I have a Remington 1 ‘noisy noiseless’ which seems to have carriage alignment issues, evidenced by a failure to print using keys at the extreme left or right of the keyboard/basket (such as the Q or fractions). There is some fore/aft play in the carriage assembly (not the rails, but the whole assembly). If I pull the assembly forward as I press a key, it will type using these keys but still not very clearly. From researching on the internet, there are references to the centre tie. There is a smooth bar which glides against the centre tie but I can’t see how this might be adjusted. I can see that three shims sit between the centre tie and the typewriter frame but I presume that there must be another way of adjusting how the carriage assembly sits? Any advice would be much appreciated! 

Sorted! For anybody else encountering a similar problem (one other person contacted me through Instagram with the same problem), with my Adler, the link wasn’t loose but had shifted with an impact. Once loosened off and retightened, the full range of movement of the basket was restored, and the upper and lower case realigned. The screw that needed adjusting is just below the pivot point that connects to the basket, on the right hand side of the typewriter. The carriage assembly needs removing (screw at either end of the base of the carriage assembly), then remove the body. The screw concerned can be accessed through the frame of the typewriter. 

I’ve just purchased some metal stamp ink and a bottle of glycerin as I have two (maybe 3 after tomorrow) Empire 1 ribbons that need re-inking. They are about 23mm wide and whilst some timing machines apparently use a wider tape, all enquiries proved fruitless. I’ve been advised to mix the ink and glycerin about 3:1 and place a dot of the mixture every 3 inches or so on the ribbon, winding it up to allow it to seep in. Will see how it goes....!

My first was an Underwood too, a great place to start! I'm yet to get a chicken. Happy anniversary!
Ian J

Hi all
After some hunting, I finally acquired a lovely 1968 Lettera 32 in great original condition. The only issue (apart from the rubbish PVC case...!) is that the lower case q doesn't fully hit the platen, the bottom of the letter is missing completely. It sounds different to the other keys too, as I assume that all the force of the key strike is going into the segment plate (not the platen). There is a similar issue with the last key on the opposite end of the segment. I've had a close look and used a feeler gauge to check the gap to the platen when the key is fully pressed, which confirms there is a greater gap, compared to other keys. Bending the slug forward would just cause the top of the letter to hit even earlier, still leaving a problem with the tail of the letter. The only logical solution is to file down the lug on the typebar arm, so that it hits the segment plate later and hence the slug gets to hit the platen properly. I'm reluctant to make this non-reversible adjustment in case I'm missing something obvious. It's slightly better on upper case (Q) but still a little faint.
Any thoughts?