If you switched from a Mira to a Diamante, please comment

[Deborah M.]

Please comment specifically if you have switched from a MIRA to a DIAMANTE.  I am interested to hear what you think of the differences between the two machines re stacking, the touch, how you feel after an all-day job, whether you think the switch was worth the dollars.

I am specifically interested in talking about this part of it, not about other machines or where to buy them.  Thank you!!!

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Alice, that also is a very accurate descriptive phrase, popcorning!
MA

[Audrey Ricks]

Uh-oh.  Keep us posted.  I'm finding this thread very helpful.  

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Not really sure where I put this originally, but as an update on my 2nd retrofitted Diamante, it came back this week, I wrote with it today, and the machine is still not right.  All I can tell is that they tightened up the tension, which they advised me to do when I had the big Boing-Boing-Click going on.  I said tightening up the tension was not acceptable.  I guess they decided to go ahead and do that for me.  I'm not happy.  Going to send it in one more time, then probably sell it.  Just updating you-all on that.

M.A.

[Alice Clark]

I'm sorry they weren't able to do something about that.  Is it just a problem of the way the machine feels or is it giving you extra strokes?  Still trying to figure out if my Diamante problem is hardware or software when it comes to adding an extra stroke in there when I know I never released a partial stroke and then hit a complete stroke.  I felt like I had to do a trade-in with my Mira instead of a sale because I knew it wasn't working right and I had that writer in to them and they returned it unimproved.

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Alice, I sure do wish I knew the answer.  It is most definitely the way the machine feels.  It's way too tight.  But because it's too tight, and I'm used to the feather-light touch of a "real"Diamante (you know what I mean - one that's performing to perfection, like my Diamante No. 1) I try to write as I do on Diamante No. 1, and it's like slogging through waist-deep mud.  Ugh!  Because of that, I get, for instance, "to" instead of 20 because the keys are so hard to push down.  Sounds like you're describing the split-stroke phenomenon experienced by some reporters (me included) on the Diamante.  Now that you mentioned the Mira, writing on the Diamante No. 2 today was like writing on a Mira, and no freakin' way ... I hated that Mira writer.  Sigh.  So when I called Stenograph, of course the technician who was taking my order tried to suggest things, such as adjusting the stroke contact, and I explained that it's not the contact, it's the stroke feel, which still has a little bump to it.  She was very nice and tried to explain that, ohmygoodness, the Diamante touch is VERY light and VERY short stroke, etc.  I kind of nipped that one in the bud when I explained that I have two Diamantes and I know what perfection feels like, and this ain't it.  So back it goes.  They were very gracious, gave me the service number right away, and back it goes.  But I can definitely promise that it's for the last time!  I have all expectations that it will come back as perfect as my other one. Hopeful optimism!

M.A.

[Alice Clark]

Mine actually isn't the split stroke, so it's more mystifying.  The split strokes are a true split where part of the stroke was on each line.  I don't seem to have those anymore or else I defined the most frequent ones so I just don't see them.  I did shorten my stroke on the Diamante on a trial I did today, and if they order it I'll write them down so I can give you some examples.  But it's more like no might come out: TP/TPHO, even though I know I absolutely did not release the TP and then come back with the whole stroke.  It happens a few times each job.  It just bugs me mostly for realtime because that would tran "if no," for instance, which makes it look like you're writing things that didn't get said.  If it's an untran it doesn't look as bad, but often they will tran into something.

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Alice, that's a perfect example of what Diamante No. 2 was doing yesterday, on top of being difficult to push the keys down.  Here's the thing.  Both of my Diamantes worked great for me right out of the box.  Each one came to me with the default factory adjustment.  I put them on the lightest touch, lowest stroke depth, and holy freakin' wow.  I never had to make any of the touch adjustments that people talk about.  Just never did that.  When this Diamante came back after the retrofit, not only was the touch not right (Boing-Boing-Click), now after the second retrofit, there's still a slight boing and also that TP/TPHO phenomenon.  It's caused by the retrofit.  Perhaps, as a friend of mine said over on the Depoman board, purchasing a new Diamante will solve the problem.  She's got a brand new Diamante that automatically was built in the style of the retrofit machine, and she also has an older Diamante that was actually retrofit.  She said she can tell a huge difference between the machines.  So we shall see.  I'm hopefully optimistic that everything will be just fine when the machine comes back this time.  I'll move this over to my worry list, and that is what happens if it's not, and whatever will I do if I send off my one Diamante that's perfection and it comes back with the awful touch.  One thing at a time, I guess.

M.A.

[Janet]

I'm sorry to hear that, M.A.  I wouldn't want a Diamante with tighter tension either.  It defeats the purpose of having a Diamante.  That reminds me of the Mira and Stenograph telling me to use a deeper stroke to avoid stacking.  The shallow stroke was the one thing I wanted from that writer.

 

I'm not going to touch mine now.  I'm happy with it the way it is.  I'll save the shallower stroke for my next Diamante.

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Gee, Janet, guess I'm not the only one who tried to love the Mira and got the "Use a deeper stroke to avoid stacking" suggestion.  That's crazy!

M.A.