Fleetwing wrote:

I think the idea of actually sitting and doing only one thing for a length of time is not something that people do much of anymore.

Amen to that!

In fact, I was bitten by the writing bug (or staining paper bug in my case) when I sat in front of a Lettera 32 and it just happened. Take a seat, disconnect from distractions and do something, not everthing.
 

Uwe wrote:

, sewing machine oil to lubricate only those parts that should be lubricated.
 

 
El aceite de los 1000 usos (the thousand uses oil), as it is marketed here. Or at least that's the brand I use, and it works wonders. That, and the weird mixture sold at the hardware store of my village which is unbeatable against nicotine stains are the true stars of my tools.

schyllerwade wrote:

i'm really getting frustrated I can almost see the appeal of just dunking these machines in a bucket of WD-40. I've used paint thinner and mineral spirits and denatured alcohol and I can't get this Kolibri to type...

Be patient! Trust me, I've felt exactly the same as you a million times, and I bet it's just like every typewriter enthusiast in the world. I have a small army of typewriters, and maybe only a third of them performed well as they came. Another third needed time and care (and a lot of patience), and the other third... That's the "annihilated during shiping" part, the "hopeless rust bucket" section and those I can't repair on my own. The Silenta is a great example of that.

And then there's the Antares S20 I almost destroyed by dismantling it and then not being able to put it back together Correctly. But the best example is my Atlantida Style. It was sluggish, sticky keys, groaning carriage... Everything refused to move properly. What did I do? Soaking it in 3 en 1, which is the Spanish commercial name of WD-40. Result? Everything stickier than before. I had to clean EVERYTHING, and that meant  taking out the rust, grime and the WD-40 which had aglutinated it all and deposited it in every moving part, spending way more time than if I had cleaned it before choking it.

Your position is absolutely understandable and I really share it, but remember that a well looked after typewriter will be there for you forever. Give it some time and the machine will return it tenfold. Take it as a challenge, every stubborn typewriter teaches a lesson about its mechanics. 

The Kolibri! First impressions on it?

The Lexicon 80 is Olivetti´s best seller in Spain ever. The venerable Hispano Olivetti Lexicon 80 (not Lexikon) was everywhere, and it stuck. It´s tough but yeah, Uwe is right to a certain point.

It has nothing to do against a SG1, but c´mon, it´s not that bad! There´s a certain run on early Lexicons which have really annoying keytops because they look nice but are too small and you can easily stick your finger between keys. In fact, there´s as much empty space as keytops, turning the keyboard into a trap fro fingers. And it has an unique feature: that weird recoil which makes typing feel like jumping on a trampoline. You press a key and the machine "lifts" it back, your finger included.

All in all, it´s extremely easy to find here in Spain and competent enough, but it´s no SG1, true. But I wouldn´t say it´s bad, either.

And nope, no paper injector. Never seen one with it, at least, and I´ve seen quite a few because as I said they´re everywhere and if you´re not careful you can trip on one, fall off and lose a couple of teeth.

Sorry, I think I´ve deviated a lot from the OP!