1 of 1- greenteac
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- Registered: 22-1-2021
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Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
Greetings everybody, I am new to the typewriter world and the forum. The reason I got my first typewriter is because my wife always wants one and her birthday is coming up. Myself never had any experiences with typewriter, but after doing some long research about then I got quite fascinated by their pure mechanical nature. Myself love shooting with old mechanical cameras so I guess there are some similarities.
I got a Royal Futura 800 from ebay. Everything seems to be working ok. All keys, magic margins, tab, line change lever all are in good condition, but the carriage always stops near the end of the travel before it hits the margin I set. If I just press the carriage a bit it will move, but I need to press it every time after I type a key until I reach the margin. The amount of force required is very little, actually if I just tilt the whole typewriter a bit to the left the weight of the carriage itself will make it travelling no problem near the end.
I tried to research about the Royal Futura typewriter but it gets a bit overwhelming. When I press the carriage release button and slide the carriage along the whole travel it is pretty smooth, so I feel like maybe there is some spring tension for the escapement that is not strong enough to pull the carriage to the end. The typewriter itself seems to be pretty clean from my point of view, I am also providing a link to a video of the underside when I keep pressing the space bar until the carriage eventually slow down and stops. Any insight will be grateful, I already tried to open the back to figure things but it looks quite complicate and don't want to do more harm than good.
- Pete E.
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
This video is for a bit earlier Royal Arrow, but there is commonality amongst the Royal machines from the 1950's.
Besides being dirty and possibly gunky with solidified old oil...I would start with a good cleaning to rule this out.
But the main spring for the carriage draw band may have lost some of its strength and may need to be wound up a bit to increase its tension.
This fellow in the video shows how to do it WITHOUT detaching the draw band from the main spring housing.
Maybe you might be able to do his method on your Futura.
- Pete E.
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
p.s. The escapement gear and the main spring are two (2) different mechanic parts in a typewriter. The main spring housing and the draw band or draw spring are what provides the motive-force to allow the carriage to move.
- skywatcher
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
Hi Green
Welcome to the Forum and the fascinating world of typewriters, and welcome to another Canadian. Watching the short video, I'm inclined to say the main spring just needs a little more tension. With the carriage in mid position, the main spring should be exerting a force of about 900 grams (2 pounds) on the carriage. The short video that Pete E. linked will give you a good idea of what exactly it is you're looking for on your machine.
One could almost use the analogy of moving the carriage to the right is like advancing the film on a mechanical camera which also sets the spring for the shutters. Pressing the space bar or a letter key and triggering the escapement is like pressing the shutter release. They are separate parts of the machine but work together to create the desired effect. Hope we have pointed you in the right direction,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- greenteac
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
Thank you all for such quick reply. I will look into the information provided. I was thinking it may be some spring issue but then to identify which one is the hard part...
and the video definitely point out where I can start. I was trying to digest through this document which is very informative but also quite overwhelming.
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Thread Starter- skywatcher
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
Hi Again Green
You'll find that I'm quite fond of using analogies when describing things. For example, the book that you've been trying to work through can be likened to a complete Detroit engine rebuild manual for a World War 2 DUKW amphibious armored personnel carrier when all you want to do is adjust the valves on your 1958 Austin Mini.
The main spring on a typewriter is just like the spring in an alarm clock, but it's secured to a drum as opposed to a gear. The spring and drum assembly work on the same principal as the recoil starter on a lawn mower or chain saw. When you pull the starter cord to start the engine, the recoil spring pulls the cord back into the starter. If the spring is not tight enough, the cord doesn't retract all the way and you end up with the grip hanging out of the starter.
On a typewriter, when the carriage is moved to the right, the cord is pulled off the drum. The spring wants to wind the cord back around the drum, thus pulling the carriage to the left. By your description of the carriage moving just by tilting the machine tells me that the escapement is working and the carriage is free to move along its rails, so a little more spring tension should do the trick.
I don't own a Futura 800, so I can't give you exact instructions with pictures. Hopefully another forum member who owns an 800 will be kind enough to chime in on this one so you can get to the end of the line and ring the bell (yes, pun intended). All the best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- greenteac
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
Hi skywatcher.
Thank you a lot for the analogy it makes lot of sense. I have tried the adjusting screw as Pete provided in his video and it did improve! The carriage used to stop at around 60 of the carriage ruler, now it stops near 71 so I can almost type across an A4 paper with an acceptable margin on the right. The Futura 800's adjusting screw is a bit less accessible than it seems on the Arrow but it was still possible. I believe now my adjusting screw is at it's limit, so I guess if I want to increase the spring tension further it will involves rewind the draw string?
Thanks a lot again.
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Thread Starter- Pete E.
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
Have you previously cleaned the main spring housing's pivot point(s) with denatured alcohol followed by compressed air blow-outs ? You may have solidified old oil & grease that becomes "wax" with time and dirt and that could be slowing down the spinning action.
- Pete E.
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Re: Royal Futura 800 carriage stops near the end
And if cleaning does not get the result, then the draw-band would come off and I would wind up the main-spring a bit more.
