(Model MF) Remodeling the Model M (aka.. the Mara)

[fohat]

I have not messed with springs very many times, but I have always twisted them into place. Is merely pressing them straight down sufficient to get good uniform results?

[Techno Trousers]

I'd love to have a tool that helps with spring attachment!

[lot_lizard]

I have not messed with springs very many times, but I have always twisted them into place. Is merely pressing them straight down sufficient to get good uniform results?

Correct. The twisting isnt a requirement, but certainly helps when doing it solely by hand. It's not a difficult process by any stretch, but sometimes takes a few attempts to make sure the spring is fully seated and perfectly vertical if only using your hands. I know you are very mechanically inclined, I'm not sure everyone here is? No idea.

[E TwentyNine]

Do you need to be mechanically inclined? I suspect I'd be faster with my method of install (twist without a tool), and getting the spring vertical has never been an issue.

What does the tool look like/do?

[lot_lizard]

Do you need to be mechanically inclined? I suspect I'd be faster with my method of install (twist without a tool), and getting the spring vertical has never been an issue.

What does the tool look like/do?

Just a sleeved plunger... Nothing fancy. You would be able to apply more down pressure for seating (no need to twist), but again... I don't disagree that by hand is very doable. I'll mock up the tool on my plane flight tomorrow (something to do), and post renders. All the measurements are known, and our existing barrel design can be adapted easily as a base.


I really have no opinion either way. I wouldn't have done all I did by hand, but I was doing 10 at a pop. 1-2 boards worth of springs... I'd probably still use the tool because I have it, but wouldn't have thought to even make one in the first place

I'd love to have a tool that helps with spring attachment!

Maybe I put up another Google Form in the marketplace thread once I know more about our timing to let people opt in. It will be a tiny little tool, and would probably only take 10-15 minutes to print per (with SEVERAL fitting the bed at once to leave unattended).


The replacement springs are slated to start production one week from Tuesday btw. They gave us nice pricing by putting us on a flexible schedule. We finally got a scheduled slot yesterday

[giokkk]

A tool that helps with spring attachment would be great for sure, in order to to the job perfectly.
I think that with this kind of tool we can get the chance to achieve a flawless standard mounting procedure with
the spring fully seated and perfectly vertical every time for all the flippers!

Doing the mounting only by hands could lead to inconsistent results if you are not skilled enough.

[fohat]

A while back (maybe on GH) there was a tool made from a 1/4" pop rivet that looked really sturdy, and could also be used for pivot plates in situ as a better alternative to the "Chopstick of Death" method.

Unfortunately, I have never been able to find it again.

[Phenix]

I would also like to get an tool, sounds really helpful
(and eliminates errors)

[Ir0n]

I'd love a tool to do this!
It sounds super useful and time saving. :>

[E TwentyNine]

A while back (maybe on GH) there was a tool made from a 1/4" pop rivet that looked really sturdy, and could also be used for pivot plates in situ as a better alternative to the "Chopstick of Death" method.

Unfortunately, I have never been able to find it again.

This is the tool I use for the chopstick-o-death spring mounting approach:



The cap has a hole in it the size of a spring. Put the spring in the cap, put the cap and spring down the barrel, put the pen in the cap to seat the spring. Works great.

[Techno Trousers]

I'm picturing lot_lizard's tool being sort of like that pen cap.

[lot_lizard]

I'm picturing lot_lizard's tool being sort of like that pen cap.

similar concept for sure. The outer shaft is actually the same profile as a standard keystem to align the flipper properly (needs to be in the "unpressed" position). Then drop the spring into the outer shaft from the top. The inside of the outer shaft is just big enough to hold the spring in alignment with some conical transition at the base to make sure it doesn't hang up. Then insert the plunger at the top and press. The plunger is slightly larger than the spring with a "nubb" on the top to keep the spring centered in the plunger. If using outside of an assembled board, you would just use a spare barrel as the base. Then it works nicely either way.


EDIT: The plunger on paper would be the same size as the spring, but in the reality of things printed, we want enough tolerance to avoid ribs rubbing. Making the plunger nubbed at the tip buys us tolerance in the print. I will likely try both ways. I would prefer if the recession wasn't necessary. The renders will make more sense

[Techno Trousers]

The description sounds good. If nothing else, being able to consistently process nearly 400 spring replacements, without having to concentrate and examine each individual one, will be a big win.

