G'day all,  Karl Ellison asked what can be done about damage to the edges
of old rolls on rewind:

> the rewind roll is only able to receive the unevenly wound paper from
> the take up spool, which always causes undue wear and softening of a
> roll's left side

This is a problem I have had to deal with recently and I thought I might
pass on some of my experiences with the Aeolian system.  As mentioned by
Bruce Clark, there may be problems with the roll transport mechanism
which will have to be identified and dealt with.

Firstly, the take-up spool must be correctly aligned so that the paper on
a good roll loads centrally and this may be corrected with the left hand
adjustment.  It may be worth checking that both spools and the tracker
bar are parallel if there are difficulties here.

The tracker mechanism is vital for roll preservation as well as precise
playing.  I cured most of my problems when I sealed the leaky pneumatic
cloth on the tracker bellows, but other things to look out for are that
the operation of the tracker pneumatic valves and that the edge sensors
are operating correctly.  There needs to be a small clearance between the
fingers and the paper on a normal width roll to prevent both sides
sensing together on a slightly wider roll.  The cam or other shifting
device must be set up so that a good roll runs with the duplex pneumatic
in the central position.  This gives the maximum correction in each
direction.

I found another problem with mine was caused by lost tracker movement due
to insufficient spring tension on the sliding left hand spool support
bearing.  In my case, this not only caused poorer tracking but
contributed to more left hand roll edge damage.  Make sure that there is
sufficient tension for the maximum shift to the right.  Good lubrication
is essential here.

Another useful roll preservation technique is to slow down or control the
rewind speed.   On the Aeolian wind motor controller, it is usually
possible to adjust the rewind air by-pass slide valve so that the tempo
control still has some control, allowing greater slow-down for fragile
rolls.  All rolls will then rewind a little slower.

Even if everything is as good as it can be, badly weaving brittle rolls
will still cause heartaches.  The left hand edge seems to give the most
problem and a technique for inserting a spacer like the one mentioned by
Bruce, just for rewind, might help preserve valuable rolls.  There is no
doubt that existing torn edges contribute to further rapid roll damage.
One collector I knew would only ever play roll recuts for this reason --
and they are replaceable!

Cheers,

Darrell Clarke,
Adelaide, Australia.