robmck wrote:

I have one machine (I forget which) that the line advance pawl wouldn't quite go far enough, so after using the carriage return lever, the detent wasn't quite settled into the next position on the platen ratchet, and the vibration of the first few keystrokes would nudge it into place. I found I could also use the carriage return and thump the side of the machine to settle it as well. I wonder if your skyriter is behaving similarly.

This is the exact same issue mine had. I "reformed" the line advance pawl (read: bent it with needle nose pliers) and the issue went away. I think years of use just slowly deforms the pawl.

It's something like three years later, but in case anyone else was wondering, the typeball going crazy and typing on its own sounds like it probably has something to do with the cycle clutch and restoring stud/trip arm/latch.

This is all detailed and diagrammed out in the Selectric service manual here:

https://archive.org/details/selectric-typewriter-service-manual/page/n25/mode/2up?q=restoring+stud

This is the assembly directly to the left of the center hub when you take off the plastic guards under the carrier. You should see a spring and a stud sitting over top of a stud, which is attached to a trip arm assembly and sitting over a nylon cam.

The Selectric has a central shaft that's spinning all of the time waiting for user actions, which engage certain clutches and cams along that shaft and kick off operations. Without getting into too much detail, there's a cycle clutch that's supposed to get temporarily engaged to perform the action of detecting a single keypress to position the type ball.

When you hit the key, there's a latch that gets tripped out of its home position. That unlatching allows the cycle clutch to grab onto the center shaft and perform the actions necessary to detect a keypress and convert that into the proper tilt/rotation for the typeball.

This should, of course, only happen once per keypress, so the latch needs to be reset to its home position, so it can be tripped again to perform the next keypress. This is accomplished by the restoring stud. During the keypress operation, the restoring stud rides an eccentric nylon cam that's part of the cycle shaft assembly. That motion travels down the trip arm, and up a linkage which pushes the latch back into position, to wait for the process to happen all over again.

Anything gummed up or out of adjustment in that entire assembly could be your issue. If the latch doesn't get tripped then you don't get a keypress. If it's not restored then the cycle clutch stays engaged and keeps acting like a key

Easy question, because I only allow myself to have 5 machines at a time as a rule. Those machines currently are:

1968 Olympia SG3 L (manual standard)
1957 Olympia SM3 (manual portable)
1955 Smith-Corona Skyriter (manual ultraportable)
1976 IBM Correcting Selectric II (electric)
1984 Sharp PA-1000H Intelliwriter (thermal electronic)

The SG3 is my current love. It's been fully restored bit by bit over the course of months, including a platen and roller refresh. The lovely elite typeface that works very well with how addicting it is to continuously bang away on; the more room I have on the page to type with this thing the better. It's the first machine I ever owned that makes me want to never stop writing. The only way this monster leaves my collection is if I find an SG1 which checks all of the same boxes and comes up for sale locally, in good condition and also cheap... and even then I'd have trouble.

The SM3 is the underappreciated middle child. It was my daily driver (and only typewriter) for about 5 years until I got the SG3 up and running, but recently I've gotten jaded with it. It's not like it's a bad typewriter or anything, but what do I need with a good portable when I have an ultraportable and an even better standard?  I do love the 11cpi Congress Elite typeface it has, and that's half the reason I haven't sold it off yet, but this would probably be my first pick to drop if I needed to open another slot.

The Skyriter is a sentimental machine. It belonged to my grandparents, and was the first typewriter I ever used. It's also in good working condition and a surprisingly nice typer (although I cannot seem to get the print 100% even and it bothers me to no end.) When I want to type somewhere that isn't my desk but is still around the house, this is what I typically use.

The Selectric is the odd man out. It's a basket case thrift store special, currently in pieces on my work bench. For some people that might make it curb fodder, but for me it's a fascinati

M. Höhne wrote:

del20nd, welcome to this forum. You'll find it useful.

Did you read this thread from the beginning? Your observations are covered pretty thoroughly in the early part, before the skills, knowledge, and ethics digression. That part references a still-earlier thread with yet more detail about your observation, at https://typewriter.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=3327. Check it out and let us know whether it covers your concerns about the Olympus SG3 right margin design.

I'll grant that it does not go into the actual mechanisms that accomplish this operation but at least it may put you at ease about what is happening even though it may leave you wondering whether yours is physically adjusted properly.
 

Thank you for the welcome!

I had read through the earlier part of the thread, but it seemed like there was still some disagreement as you read through, which made me want to check it out for myself.

I wanted to share pictures of the mechanism, since that hadn't been done yet. To me, the mechanism seems pretty self explanatory when you actually see it. IMO there's no way the tiny bump on the right margin stop was designed to work when you blow past it with the tab key or a carriage release, no matter what the instruction manual says. The best I was able to accomplish was getting the space key to stop, but I think that was more of a happy accident than an intended feature.

As an aside, the key stop mechanism on my machine actually was defective when I got it. There's a piece of rubber behind the key stop universal bar that sits right behind the keyboard. The rubber had gone just a little bit sticky, and was holding the bar in place. I fixed that by maneuvering it out and cleaning it with isopropyl. This also had the effect of making the keys travel feel a little smoother, since that same piece of rubber also acts as a rest for the key levers.

Again, thanks for the welcome!

Quick amendment to what I wrote above, on second look the line lock is actually a different mechanism from the key de-jammer, but I stand by everything else.