For what it is worth, my advice is - DON'T !  I've been in the typewriter trade for 38 years, and at one time worked in a small business that sold commercial stationery too.  Some of our customers had metal date or numbering stamps - the sort with rotating metal wheels.  For these, we used to recommend METAL STAMP INK, because standard rubber stamp ink (also called endorsing ink) would corrode the metal wheels when left in contact with the felt pad carrying the ink.  So using ink for rubber stamp pads may well damage your typewriter beyond use - perhaps a beloved machine that has survived for sixty years until dosed up with corroding ink by a well-meaning owner !  If you must re-ink ribbons, perhaps to obtain a colour that is not commercially available, try to obtain metal stamp ink.  It is far less likely to damage your machine !  Lecture over !

iMe wrote:

For those interested but not knowing, you could however type "olivetti praxis ribbons" on google to have an idea)

Which model Praxis are you talking about, because the earlier ones like the 48 used the same ribbons as are found in mechanical machines. Later models most likely used a cartridge of some kind, and I could certainly understand the desire to want to reink those.

I only have two electric machines, and both are old enough that they use regular ribbon spools (one of the reasons I bought them) so I don't have any concerns with them. However, my mother still has a Smith-Corona that uses a cartridge. They're still available, but very pricey, so my plan is to see if I can take one of the old cartridges apart and replace the ribbon inside if it's the same size - or at the very least re-ink it.

Uwe wrote:

iMe wrote:

For those interested but not knowing, you could however type "olivetti praxis ribbons" on google to have an idea)

Which model Praxis are you talking about, because the earlier ones like the 48 used the same ribbons as are found in mechanical machines. Later models most likely used a cartridge of some kind, and I could certainly understand the desire to want to reink those.

I only have two electric machines, and both are old enough that they use regular ribbon spools (one of the reasons I bought them) so I don't have any concerns with them. However, my mother still has a Smith-Corona that uses a cartridge. They're still available, but very pricey, so my plan is to see if I can take one of the old cartridges apart and replace the ribbon inside if it's the same size - or at the very least re-ink it.

Thanks for your reply. 
I am especially thinking to the Praxis 20, for example, so the "ribbons" that we could call "cartridges", I guess. 
I have noticed that some are still availiable on the internet (especially for brothers, etc. for us Europeans that don't have so many Smith-Coronas :-) ), but the thing is that I guess they are not manufactured anymore, and since I want to use the machine quite intensively (or at least, not as a "vitrine" item), even if I can manage to find them on the internet, we will run quite rapidly out of supply (or out of money, since some are quite expansive). 
That's why I would like to know if there is an alternative, and if, how to ? 

But your idea is not bad. Let me know if it works. 

Second thought about "cartridges" : I have seen somewhere (I don't remember the company's name, and I can post links anyway), that a US-based company still manufacture mechanical and electrical typewriters. Those are mostly transparents (yes), because designed for US prisons. I have even seen on their website that their cartridges are also transparents (to avoid hidding "objects" inside). So maybe it will worth a try to contact them to know if their ribbons/cartridges are compatible with other models (and if I can find them in Europe, for my very case). 

Last edited by iMe (12-2-2014 11:10:33)

Uwe, thanks for your reply and for the link. 
You were right for the company. 
You may see in another category that the typewriteris (unfortunately) not yet mine, but it's not a far fetched project either. I will have one soon :-) 

Here is a pic (since I guess I have the right now) of the "clear" ribbon : 

They even have another one, a "fabric ribbon" http://www.swintec.com/69-sws-1007cc.html 

Edit : Second thought : how long did (an average) ribbon lasts ? (of course, not in months, rather in number of pages or words) ? 

Last edited by iMe (12-2-2014 13:59:34)

Yes, that's exactly right !  You would have to go a good commercial stationer for metal stamp ink - not the kind that tells you that if it isn't on the shelf, they don't stock it !  However, unless you want an unusual colour, it's cheaper and easier to simply buy a new typewriter ribbon !