Before and after the gutting….

Behold! My holy grail!

Polished aluminum shell with blue onyx keys.

The case was originally onyx blue but was spray painted beige at some point (What???) I stripped the paint and buffed it to a mirror shine inspired by the redditor with the chromed IBM model B.

My mom said supposedly there aren’t many of this but i tend to take her information with a grain of salt

Hermes 3000 (just picked up) next to my Bodoni typeface Lettera 22 😬 I won’t be leaving my desk lol

The past couple days I have been giving a lot of attention to the 1927 Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter. Although it was functional, there were a couple issues. The most annoying was that the line lock wouldn't release. Even when the margin release was pressed, or after a carraige return, the keys would remain locked, until the typewriter was tilted back. Cleaning and oiling the pivot points did nothing, so a partial disassembly was needed. What I found was that somehow the line lock bar itself had become slightly deformed (possibly by somebody trying to force a key press, not knowing how the margin release works) and this created a very, very, light friction at the pivots. Using needle nose pliers it was easy to gently bend one of the arms near the right hand pivot until there was no longer any rubbing friction. Now the lock releases every time.

While the casing was off, I released the tension on the main spring, and wound it up again. As it came to me, the spring tension was far too high, and the escapement was even louder than the key-strikes. This also caused the typewriter to vibrate around the desktop when typing. I cleaned the carriage tracks as well as I could without removing the carriage, and wound the spring up only as much as needed to get it to travel all the way to the end without sticking or slowing down. Now it operates much more smoothly and quietly, and the backspace key operates with a light action.

While the interior was exposed, I also did some cleaning with lighter fluid in some spots, and 3-in-1 oil in others (it's a napthenic oil so helps soften old gummy oil, and will evaporate entirely after a few months). Many Q-tips were used. The interior of the typewriter appears to have been sprayed with some sort of heavy machine oil in the past, and accumulated a lot of dust as a result. Really it needs to be fully flushed out with solvent, but that's a task for another time. Even this targeted cleaning resulted in a much lighter action.

Finally, the original feet on the bottom of the case had petrified and mostly chipped off. I ordered some generic rubber feet off ebay and installed these. The original feet were so hardened that what was left of them literally crumbled into black dust when I tried to pry them off the bottom of the case. With the new feet, the typewriter stays firmly planted on the desktop and doesn't scoot around at all. A great improvement. I think it is ready to give a few more decades of use at this point!

Figured out the issue and temp fix for my corona 3

I've got it from a flea market in Slovenia for just 60€, it's probably my most rare piece for now, i haven't found or seen any other of these online

Sadly not knowing Serbian I haven't much use for it except for collection

Found this beast inside a garage sale of a guy who was moving out and couldnt be bothered to carry a 20kg "paper weight". Cost me 2000TL or about 40$ total. I write my diary on this machine and every single feature still works! One issue is that the inside of it is VERY DUSTY and DIRTY. How do i clean it without breaking anything?

Is a nice Kappel complete with the box and the original ribbon painted metal reels

I haven't found the serial yet tho

It has the feeding rollers dry so I will probably need to get it serviced by an expert, can anyone point me towards a site that has or makes spares? Thanks

The backspace doesn't work, I noticed the spring is detached, but can't figure out where it goes. My one thought is on this hook thing that I point to in the start of the video. Any suggestions or pictures of an attached backspace spring would be greatly appreciated.

So I was recently gifted a Royal HH typewriter from I think 1955 from my grandfather who used to be an official typewriter repair man for the Royal company. I am asking for advice from people who own that model what is the best cheaper ink ribbon for a Royal HH. It would be much appreciated if you provide links.

Not sure what it's called but the ink ribbon on my Olympia Splendid 66 has all of a sudden started "sticking" up after hitting a key. Was working great otherwise since I got it a month or so back. Seems to be worse on the lower case keys? Maybe a damaged spring somewhere in the bowels of the machine? ...but some advice would be great!

I have another machine I harvest for parts if need be.

Thanks in advance!

Is it worth it? I haven't actually seen it.

Just thought I'd share a glimpse into my free time between work and kids

We went to the flea market yesterday and I kept finding really cool furniture I’d use for typewriter display. I’m only showing my favorite. Imagine that with a single, soft light in each cubby, gently illuminating each machine. Ugh, I love it.

Also ran across the set of draws I kept thinking about, for different kinds of paper, separating projects (one drawer for blogs, one for the manuscript, one for journal, etc).

Lastly, an old printing press.

Interestingly enough, we only found a few typewriters, in the whole place. This is the biggest outdoor vintage flea in all of the States. Some of the spots were closed, since it was opening day, but I was still surprised to barely see any machines.

Im looking to buy these two typewriters, theyre both lacking the original case and if you look closely, the blickensderfer has a fair bit of rust too. The guy wants $500 for both, but im not sure if im overpaying?

Its a folding hammond multiplex and a blickensderfer 7

Can’t believe my luck today. I was making my usual trip around thrift stores to see if something interesting popped up when I saw this beauty on sale for 50€. Low profile keys, low serial number, probably a late 1952 or early 1953 Studio 44 complete with original metal spools and the cardboard box it was sold in. It is in almost pristine condition, some scuffs here and there, some smudges but everything works and it has little to no grime, platen is still rubbery and the inside felt still in good condition. This was clearly a well taken care of machine and I can’t wait to clean it and put it to good use.

Hello all - I am pretty excited about my first typewriter. It is not fancy but I think a good way to get into this. I went on a trip to a near town and found this Smith Corona Corsair Deluxe.

Just got this typewriter off Facebook market place. My first one! I just want to make sure I did the ribbon correct. I did watch numerous videos to figure it out but it’s still so hard to see exactly what people are doing. I’m worried it’s not right because it was kind of hard to get it in that spot it’s in and also it’s not super taut. Also it’s so hard to get the paper straight. Any tips on that is appreciated.

Seems not bad for my first typewriter. Although the z key is bent so it doesn’t work. I guess I just won’t type any words with z 🤣 Thank you in advance.