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Due to a mistake in page numbering (or more likely due to the lack of page numbering) I find myself with an extra page to either fill or leave blank. I shall not leave it blank. There is entirely too much blank paper being circulated in FAPA. Or paper that might as well be blank, considering the legibility of the mimeoing upon it.
Now I have nothing against blank paper. Often I wish I had left some of the pages in my subzine that way. But still, I am rather disappointed when I get paper in a FAPA mailing that to all practical purposes is blank. Why some people are unable to get legible work off their mimeos is beyond me. Once or twice is forgiveable. I didn't know you had to put ink in the things when I first started out, either. And I know that a mimeo can be an especially ornery piece of machinery, especially when you are mimeoing a page on which you comment on the poor quality of someone else's mimeoing. But there is no reason why anyone can't do a decent mimeo job most of the time if his stencils are well cut and the machine properly operated.
To cut a stencil properly, you don't have to bend the typer keys on the strokes. But you do have to clean them, and clean them often. I keep a jug of carbon tet and a brush on the typer table and clean the keys at least three times in each stencil. When I've finished cutting a stencil I look at the light through it. The letters are cut clearly, not fuzzy and vague. My platen is fairly hard and my typer keys sharp. I don't use expensive or film stencils. I use the cheapest stencils ABDick sells. But if your machine cuts out letters, a film stencil might be worth your while, unless you are as much of a pauper as I. In that case, try using old pieces of cellophane. They help sometimes.
If your typer keys don't hit evenly on the roller - if the letters are heavy at the top and light at the bottom or vice versa, - save up your pennies and get it adjusted. If the keys are too dull, I don't know what to suggest, maybe you can get the use of some other typer. If the roller is too soft, again save those pennies.
If you have neat well-cut stencils and you pour the ink into the mimeo, yet there are blank spots on the copy, try a new ink pad. Or at least take loose the old one and flex it. If the ink floods into big black puddles on the paper, don't ink so heavily. Clean out the drum sometimes, too, if it's brush-inked. Those holes get clogged up. Old ink cakes in the machine. Keep it clean.
And if you still have trouble take a sample of your copy to your local mimeo dealer and ask his advice. That's what I do. And tho my mimeoing is far from perfect, at least it's legible. Why bother to print a fanzine unless it can be read?
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Hard copy provided by Geri Sullivan
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Updated September 29, 2015. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.