[CW] Bug Sending Flourishing Fingers or Rolling Forearm?

Sat Mar 28 22:28:58 EDT 2015

        I can't help feeling that a litte adjustment would take the slop 
out.  I looked at a couple of "original" pattern keys and found the 
damper didn't turn much when the pendulum hit it. Maybe just a little 
but not in one direction.  I never paid much attention to this before.  
My oldest bug is a 1920 Original with the old type double hinge.  Its 
worn but is very smooth and feels good to send on.  Perhaps its the 
spirit of the old operators coming though. Mine has Lionel J-36 knobs 
and paddles because the originals were missing and I had the newer ones 
on hand.  I don't think that affects the operation at all.  Mine is far 
from mint, hardly any of the original plating is left on it.
      I studied the design of both the original and lightening bug. The 
Original, with the round pendulum rod must be correctly centered if the 
dot contacts are to mate squarely.   Both designs have too many 
adjustments.  The Bunnell version of the J-36 is an interesting 
comparison since it has fewer adjustments and less likelyhood for the 
dot contacts to get out of square. Mine runs very fast and I have heard 
this is general with them.  Evidently Bunnell liked stiff springs.

On 3/28/2015 7:10 PM, Roadrunner via CW wrote:
> Splendid Don. Let me hear you on CW soon. I have a 1922 Original that needs a little work, but my Blue Racer sends fine!!
>
> Best regards - Brian Carling
> AF4K Crystals Co.
> 117 Sterling Pine St.
> Sanford, FL 32773
>
> Tel: +USA 321-262-5471
>
>
>
>
>> On Mar 28, 2015, at 9:34 PM, Donald Chester via CW <cw at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>>
>> On my circa 1925 Vibroplex Original, the damper wheel Is unrestrained but it
>> doesn't always turn.  In fact, there is a  slight groove worn in one spot on
>> the side of the wheel where it was evidently used for many years with the
>> wheel stuck and not turning at all.  I tried to carefully smooth out the
>> groove with a file and emery cloth, but that didn't help much.  I
>> occasionally re-position the wheel by hand when it appears to be stalled and
>> not turning, but the lack of turning doesn't  seem to hamper the damping
>> function; I just don't want to keep on wearing the groove any deeper. When I
>> acquired it at a hamfest, it was a real basket  case and required a great
>> deal of careful restoration.  I  suspect it had seen many, many years of
>> heavy use and abuse in landline service, probably at a railway station given
>> the heavy layer of black sooty crud that was caked all over it.  There is a
>> lot of mechanical slop in the moving parts probably due to excessive wear,
>> but it still sends beautifully, velvet smooth, clean dits, far better than
>> my 1947 Original or my Lionel J-36, both of which are stiff and full of
>> contact bounce. I enjoy using it so much that my iambic keyer has for years
>> collected dust on the shelf.
>>
>> I make the final adjustment to my dit contacts by firing up my transmitter
>> which has a class-C final, taking a plate or grid current reading with the
>> switch closed or holding the dah contacts down, and then send a string of
>> high speed dits and adjust  the contact spacing until the plate or grid
>> current meter reads just slightly less than half the current that it read
>> with the switch closed.  This works on the same principle as an old
>> fashioned automotive dwell meter for adjusting mechanical ignition points.
>> Another method  that works well is to use a good quality analogue ohmmeter
>> like a Simpson 260. Set the ohms adjustment to read exactly full meter scale
>> with the contacts touching, then send dits and adjust the spacing  until the
>> meter reads just slightly  less than mid-scale.  By mid-scale, I mean with
>> the pointer straight up vertical, halfway between zero and full scale, NOT
>> half the reading on the ohms scale.
>>
>> I don't exactly rotate my forearm when sending; I tend to rest my wrist on
>> the table with my forearm hanging over the edge, and rotate my wrist to
>> send.  I sometimes rest my elbow on the pull-out thingy over the top desk
>> drawer. If I am using an armchair, I may rest my elbow on the chair arm, but
>> my normal operating chair doesn't have an arm. The idea is to  rest the arm
>> at two points, the wrist and elbow, with the wrist rest elevated an inch or
>> two higher than the elbow rest.
>>
>> Don k4kyv
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Here is a closeup of bug setup looking at the damper adjustment - "just so
>> it touches the wheel on the damper - and the damper wheel is unrestrained so
>> that it moves!".
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpAuWL7vnMI
>>
>> I always asked the best operators I ever heard for advice and I was told I
>> could send faster, longer, and clearer by rotating the forearm to send.  I
>> have found this to be true.
>>
>> David N1EA
>>
>>
>> ---
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL