. Naturally it is of critical concern when reading a roll for re-mastering or accurately duplicating since you want to stay perfectly in sync. [ Caution, Karl! _Time_ has nothing to do with r...

This topic was the subject of an enormous article by Rex Lawson in the July 1996 issue of the Player-Piano Group Bulletin. It will probably appear in the AMICA Bulletin in good time, so there is no need for me to quote it at length (the acknowledgements of help with research take half a page !), but...

Robbie said: >[ Kudos to Rex Lawson for his research, Dan. In order to confirm his >[ findings on acceleration, could you please tell us the thickness of >[ the paper which he observed? Rex says that the short length of >[ leader paper wrapped upon a 6-inch diameter take-up spool will >[ increase th...

When repairing and editing rolls many, many years ago I came up with a very unconventional method to make chain perforations. I am sure that it will sound very corny, but it worked for me. Remove the needle from an ordinary old sewing machine, and make a punch to fit in the needle shaft chuck. Drill...

•Ken Goodman asked about sharpening arch and tube punches. If you take them to a local machinist or machine shop they will be able to help you. If you want to do it yourself you will need a metal cutting lathe and a tool post grinder to get the best results. The most time-consuming part is setting u...

•The simple but tedious way is to dull the punch evenly by rubbing the entire circular edge against a stone or emery paper, then delicately remove the flat reflective edge you have created by grinding or stoning the outer bevel until the edge is uniformly thin and virtually invisible. A light final ...