4 Nov
2004
4 Nov
'04
8:38 a.m.
I finally got the first Flexowriter running. Sort
of. The motor runs
but the belt slips most of the time. The gear train in the thing is TIGHT.
It shoudln't be. With the machine idling (i.e. no snails kicked against
the drive roller), it should be very free. Remove the punch and reader
first, of course (trivial to do) to eliminate those.
In case you've not figured it out, pressing a key releases a snail cam
against the drive roller. The roller then flips the cam round, forcing
the bracket that holds the cam away from the roller. This operates the
type bar. It's a standard mechanism for electric typewrtiers.
The transmit output comes from the contacts at the RHS near the
carriage return clutch. The rials in the encoder frame connect to the
snail brackets, when the brackets are forced away from the roller, the
encoder rail moves, lifting the switch actuator bails, operating the
contacts.
The receive input goes to solenoids in the decoder box under the
keyboard. The operate more rails, which allow a key actuator to drop in
place, pulling down the apropraite key lever.
I don't know for sure why but among other things
the clutch for the belt
that drives the carriage seems to be frozen on. The carriage runs to the
right and it's still trying to drive it. I can push it back to the left
Now, I am tryint to rememebr things... That clutch has a bistable
linkage. It's set (i.e. the clutch is engaged) by one of the snails,
connected to the return key. I can't remember what resets it, probably
the carriage getting to the home position (is this adjustable?) That
should give you some idea as to what to look for.
-tony