Re: Letter Punch Even Spacing - How?


It's a simple question, but it's not a simple answer.

You need to determine two things and then devise a way to do them.

Because we deal with them every day, the arrangement of letters (like
faces) is very closely analysed by the eye. This means that anything
out of line or uneven spacing sticks out like a sore thumb.

First of all you need you need to ensure a succession of characters is
all on the same line. I would second the suggestion of making a
George-Thomas-type punch holder, because that gives you at least one
fixed reference point. Next you need to *** the work piece up against
a straight edge (eg, a clamped steel rule). Now you can move the work
piece left or right under the punch and all characters will be
vertically aligned.

Next, you need to get the inter-character spacing right. This is not
easy (big understatement). In this context there are two kinds of
fonts: proportional and fixed pitch fonts. A fixed pitch font uses
exactly the same amount of space for each character, whether its an 'M'
or 'I', a proportional font varies the width according to the character.
Proportional are generally more pleasing and 'designed', fixed are more
utilitarian. Most fonts are proportional, but a common exception is
'Courier', where you will notice that the serifs on normally thinner
characters are designed to add width. Courier was designed for
typewriters and teleprinters to give a fixed spacing to enable layout
to be straightforward. In my limited experience, most punch fonts are
'semi-fixed'. ie most characters are the same width - except the letter
'I'. You could use off cuts of steel to move the workpiece to the left a
regular amount, again referenced to (another) clamped steel rule.

You can see why DTP software became popular!

Hope this helps

Matt


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Myford Matt
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