Generally speaking, if you're blowing holes through paper, backing sheets and/or ribbon, it's the sign of a rock hard platen. I highly doubt it's anything to do with your technique. Some machines have an impression control meant for use with carbons; I don't know which models you're talking about, but if they don't have this feature then you will need to address the platen.

I would start with applying rubber rejuvenator to the platen. I have transformed unusable platens into ones that could were fine to type on with a backing sheet with this product. Search the forum for the term 'rubber rejuvenator' and you'll find it's been discussed often here and you'll get a few brand names of the products in case you want to buy and try it. Some dismiss the product, but I've used a durometer (a device to test the hardness of the platen's rubber) and have proved to myself that it works. On one machine it lowered the average durometer reading for the platen from 96 down to 93 after just three applications of the rejuvenator. A general purpose platen would originally be rated in the 90-92 range, and 93 is highly usable. 

The other option is to have the platen professionally recovered. This is good option for a machine that you plan to keep and use for a very long time, but prohibitively expensive if it's just another model on the shelf that you only use on occasion. 

Whatever you end up doing, don't sand the platen. Everything that I've read on the subject that was written by professionals and manufacturers strongly advise against doing this.

TypewriterKing wrote:

Oh, come on, now...

I'm not making this stuff up.

My comments on sanding are from every manual that I've read, and when I discussed this subject with two professional typewriter repairmen who live in my area, both agreed with what was written in those professional books. One of the two men was factory trained by Underwood here in Toronto, and the other learned his trade in Europe, and after emigrating to Canada worked for a service shop that had large corporate accounts. 

This was written by Murray Harris who taught typewriter repair to learning repairmen and is an excerpt from his basic training manual:

"Never sand down a platen — you are doing the customer a disservice by sanding. Any platen that has a surface that is bad enough to sand needs replacing."

Another source:

"A newly recovered platen tested in a densimeter shows a dial reading of 11-13, which indicates the perfect medium grade used for most purposes. Old hard platens tested on the same machine show readings of 4.5, which is a definite indication that the platen should be replaced. A platen, sandpapered to restore a smooth surface, shows no improvement in resiliency (4.5) and impairs paper feeding action. Regrinding an old platen eliminates pits in the surface but does not improve resiliency or paper feed and causes the diameter to be undersize." 

The point of the second quote is that sanding does not soften the platen, and therefore the damage that is done to the machine when typing on a very hard platen has not been alleviated.

Some claim sanding is done to help prevent paper from slipping, which again is incorrect; the proper method is to wipe the platen down with alcohol, or better yet, a specifically engineered product such as rubber rejuvenator to remove some of the glazing that causes paper slippage.

I realize that none of this is likely to change your mind on the subject, and that's fine. You're free to do what you think is right with the machines that cross your path, and I'll continue to do what I believe is right with the machines that cross mine. I'm not one to make up solutions, after all, I am not a typewriter professional. I rely on the information that I find in published books written by professionals, which includes cleaning techniques and the chemicals most appropriate for the tasks.

Along those lines I don't think that I'll be offering advice any longer in the maintenance/repair sub-forum. It's a priceless asset when a professional such as thetypewriterman weighs in and helps someone out, but too often the rest of the advice from the rest of us turns out to be contradictory and ends up convoluting the information being given a novice who has no experience repairing machines. From now on I'll stick to repairing the machines that are local to me and limit my activity in the repair sub-forum to moderation duties.

The OP was concerned about her typewriter having a hard platen, something that sanding will not change. And as for improving its grip, rubber rejuvenator works wonders with the added (primary) benefit of softening the rubber at the same time. I've never needed to touch a platen with sandpaper, and never will.

TypewriterKing wrote:

don't you have to have a minimum number of platens or other rollers to be able to have the work done (I remember the name J. J. Short as a company that still does this work).

J.J. Short does individual platens. I have not sent them any feed rollers--so I can only speak about the platens--but there is no minimum order for platens. I have had them do several. They do excellent work.

I appreciate all the thoughts on the subject.  I will just have to see about having a couple of platens recovered by JJ Short.  I have been using several of these machines quite a bit and will have to see what it will cost as money is tight at the moment.