They are lovely little machines and light as a feather. Mine has something playing up with the line selector, but I haven't really investigated it yet; with luck, simple to sort. It has a distinctive touch: so light, and hardly any movement or bounce to the keys, but there you are. The opposite of an Olympia or other over-engineered machine, it feels a bit like the old injunction to ;live lightly on the earth' - it's designed to do exactly what it needs to do and no more and no less. 

Hi Svip. Nice buys! A couple of thoughts, the main one of which is that it really sounds like the segment and type bars need cleaning on that Tippa. If a key is sticking that's the cause 99.9% of the time. And yes, using it will also loosen it up - but if you clean it and the use it you will find it typing like a dynamo! 

The printing on both machines seems to be missing the tops of the letters. On the Tippa it looks like the typeheads are hitting the platen too far up, so the bottom of the letters is very black but the top half isn't hitting the rubber full-on. There should be some crews you can tighten up (or loosen up) that control type alignment - usually one on each side. Someone on here is sure to know how you adjust alignment on a Tippa... 

The other one is a Lettera, not a Loretta - once again it looks as if the type is hitting too high, so that when it should be typing red, the very tops of the letters hit black ribbon. BUT - in all-black, it's fine, so maybe the problem is not with the alignment, but with the ribbon vibrator - the bit that lifts the ribbon up when you type. Once again, if you do a thorough clean with Q tips and white spirits, you may find that the vibrator will move more freely and you won't have that issue. (If you do still have it, I'd sort it by just getting asolid black ribbon and forgetting about it!) The Lettera is really also worth cleaning up - the touch is feather-light when it's clean and fresh. 

As for the ribbons, the eyelet that you've found stuck in the works is meant to be an indicator that the spool is near the end, and it is meant to trip the spool into going in the other direction. Sounds like you hadn't threaded it through something... 

The ribbon in the Tippa goes through the double prongs of the ribbon guide at the corner by each spool, and then through the ribbon vibrator in the middle. On an Olivetti it leaves the spool and it should go around the little rod in the corner by the spool - then between the t

You're making me want to get my Halda out! And I'm interested in your sewing and textile tools... do you mean sewing machines? A close friend of mine is a textile conservator...

Sorry, that was an essay, and I've just remembered we're talking about machines from the 20s/30s! I think North American sellers are maybe more likely to think of these as having monetary value purely based on their age. There are quite a few of them around. In terms of wanting a machine to use, though, they might even have LESS value, because they are that bit more likely not to work very well even when cleaned and serviced. They're just older. You're taking more of a punt. 

Whereas even a plastic-bodied typewriter from the 70s, like my Adler Tippa, might still be springy and a real pleasure to use. 

So this really comes down to what you want it FOR.

Hi Trampled, you have bought a really wonderful typewriter. I have the same model, a year earlier, and it's a truly great little machine. Light and nimble. And I love the pegboard base! 

trampled wrote:

Good to know it's 13mm ribbon.  I wonder if this is the same as my Remington. 

Typewriter ribbon comes in a standard width, which is half an inch; the spool size is the bit that varies. With luck your little Halda will have come with its own metal spools, which you can wind the new ribbon onto. Ditto your Remington.

trampled wrote:

I gave it a bit of clean today and adjusted the mechanism that advances the carriage when a key is typed to make it more sensitive.

 

I'm a little confused here... What did you 'adjust'? The mechanism that advances the carriage when a key is typed is the escapement; it's a complex part, made of many little parts, and I can't think what bit of it could have been 'adjusted'. If your typewriter's been sitting somewhere for decades, the main and first thing every millimetre of it is going to need is cleaning - in particular, every joint along the type bars, and every part that moves. Use Q tips and white spirits and just go over everything thoroughly. In this ay you can get a real feel for how the whole machine works, and all its functions. (You can identify the bits that work each function by pressing the key while observing underneath, and watching what moves. You know about taking the bottom off, right? In this way you can get to the inside of the machine. 

There's a daisy wheel in the escapement that can get gunked-up teeth, and a toothed rail under the carriage that interacts with that, which can also get gunked up; these were the first two things that came to my mind when you said the carriage was stopping in the same place. Just make sure they're clean (you can tell when they're clean when the Q tip comes away not dirty). Also, clean the rails the carriage runs on - you'll see a massive improvement to how it mov