or:
But folks of the digital world that are hooking up typewriters to computers. I haven't decided whether it's a silly idea, as expressed by Strikethru, or something fun as Robert has described. That vacillation hasn't stopped me from giving the USB typewriter kit by Jack Zylkin a go. A few days ago I posted the main board assembled, soldered, and tested. I have a few other pieces to assemble, but my big hang-up was the location of the sensor bar.
As Jack shows on his Instructables page, the sensor bar is attached to the ribbon vibrator cross-member. The reason why he chose this location makes sense. Each key top linkage arm touches this bar and there is a significant amount of play in the trip point. In other words, this is a pretty good place to put a part like this. However, I did not like this location.
The fact I would be mounting something to a moving part made me nervous. I know that most of these typewriter USB conversions use this cross-member, I thought there are plenty of places under the machine to mount a new cross-bar and mount the sensors to that place. This is the location I thought wold be ideal:
So, I went to she shop and started to craft this of aluminum:
And then covered it with Gorilla Tape.
Unfortunately, I didn't take step-by-step photos, but I think you can get an idea of how I crafted it. The curved edge approaches the secondary linkage segment behind the key tops. These small linkages descend only slightly and the clearance is small, but it's enough to make contact with the metal fingers and short to ground. I wanted to mount the sensor bar on the inside of this support bar, but I think the clearance just isn't there.
The great thing about Jack's kit is that's open. You can make the decisions for yourself and go wherever the wind might take you. I decided to make a new crossbar tof my own design that honored my aesthetic sensibilities. You, could do something entirely different.
I am still working on my USB Typewriter. I'll probably be finished with it today, but in the interim I found these two videos on Vimeo featuring a typewriter hack using car door lock actuators and then a profile of the guy who made the USB Typewriter kit.
Before you get too comfortable watching the videos, I want to remind you that today is the deadline for your the prompted questions: Where is the typosphere going? You can find out about the assignment and the reward for those that complete the challenge at this link:
http://www.magicmargin.net/2013/04/magic-margin-at-100000.html
http://www.magicmargin.net/2013/04/magic-margin-at-100000.html
Automatic Typewriter from Harvey Moon on Vimeo.
Handmade Portraits: USB Typewriter from Etsy on Vimeo.