[drevyek]

Something just came to me... Pending the timing for the delivery of all the products to me, I think I might have time print up a mini version of the tool I made for reattaching the springs to the flipper paddles. Mine did 10 at a time and worked quite well (no design changes needed really), but we could print a single spring version pretty easy that would require only a little bit of filament per tool. I would just need to create STLs for it.

Each tool (jig) needs just two parts:

• the base to hold the flipper securely in alignment
• the plunger used to compress the spring onto the flipper paddle peg

There were quite a few of you that ordered replacement springs (5k total). I would just throw in your parts box if you did, and publish the STLs for others who didn't. Mentioning in the workshop thread because I am just brainstorming and not committing to anything yet. A few of you PM'd me during the buy about being concerned about reattaching the springs, so I believe there would be interest. Let me know if that is actually the case

Having a little jig to speed up the process would be really handy. I've never done spring replacement on M or F flippers, so I can only imagine it would help.

[micrex22]

Here is a photo showing the softer Helvetica font from a 90's ThinkPad (these are heat shrunken labels):

Oddly enough not all of the keys use this font, others are the 'normal' Helvetica. This is a problem on the TransNote too-- it's anyone's guess why they'd use inconsistent fonts.

Why do people fuck with perfectly good fonts .

Actually, this modified Helvetica variant is quite easy to read and was present in many publications and documents during the late 70's and 80's. There are many Helvetica variants, and some of them quiet famous and well-used, such as the 'ThinkPad' font.

They wanted to differentiate their brand, most likely.

Paul Rand was the one who actually advised IBM which fonts to use for corporate documentations, publications, products and design art (he was fully aware of their . This is why they use Helvetica, the 'ultra compressed' Helvetica for the ThinkPad logo and Bodoni for many corporate products.

[lot_lizard]

I'll have to play with the throw length of the plunger when I get home and have parts to test with, but the general idea. Should enable you to use one hand to hold the guide base steady, and with the other... load the spring, load the plunger, and press down with your finger or thumb.

Base guide. This will make sure the spring is dropped and aligned vertically over the top of the flipper paddle saddle

springTool.png (22.42 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

The bottom is angled to match the pitch of the flipper paddle in the up position (key unpressed). The round guide is for the spring. The square slot acts as a key to make sure the spring press remains straight from incidental bumps, and also acts as an additional guide

springToolBottom.png (25.76 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

View from the side to see the bottom pitch better

springToolSide.png (17 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

Base Guide from above to see the keyed slot

springToolTop.png (34.43 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

The plunger

springToolPlunger.png (12.07 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

The plunger key

springToolPlungerBottom.png (17.5 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

Tool assembled. This would be the resting position if loaded with a spring (not yet compressed or seated on the flipper)

springToolLoaded.png (27.23 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

Tool once pressure is applied (bottomed out)

springToolDepressed.png (26.6 KiB) Viewed 5185 times

[E TwentyNine]

Would you want the square guide to be set back a little so the tip of the round key can engage with the spring? Maybe an "setback" on the round part (think of a peg from an old Battleship board game)?

[E TwentyNine]

Pardon my maiming of your image, something like this:



Maybe a shorter length, but that idea.

[lot_lizard]

Would you want the square guide to be set back a little so the tip of the round key can engage with the spring? Maybe an "setback" on the round part (think of a peg from an old Battleship board game)?

I have a feeling I will have to test a couple of different scenarios in the end, and we will alter a bit to have something that is "ideal". The unfortunate part about printing moving parts is that we are rarely smooth enough, and with tiny parts it is difficult to get the resolution we might need for things like protrusions. I like the idea of the "nub" you mentioned if I can get that kind of detail. As you say shorter, and I would think rounded on the end.


I would like the idea of creating it as an interlocking (assembled) piece to make it easier to keep up with, but that proves a little difficult unless we create it quite a bit larger with a side slide design (think chamber of a gun). Not that there is any real expense there, but the bigger it is, the longer is takes to print and I don't want to delay shipments for silly stuff

[lot_lizard]

Hey font studs... Little help on what this is a variant of. I could Google my evening away, but figured you guys might know instantly.

