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27-6-2021 06:45:52  #1


Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

I suppose it was bound to come to this but Home Depot of all places is now selling a "Royal Classic" that is new and bright red for just $249.99.  It's all metal too and weighs 13 lbs.  It has to be a Chinese knockoff.  Unfortunately there will be some very gullible people that will buy this thing.  So far there are no reviews so maybe they aren't selling after all.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Royal-Classic-Manual-Typewriter-79120Q/310591327?mtc=PSOC-FB-23848057827210623&cm_mmc=PSOC-FB-23848057827210623-23848058002410623-23848058002400623&fbclid=IwAR1Q8z3S5IdeiGPe6tHj7WOBFdl2LRIT_AQOmUhffjSKZGosCcyyZNP1d4k#overlay
 

 

27-6-2021 07:43:51  #2


Re: Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

Looks like they've had it for a couple of years, based on the questions posted. I don't know that the Home Depot crowd is who I would market typewriters to, but...maybe they were supposed to go to Office Depot? Maybe it was an error in translation.

 

27-6-2021 09:18:20  #3


Re: Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

About 2 years ago, our local big Wal-Mart had a display and 2 pallets full of these for sale.  Even had demo machines on a table for folks to try.

Sheer China-made junk was my impression after only typing a couple of sentences. None of the characters lined up with each other on the paper and the upper and lower case alignment was awful too.  Type-slugs were either some cheap alloy or maybe plastic or aluminium.

At that time, they were asking $ 179 for a machine.

 

27-6-2021 09:20:18  #4


Re: Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

It's just a rebadged version of this junk: Typewriter Talk » Michael's Typewriters (boardhost.com)


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

28-6-2021 00:31:10  #5


Re: Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

Greetings All

I bought one of those Michael's typewriters off eBay listed for parts or repair ($8.50 + $19.50 shipping) just out of interest. The internal mechanism is virtually identical to the Olympia B12 which was made by Nakajima, but the fit and finish is pitiful and the type action is dismal. The type slugs are plastic and just press onto the type bars with almost zero clearance between the slugs, so jam easily. A very poor excuse for a typewriter.

The one I bought wouldn't lift the ribbon far enough to print properly, so I went through the full Olympia B12 tune-up and adjustment sequence detailed in Howard Hutchison's typewriter repair manual. The slot in the ribbon lift adjuster was not properly formed, so wouldn't adjust. Ended up having to take the part right out of the machine, set it in my shop vice and file the slot to the correct shape. The ribbon now lifts as it should, but it's still a very disappointing excuse of a typewriter.

It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining to this cloud was the nice soft platen in this unit is dimensionally identical to the rock hard platen in my Olympia B12. Simple swap out and my B12 has a nice soft platen for less than $30.00 US. Now I have a perfectly working Olympia B12 with an almost new platen, just typed a 6 page letter to another member of Type-Pals (pen-pals with typewriters) and the machine never skipped a beat. All the best,

Sky


We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
 

28-6-2021 09:21:11  #6


Re: Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

Might those platens be interchangeable with other machines? Not sure who all Nakajima made typewriters for...

 

11-8-2021 14:07:07  #7


Re: Home Depot watch...just kidding but this is real

Kind of sad to see the Royal name resurrected and attached to these purported pieces of garbage!

 

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