Hello all,
I have recently acquired a 1935 Hermès Baby courtesy of my sons efforts with Marktplaats,a sort of Dutch eBay. I am a great enthusiast of the Baby although I am well aware that it was produced to be a light, compact and not too expensive portable a bit like the Blickensderfer in its time.
My first typewriter was a 1949 Baby and I didn’t realise at the time what a good choice it was. I do have rather large hands and the spacing of the keys is perfect for me and I find touch very agreeable when in use.
I have since acquired a model from 1939 and now one from 1935, the first year of manufacture and, by chance, my year of birth which makes it a bit special for me. However, there is a problem. There is a U bracket on each side at the rear of the side of the frame which in each case carries the adjusting screws for alignment of both upper and lower case letters. One of the limbs of the right hand bracket has metal fatigue and needs to be replaced or in some way reinforced. Unfortunately this bracket is welded (?) to the frame and so cannot be easily replaced. I have a 1939 donor machine but during développement the frame of this machine is more solidly braced. I was hoping to swap the whole rear section of the frame but now I realise this is not an option.
I am a collector of typewriters now but I am not interested in any machine that does not do its job so I have to resolve this problem some way. I will start by dismantling the rear part of the frame and try soldering the weekend angle. If this fails I have thought of using a hacksaw to cut out the part of the frame holding the offending bracket and then attaching  the bracket from the 1939 donor after hacking it out of that machine. I hate ‘vandalizing’ either machine and wonder if anyone among the more experienced members has a more sympathetic solution to offer.
I would be most grateful for any help offered and thankful for the opportunity to air my problem on this site.
Happy Tapping to you all, Woodman