IMG_0724.JPG (436.63 KiB) Viewed 5025 times

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It's a slab serif or "Egyptian" typeface:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_serif

Something like Geometric Slabserif or Rockwell, but wider than those are normally.

[lot_lizard]

It's a slab serif or "Egyptian" typeface:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_serif

Something like Geometric Slabserif or Rockwell, but wider than those are normally.

Tighter is actually better for my need. Courier it is. Looks excellent on the word OBJECTIVE in the space I need. Thanks Daniel, Kudos...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Courier is a monospace typeface, and it has rounded serifs, while yours is proportionally spaced with right-angled serifs. I find Courier/Courier New to be the second most cheesy font after Comic Sans, spindly and tacky. It's my fallback font when sending monospace text in an e-mail to a Mac user (I don't have any Mac monospace fonts) or to a person of unknown OS, but I way prefer Consolas for monospace: it's so much more elegant at smaller sizes although not as nice at large sizes. Basically anything but Courier! Monaco was the Mac standard monospace font in days gone by, but now it's Andale Mono or some such, and Microsoft seem to prefer Lucida Console (not bad, but no Consolas).

[lot_lizard]

I am using all caps, so the monospace is less of a hangup in the word "OBJECTIVE", with the exception of the "I" and maybe the "J". Like our DT use of Melbourne, I think I would have to tighten up letter by letter anyway. I'll check out Consolas as well.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Consolas isn't slabserif, it's just an alternative to Courier/Courier New when using the Windows console, PuTTY etc. I just despise Courier and always have done :P

[E TwentyNine]

I believe Choplin matches the THINK font if stretched a bit.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/rene-bieder/choplin/

[lot_lizard]

Consolas isn't slabserif, it's just an alternative to Courier/Courier New when using the Windows console, PuTTY etc. I just despise Courier and always have done

Copy... read from the phone initially. I re-read and follow the order of "liking". Again... appreciate the suggestions. Not a font guy but certainly have worked in everything you mentioned and can relate. I'll check it out this evening in detail

[micrex22]

It's a slab serif or "Egyptian" typeface:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_serif

Something like Geometric Slabserif or Rockwell, but wider than those are normally.

Wow... I'm not sure which font is copying which. I've always assumed ITC Lubalin Graph was the first. That's the problem with a lot of typefaces, it can be hard to track down the original version with so many with minor tweaks (sometimes none!) and rebranded under a new font.

I believe Choplin matches the THINK font if stretched a bit.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/rene-bieder/choplin/

Yeah Choplin is probably the closest, unless there's another variant of Choplin (actually considering Rene Bieder ripped it off in 2014, it would be based on something else from the early half of the 1900's):

(top ITC Lubalin Graph, bottom Choplin. Make note of the asymetical 'K' which ITC Lubalin Graph, Rockwell and Geometric Slabserif lack)

EDIT:
With that said... the sans serif modification looks pretty cool:

[lot_lizard]

To give some context on what this is actually even about, we have some projects in the works that will be announced over the coming months (well after MF phase 1 is in your hands). For these projects, we will be using proper eCommerce to handle the "group buy". The spreadsheet added to the novelty of everything we were doing, but it is certainly more difficult to administer. We are going to create a site at mfObjective.com (also .net and .org) to facilitate our buys. We are going to utilize MF as the team brand, and any buys we do will operate with the same objective (community collaboration with a break even target). By "team", it will be anyone that wants to contribute on any given project. All brainstorming, development, opinions, and collaboration will be conducted on DT. This new site is just to handle the buys themselves when those times roll around.

Appreciate everyone's feedback about the font. This the free version of Bieder's Choplin Extra Light. I actually planned on liking the Medium (not Medium Demo), but the light is growing on me given the 9 letters vs. 5 in THINK

mfObjective.png (6.39 KiB) Viewed 4943 times

[fohat]

Appreciate everyone's feedback about the font.

Looks good in general, but, as my old design professor used to say: "Take 3 steps back and squint your eyes, then see what you think."