1 of 1- chicoliro
- Platen Punisher
Offline - Registered: 29-3-2017
- Posts: 69
Olympia SM4 squeaky grinding carriage (not squished washers)
I bought this lovely SM4 that looks really good. I removed the body and the platen, cleaned it and got everything back where it belongs.
The problem is, however, that the carriage produces a slight squeaking sound on its left end. I was already familiar with the smashed-washers problems, so I already had replaced them. I observed, and the carriage doesn't hit anything. Maybe the squeaking comes from the escapement?
After more observation, I realized that, right at the moment where the squeaking noise is produced, the carriage seems to push the vibrator mechanism a bit foward. But I'm pretty sure that the carriage is not pressing directly that part, it's forcing it from below - it seems.
This machine has 2 other minor problems that is worth mentioning, since they may be related: 1) the carriage lock, when pressed stands a little below the correct height to engage the little holes in the carriage rail. I have to slightly pull the carriage up to engage; 2) sometimes (not all times), the top of the cap letters is bitten off.
After some research, I found 2 blog posts that seem to face problems related to mine:
The problems is that I still have no Idea what to do. Can someone help me?
In case you are on the Maintenace facebook group, I posted some videos there showing my problem:
- beak
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: Olympia SM4 squeaky grinding carriage (not squished washers)
I don't have the answer, but the first thing I might do is to bend the carriage lock into its correct position - if out of shape, who knows what it may be fouling when the carriage moves.
This 'lock' is only intended to prevent carriage movement when carrying the machine from desk to desk, but unfortunately many people put it on when posting the machine, and, almost inevitably, it is bent or broken in transit.
Sincerely,
beak.
