GRAPHOTYPE.net BLOG

GRAPHOTYPE.net – wants to take a moment and tell all our Service men and women, present and past - THANK YOU!

Today is 11-11-2008 - Veterans’ Day!  Those of us at GRAPHOTYPE.net cannot say enough about our Nations veterans.  Our country owes the men and women of the United States Military a heart felt thanks that can never be fully expressed or repaid.

It is the dedication and sacrifice of our Veterans’ that provide for the freedom to have open forums such as GRAPHOTYPE.net

Some members of GRAPHOTYPE.net will be in attendance at local area Golden Corral restaurants on Monday, November 17th, 2008 from 5pm to 9pm to celebrate Golden Corrals Military Appreciation Day.  Military Appreciation day is an annual event that Golden Corral sponsors in which all military service personnel past or present eat for free.  To date Golden Corral has provided over 1.8 million free meals and contributed over 2.53 million dollars to the Disabled American Veterans Organization.  To read more about Golden Corrals commitment to our military veterans – Click Here –

GRAPHOTYPE.net feels everyone should take the opportunity today to find a Veteran and thank them for their service to our Nation.

Thank You

TagTech

GRAPHOTYPE.net Staff

GRAPHOTYPE.net would like to let everyone know that we believe in America and the political process.  We encourage everyone to vote today.  It matters not if you sway to the left, swing to the right or hang right in the middle - regardless which way you lean please VOTE.

Races have been won or lost with only one vote, your vote matters.

This year it appears that many people are voting with their emotions.  An illustration of this was the heated debate that took place while we were selling at the local sale SIDEWALK SALE  we were approached by a man that asked how we were going to vote.  The conversation went south very quickly as the man became violent with anger and frustration because we expressed we were going to vote with our conscious which apparently was contrary to his opinion.

While suffering through this mans abuse and hatred we listened and continued to smile.  Life is just too short to immerse ourselves in his anger and lower ourselves to his level.  Our response was we are so happy that he is passionate about his candidate and isn’t it wonderful that we have the freedom to vote the way we want.

This is what America is all about - we have the freedom to vote our convictions.

While the man had to be removed from the sale, or actually physically ejected, we still maintain our stance that we live in the greatest country on the planet and we respect and encourage everyone including this disturbed man to vote.

The ability to vote is one of the primary principals of American and all too often is taken for granted.  We have service men and women past and present that have died to give us the right to vote and we owe it to them and all Americans to exercise this fundamental right.

Get out and VOTE !!!!!!

Thank You

GRAPHOTYPE.net Staff

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people tell me  . . .

I lubricated the whole machine . . .
I used a whole can of WD-40®

Folks - I cannot stress enough WD-40® is NOT a LUBRICANT!

Let me say this again - WD-40® is NOT a lubricant!  WD-40® is not a lubricant by any stretch of the imagination and definitely not by the definition of a lubricant as used with Graphotype machines.  So if WD-40® is not a true lubricant, what is it?  It is a great product manufactured by the WD-40® Company that does great things such as clean, preserve and penetrate it also has many wonderful properties that make it an essential in almost any well rounded tool box, but a true lubricant WD-40® is NOT!

Clearly stated on WD-40®’s own web site is these words:

Did you know . . .

• WD-40® can clean your bike & tools, remove grease, and lubricate locks, hinges & all moving parts
• WD-40® removes paint, gum, rubber cement, stickers and other adhesives
• WD-40® loosens and penetrates rusted or stuck bolts and plumbing joints

A great CLEANER, penetrating oil and light preservative: This is what WD-40® is; but a true lubricant it is not.  In the world of “Graphotype Machines,” WD-40® has its place in every Graphotypist’s tool box but NOT as the primary source of lubricant for these machines.

On the WD-40 web site they state: “WD-40® is the ultimate multi-purpose problem solver. WD-40® cleans/degreases, penetrates to loosen up stuck parts, prevents corrosion and is a light lubricant.”

The WD-40® Company does make two different products that we as Graphotypist’s indeed consider to be true lubricants.  These true lubricants that will interest Graphotypist’s are:

• 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil
• 3-IN-ONE® Motor Oil

On the WD-40® web site they define 3-in-one oil® as: “3-IN-ONE®, with it’s special drip spout, enables you to lubricate without any overspray or splatter. 3-IN-ONE® is ideal to use on tools, rollers, hinges, in-line skates, wheels…nearly everything that moves.”

