Any ideas? Sorry...getting really antsy. 
The closest place that works on old typewriters is over 4 hours away so I am in the dark here.

I also can't get paper to feed through for the life of me.

Last edited by comma (26-7-2014 22:15:17)

malole wrote:

Your Remington is slightly different to mine, but for the paper to feed in, you need to bring that silver rod with the ball on the top on the right hand side of the platen forward once you have slotted a piece of paper behind the platen, then try turning the knob, that should feed the paper through. It might be a bit mucky under the platen at first, so your paper will come up dirty a few times as the dirt is worked out. If the paper still won't feed through, you might have worn-down or misshapen feed-rollers, which will then need replacing or resurfacing. I have seen some flattened feed-rollers re-shaped using a knife.
But fingers crossed they're ok.
The space bar. Tricky to know what to suggest apart from the fact that there should be a small spring attached to the little piece of metal screwed onto the bar but one right next to the keys in the picture of the underside of the machine. It's dead centre of the bar and has a small piece which projects out and sort of hooks over the other bar right next to it. Sorry if my directions are useless, I can't think of any other way to describe it. Look underneath and see if there is a small spring there, maybe it's come loose? That would stop your space bar from doing anything when it's pressed.
For the platen not moving, check your margin stops are both right at each end of the rack at the back.
These are pretty basic, I"m afraid. I wish I could help out a bit more. Frustrating for you, but I hope you can sort it out, and maybe someone with more knowledge than me can point you in the right direction.
Really nice looking typewriter. Looks like you're putting some elbow grease into the clean up!

Thank you!
For the paper, I have done exactly that with the rod. It feeds it in about 4 inches, but then stops and never comes through the other side. (I can force it through manually though). The rollers look fine, but how would I tell if they are the problem?

For the space bar spring you are talking about, where exactly should that be? I couldn't really understand what you meant. Do you mean physically on the actual spacebar, or up near the top of the machine where the action is? Unfortunately I don't see a spring anywhere.

And I'm sorry, what do you mean by the margin stops both being right?
I know very little about what I'm looking at. Trying to educate myself though!

Unfortunately it looks like this might be a display only typewriter. I have no idea how I would fix the spacebar issue on my own :/

Last edited by comma (27-7-2014 11:59:49)

malole wrote:

http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/RemPort1940.pdf
This should help for the general layout of your typewriter. It's an original document, scanned, and covers different kinds of remington portables, but yours is in there I think.
Don't write your machine off quite yet!
The spring should be attached to the little bit of metal screwed to the bar going across the underside of the machine. It's a small thing, so you might need a torch to see it. Another useful thing for you to look at might be the video on how to convert a Remigton portable typewriter to a USB typewriter - not that I'm suggesting that you do that! It shows the spring I mention much better than my description in part of the instructions quite near the start.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUSJyRnGlB4
the spacebar spring comes in at 44 seconds into the video. The actual machine is slightly different to yours, but the spring should be the same. You'll be able to see where it should attach to.
There might be some obstruction underneath the platen, which is stopping the paper winding right the way through. All sorts of stuff can get stuck in there over the years. I had a large bit of carbon paper stuck in mine which only came out after a really big blast with a can of compressed air.
Try winding the platen with no paper in, and watch the rollers as you go. See if they get stuck or if they are flattened on one side, rather than uniformly round.
If you get completely stuck, it's worth asking the typewriter place you mention about getting yours seen to.
best of luck


 

Thank you so much, again!
I actually have that pdf. I read through it, but it's definitely going to take a couple read throughs to understand!

Good news is, the spring for the spacebar is there. But now I'm back to wondering why it doesn't do anything. Like I said in my first post, it connects to a hook at the top that isn't connected to anything else. I feel like that is where the problem lies...but I don't know.

As for the margin stops, I only have one. I don't know if that means I am missing one or if this is how it is supposed to be on this model. But it is all the way to the right and the carriage still won't go all the way over. The stops however don't interact with anything that would cause the carriage to move or not move though. I believe I need to "lock" it for the case, but following the instructions in that pdf does not work for this machine.

I looked over the rollers. They roll perfectly and there are no warped or flattened spots. I must just be doing something wrong. Or could there possibly be a bunch of gunk or something underneath? Maybe if I took off the roller and cleaned underneath? I wanted to avoid having to take anything apart, but if I have to I would.

I would certainly take it to a repair shop if I could, but it is at least 2 hours away and it's hard for me to get there. Trying to see what I can do on my own first.

Here is a photo of the back so you can see the margin stops:


 

Last edited by comma (27-7-2014 13:10:49)

malole wrote:

There are always two margin stops on any kind of typewriter. Looks like the one that is missing is the one that tings the bell for the right hand margin. Or at least it does on mine, yours might be different. You could try posting a request for one in the Parts forum.
What happens if you move that one margin stop and then try moving the carriage? To move the margin stop you have to push it in a little bit and slide it along still holding it in, and then release it where you want the type to start. The margin stops should definitely stop the carriage moving further along from where the stop is positioned. The carriage is often immobilised for transport/travelling by moving both stops to the centre of the rail to stop the carriage moving in either direction if there is no actual carriage lock on the typewriter. 
Also, does the carriage move when you type a letter? I know you wouldn't want to be hitting the keys all over the platen with no paper, but it would help sort out what kind of problem you have with the spacebar. If the keys make the carriage move along one space at a time, then it's just the space bar mechanism that wants fixing. The only thing I can suggest is looking for a hole where the other end of the spring could attach to, and try it. But I'd say it'd be worth a trip to get it fixed if you are stumped.

All the keys work, but they do not move the carriage when they're pressed...so I'm guessing my issue is more complicated than I thought!

Moving the margin stops doesn't effect my carriage at all unforuntately.
The carriage was all the way over when I received it, so there has to be a way to get it back that way...

This is a pretty rare ww2 army typewriter, so I might just thoroughly clean it and use it for display. I really don't want to mess with it too much.

Thank you for your help!
 

Last edited by comma (27-7-2014 14:54:07)

malole wrote:

Is the drawband connected to the carriage? The keys not moving the carriage could mean it is just a simple case of a broken drawband which is pretty simple to fix with a bit of fishing line.

From what I can see it seems like it is attached.
And where that band is, there is a cable that allows the carriage to move...that is what stops it at the position it is in and doesn't allow it to move all the way to the right (if that makes sense)

Honestly, at this point I think I just want to figure out how to get it to carriage back and leave it as is for now. 
I'm going to keep my eyes out for something in good working order to use as my "user".

For the life of me I can't get the carriage to go back though.

 

Last edited by comma (27-7-2014 18:27:43)