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Friday, October 14, 2011

extreme makeover and the influence of the typosphere

First, Signorina Elettra is getting the full treatment for November.  When purchased, a new ribbon and a nut stolen from a Studio 21.  Then last week a new drawband and an adjustment that corrected the skipping.  This week, her outerwear is being repaired.  I took her on the train to see if the typing was loud or disruptive (answer: no), and a coworker looked at the broken zipper and told me about a place nearby that repairs luggage.  
It was an interesting experience - they said they could not likely replace the zipper because of the internal construction that makes it rigid enough to support a typewriter, but they could easily repair the zipper up to the gap, where they'll install stops.  When I get it back I'll report on the final cost and show workmanship.


In other news, based primarily on the low shipping cost, I put in a bid on an old typewriter on shopgoodwill.com today and only a few hours later it is outside my price range, a fact I attribute to this writeup of Richard's.  Is that technically typosphere influence?

6 comments:

  1. "Information wants to be free," as they say. Sorry you have been outbid on the 3B, though.

    They turn up fairly regularly on eBay; they seem to have a good survival rate. Typically they sell for $150 or so.

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  2. oh, I'm not complaining, just found it interesting. Now that I'm spending on restoration I need to cut back on the acquisitions anyway.

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  3. now it's over $100. There was just no way I was going to get it.

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  4. So, care to share how you solved the skipping problem? I've seen this in quite a few machines and still haven't figured out how to solve it!

    Too bad about the Remington 3B; looks like a special find, though, so you can't exactly begrudge Goodwill the nice profit they're making - at least it's going to charity :)

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  5. Bill Wahl at Mesa typewriter knew right away what to do with her. In this case, the advance was triggering when the typebar was right up to the platen, so when it would jump or be held down too long it would double. He was able to back it off a quarter inch. On Bryan's 2000, He said he had to remove the carriage and tighten a screw or nut (I don't recall which).

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  6. I agree with Adwoa that many typewriters have a skipping problem.

    My Gossen Tippa B & Royal "O" portable have it the worst. My Remington QuietRiter does it once in a while. My Smith-Corona Sterling has the opposite problem with strike-overs.

    I would imagine that removing the carriage is a "must" to address this issue, right?

    I'd love to take these babies in to an experienced repair person but I just can't afford it!

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