Type Hammer wrote:

Hello,.... snip ....
2. The Self-Starter key is unreliable. Sometimes it's 4, 8, half the platen; hitting the space bar 4 times is less annoying. How do I adjust its setting?
.... snip ....
 

The Self Starter key is not adjustable; it just advances the carriage five spaces from where ever it is at the time. Usually you use it at the left margin for starting paragraphs. It is basically a fixed tab with an "unfixed" starting point.

The problem is probably something gummed up so it is either not catching or not releasing properly. Trace the linkages involved and follow the motion to see where things hang up, then clean them. Or clean everything. It is possible that the thing that is supposed to catch is worn and doesn't work for that reason. Inspection will show you.

Good Luck.

SoucekFan wrote:

In his picture the key is labeled "tab". On mine it is "self-starter" which is the fixed one. Did they add a full tabulator to any of these models, or is it the same thing?

OP doesn't claim the pic is of his Model 5, so maybe this isn't an issue. I have Remington Model 5s from 1936, 1946, and 1948 and all have Self Starter keys in the same location as the Tab in OP's pic and none have any other Tab. OP's pic doesn't seem to show Set and Clear keys so they're either set behind the paper table of they're fixed. In either case, it would be a minor change at the factory to replace the Self Starter with a Tab tripper.

I have a note for one of mine that the serial number is on the front of the body shell behind the keytops.

Type_Hammer, when you say, "Yes, mine is a Tab.", do you mean that your Remington is equipped with a Tab key like the pic you referenced? if so, why did you ask about the Self Starter key? It will not have both of them. If not, then I don't understand what you're talking about.

That list of actions you gave us ("4-spaces: 1", etc.): is that how the carriage moves all the way across its entire travel---i.e., you hit Tab and it moves 4 spaces, then you hit Tab again and it moves an additional 5 spaces and does this for 8 times and then jumps 6 spaces four times, etc.? That sounds like correct action of the tabulator with the stops set at those positions.

Or do you you mean that sometimes when you hit the Tab key at the left margin it jumps one distance and the next time you hit it at the left margin it jumps a different distance.  What are you saying and what is your expectation here?

The felt: you could try spraying it with Fabreeze, leaving it out in the fresh air. If you must remove it. pull it off, maybe with help from a plastic scraper (metal will scratch the paint, and even with plastic, the glue may take some paint with it). 

Did you find the serial number?
 

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link {  }M. Höhne, Yes, my machine has a Tab key, but when I wrote the original post I was looking at manual I reference in my last post and that's why I incorrectly referenced the key as self-starter instead of Tab. The list of actions are the results of me sliding the carriage back to its starting position after striking the tab key I was testing whether I could accurately judge the pressure/release of the tab key. What I would like it to get a consistently sized indentation when I press the tab key. However, It isn't do or die, I asked about it because I didn't know if there was some adjustment mechanism I was not aware of. Yes, the serial number is below the touch regulator, behind the first row of keys.