1 of 1- Uwe
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Cole Steel (ABC) Model 3 - Escapement Problems
The Cole Steel (a rebranded ABC) is a vexing typewriter. On one hand there's the ultra-portable's design, an alluring statement of industrial design, and on the other hand, its contemptuous innards with an established reputation for mechanical failure.
I'm almost at my wit's end with my own Cole Steel. Far too many hours have been wasted fiddling with this typer I'm no closer to restoring it to working condition. The problem is typical for this typewriter: neither the space bar or a type key will advance the carriage. This particular Cole Steel has a travel case that is nearly split in half, so at some point it was either dropped from a decent height, or something heavy landed on it, so I'm not ruling out the possibility that this may have contributed to or caused the problem.
I'm fairly certain that the problem is with the escapement. There are two sets of stacked pawls that mesh with the carriage rack, but the issue is that they don't align properly with it, so when you press the space bar the top pawl binds with the rack instead of splipping into it. When I discovered this I thought it would be an easy fix: adjust the pawl position and it would all work properly. No such luck. No amount of adjustment as worked so far.
I've played with the position of the stop for the bottom pawl. I've adjusted the two screws that the escapement pivots on. I've even, out of desperation, tried adjusting the rack's position on the carriage. However, nothing has worked.
Not related to this problem - I don't think - is a forked part located near the escapement (see photo below "What is this meant to do"). I haven't been able to figure out its purpose yet, but suspect that it might keep the drawband out of the way. Ignore that it seems to be twisted out of shape; I've straightened it since taking the photo and was most likely bent when I removed the carriage. .
I know we have some professional repairmen who are members here and I'm hoping one will be familiar with this issue. I would really like to get this Cole Steel working - even if just to sell it... 
[img](1).JPG[/img]
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The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- MechEra
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Re: Cole Steel (ABC) Model 3 - Escapement Problems
Hello - I just joined this forum after a yard sale purchase today, my first typewriter (at least since college).... It's a Cole Steel in beautiful shape in a green-beige hammered finish, with a beige plastic hard shell case. It would work great if only the carriage advanced with keystrokes or the spacebar.....it doesn't.... I see you have fought this same issue and have worked on it quite a while. I do like the green finish on yours.
Here are my observations, for what they are worth:
1) Mine does not appear to have been damaged in any way; the case is about perfect. I see a good amount of old grease on the "rack" (sorry the term is probably wrong), and my thought was that the escapement was likely a bit sticky. I came here looking for ways to best remove the old grease.
2) If I push a bit on the left side of the carriage momentarily as the keys or spacebar are hit, the carriage seems to advance properly. I seem to be reducing the carriage spring tension just a bit which allows to escapement to operate. This reinforced my thought that the old grease was the culprit.
3) My Cole doesn't look to have been used much. I'm guessing the last 30+ years were spent sitting in a closet, with little use before that. Sitting usually is not good for mechanical items, but you've undoubtedly seen that many times...
4) There are many references I've found, including Ebay, to a carriage issue on this model, but nowhere have I seen a solution....you have disassembled yours and probably cleaned it up with no improvement.
Any new thoughts from your perspective?
Thank you!
Paul
Last edited by MechEra (28-6-2015 00:43:43)
- Uwe
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Re: Cole Steel (ABC) Model 3 - Escapement Problems
Hi Paul. Welcome to TT - and to Cole Steel hell... ;-)
Thanks for contributing your observations. You are experiencing the same problem that I am, and no doubt the same issue as countless other Cole Steel/ABC owners. These machines have a reputation for being unreliable, but it's difficult to say no to a modestly priced one because it has such a great looking case.
To address your points:
1. I initally was convinced that the damage to my machine's travel case was the cause of the problem my typewriter was suffering from, but since then I've come to realize that it's an inherent issue with the escapement, something that your observation supports. With regard to your question about removing grease and dirt from the carriage rails, this is easily done using cotton swabs (Q-tips) soaked in mineral spirits. Just keep wiping down the inside of each of the four rails - you'll have to move the carriage to its extreme left and right position to do this - until the swab is no longer black.