If WD-40® is not a lubricant what purpose does it have being in my tool box if I am working on or maintaining Graphotype machines? 

When you come to possess a new machine with an unknown maintenance history, are restoring a machine or just need to clean an existing machine in your inventory, WD-40® can be an essential tool to help you clean and properly maintain a Graphotype machine.  Improperly applied or over applied lubricants over time collect dust, dirt and grime as well as become thick and sluggish gumming up the workings of a Graphotype machine.  To clean gummy and thickened lubricants, rust, dirt and grime from your Graphotype WD-40® is great and GRAPHOTYPE.net recommends this product for cleaning.

Graphotype machines that sit idle will corrode, rust and gum up.  The keyboard gates and the gate ring on the Class 6300 Graphotypes seems to be particularly susceptible to sticking and corrosion.  The keyboard what and what kind of ring - I don’t know what you are talking about?  If you remove the cast iron cover just above the keyboard on a Class 6300 machine you will see a horizontal platen that has a round ring with cut outs around the circumference of the ring.  The cut outs are slots for gates that slide up and down transferring the keyboard selection to the die carousel so the desired character is imprinted.

We will be blogging about this ring at a later date and how to care for and maintain this ring at that time but for the purpose of this post we will use this ring as an example.  If your keyboard is stuck, or difficult to operate you might take a look at the gate ring as a starting place.

If the gate ring has visible corrosion, dirt or grime then it is time to clean the gate ring.  We would recommend using WD-40® on the gate ring allowing it to soak into the gates and saturate the metal.  After a good soaking and the proper manipulation of the keyboard to ensure that everything is working correctly, it is time to clean the WD-40® off the machine.

We recommend cleaning the WD-40® from the machine with rags and paper towels. Once the WD-40® has been removed as much as possible it is time to actually lubricate the gates and gate ring.  We recommend that you actually take a true lubricant such as the 3-in-one® oil and lubricate each gate with ½ a drop of oil per side of gate.  The gates only need the slightest layer of lubricant on them to function properly.  Over lubricating the gates can cause problems just as much as not lubricating the gates.

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GRAPHOTYPE.net is working in earnest to try to get the GRAPHOTYPE.net BLOG up and running.  At present we are fighting with several server settings that are affecting the Images and function of the BLOG software.  Once we have every thing corrected and working we plan to blog at least once a week at first with information we feel is pertinent to all Graphotype owners as well as anyone interested in Graphotype Machines, dog tags or dog tag machines.

Our web site visitors and GRAPHOTYPE.net Forum users will be asked to provide us with topics of interest to them that we can blog about and expand upon here for all to review.  Since the BLOG is NOT 100% ready for use, anyone can contact us directly by using the LIVE HELP or CONTACT links found on the front page of the GRAPHOTYPE.net web site.  Please give us your thoughts and suggestions for topics we value your input.

Once we get the BLOG fully functional we will be wanting to add contributors to the BLOG.  If you feel that you might wish to be a contributor, editor or BLOG manager please contact the GRAPHOTYPE.net staff directly through the LIVE HELP link on the home page of GRAPHOTYPE.net 

We hope you find our new blog informative and interesting.  Please provide us your comments so that we can make this a great experience for all.

TagTech
GRAPHOTYPE.net Staff

As the Internet evolves GRAPHOTYPE.net tries to embrace new technologies to better serve our web visitors.  We are currently experimenting with a BLOG in hopes that such a venue will allow us to interact with our members and visitors as well as inform and entertain all that stop to review GRAPHOTYPE.net.

Please bear with us while we experiment with this new software and set up our BLOG.  In the next week or so you will see us trying new themes, fonts, colors, etc., in an attempt to get the GRAPHOTYPE.net BLOG “just so” or the way we want it.

If you sign up for the BLOG before the official roll out your membership to the BLOG may or may not be retained in the database.  We recommend that you wait to sign up for the BLOG until the official announcement that we have opened for business.

EVERYONE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT IF GRAPHOTYPE.net CAN BE OF ANY ASSISTANCE OR IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT GRAPHOTYPE.net PLEASE USE THE LIVE HELP OR CONTACT US FEATURES FOUND ON OUR HOME PAGE.

Thank you for all your support

TagTech
GRAPHOTYPE.net Staff