2. Yes, I can do the same thing, but I can assure you that it's nothing to do with congealed oil. I've cleaned all the components thoroughly and it made no difference. The idea of there being too much tension is interesting, but in my case the problem remains even after I remove the drawband from the carriage, which proves that it doesn't have anything to do with the mainspring or drawband tension.
3. You're right that long term storage - especially in a less than ideal environment like in a damp basement - is not a good thing for a mechanical device like a typewriter. However, in most cases a good cleaning is all that's required to bring them back to life. I wish that was the issue with the Cole Steel, but it's not, and I think we're facing the challenge of working around a design flaw.
4. It is a know issue, and I am suprised that no one has posted a solution anywhere to it.
I haven't worked on the machine in a long while as there are too many others on the workbench right now, but I'm not going to give up on it. One way or another I will eventually repair this typewriter. And of course I will post whatever I figure out here.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
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Thread Starter- MechEra
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Re: Cole Steel (ABC) Model 3 - Escapement Problems
Uwe - Thanks for the welcome, and your commentary. My Cole-Steel set me back $5, so I couldn't walk away even though I knew it had an issue. However, I do really want this thing to function properly, so I'll keep working on it as well.... Here's my line of thinking so far:
1) The darn things probably worked pretty well when new.
2) Nothing that we know of is actually broken or damaged. (Mine was not in a humid or moist environment and looks excellent inside also).
3) Lubrication and cleaning don't seem to be factors.
4) Portables were usually not used too much, and these likely sat most of their lives.
5) This points to something now out of tolerance just due to time. Tension of a spring, deterioration of a soft bushing, spacer or rest, or ?
I don't know anything about typewriters, so perhaps I'm going down a wrong road. The Germans have disappointed me here with their design. The machine sure looks like a piece of mid-century art!
Paul
Last edited by MechEra (28-6-2015 15:50:56)
- Uwe
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Re: Cole Steel (ABC) Model 3 - Escapement Problems
MechEra wrote:
The darn things probably worked pretty well when new.
We have no proof of that, and based on the design of the escapement used in this machine, I wouldn't be surprised if they were problematic from day one. I've worked on hundreds of typewriters and this honestly is the first one that has stumped me to this extent. Someone very familiar with the machine no doubt knows a simple "trick" to getting them to behave, or at least to work for a while; I on the other hand will have to figure it out the hard way.
The Germans have disappointed me here with their design.
Well, let's not get carried away and blame an entire nationality for the shortcoming of a few engineers responsible for the ABC's design. 
For what it's worth, it's the only German-made typewriter that I own or have worked on that has given me such a hard time.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
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Thread Starter- MechEra
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Re: Cole Steel (ABC) Model 3 - Escapement Problems
Uwe - I have been examining my Cole Steel and trying to understand the escapement. As you described, there are two sets of pawls which are supposed to mesh in the toothed rack on the carriage. The upper ones are engaged by the keys, spacebar and backspacer. The lower ones are supposed to be engaged until a key is struck, then pull back and re-mesh immediately after to relock the carriage one space at a time.
I haven't disassembled anything, but I did work to remove the old grease with Krud Kutter, an effective, but non-toxic degreaser. It worked well, but made my carriage problem worse! Now the carriage won't hold (lock) at all, which means the lower pawls won't engage. As far as I can see, the lower pawls don't even quite contact the rack, so I don't believe it is an alignement issue. I suspect the spring that helps guide the sideways and rotational motion of the lower pawl components. Here are some pics (all from the bottom of the machine). In Pic 1, the pawl is not engaged. In Pic 2, you can see the retangular extension is slid past and to the left of the sharp triangular-shaped piece. The carriage is now engaged and I did this with my finger by pulling down and left on the retangular extension. In Pic 3, I attached one of my son's rubber bands from his braces to simulate greater spring tension. The carriage holds (locks) now again, but the tension is actually too high. The keys either can't overcome the tension to pull back the lower pawl, or there is still another issue Is there a way to increase the tension on that spring, and have you attempted this as a possible fix? (The spring I'm referring to shows in your pics really well on that shaft.) Your thoughts? Paul
PS - I couldn't easily post the pics. Looks like they need to be uploaded to an online server first and then linked to, and can't be copied directly from my PC.
Last edited by MechEra (08-7-2015 23:07:13)
