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Hi - I have just acquired an Underwood No. 5 and am planning to restore it. Firstly, the drawstring is missing - can anyone suggest a suitable type of cord to use as a replacement? i.e. flat or round? Also, I can't find the serial number which may have worn (?) as the machine is quite corroded in places. Where should I look? Many thanks, John (getting serious about my typewriter obsession!)
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If you have the original metal ends from the old drawband, use a suitable flat bootlace ! Modern nylon-based ones are probably stronger than the original cotton material. The serial number should be on the top right of the machine's cast iron frame, probably starting with 5- Good luck with your restoration.
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Thanks. No, there's no string but I bought some cotton twine today which will probably do. I'll have to fashion some way of connecting it. I believe it attaches to a screw under the platten. Platten comes off easily enough, so i can take a look later. The serial number was very hard to see as the machine is so worn. I did make out the following, though: 1 36 1 364 by using a magnifying light. The 'ones' are much more distinct and are actually just solid vertical bars compared to the much feinter other numbers. I wonder if it is a model 5 - how can I differentiate between, say, a model 3 and a model 5? They seem quite similar.
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vitalspark wrote:
how can I differentiate between, say, a model 3 and a model 5? They seem quite similar.
The Model 4 is far more similar to the Model 5; the Model 3 is a wide carriage model. To identify your machine and which variant it is we would either need a few photos of it, or a detailed list of all the features it has, including the number of keys.
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Looking elsewhere i realise it must be a 5 as it has 84 characters. The serial number would suggest it's from 1920. When I bought it, it was extremely 'cruddy' - see picture No. 1 if I can load one. I was very excited about getting it home and cleaning it up, however, after carefully applying warm soapy water to the paintwork - shock, horror! - I noticed that I had almost completely washed away the gold decal from the paper guide, if that's what it's called. And I nearly did the same with the front logo. But there were no other markings visible on it at all (none at the bottom front edge and no edging marks). So it is now a very dark machine indeed - I wonder if new decals can be transfered on? See picture No. 2 if I can put it up (basic cleaning). No, sorry, I don't know how to upload images.
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vitalspark wrote:
No, sorry, I don't know how to upload images.
It's explained in the FAQ topic (thread).
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Thanks, I'll need to get organised with that. I'll post pictures soon, hopefully.
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OK, here goes... before cleaning -
and after initial cleaning -
I have since partially dismantled the machine and cleaned it up a lot more, so will most likely summit more pics, either here and/or under restoration.
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Well, not sure that worked, so will try a different way!
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OK, that worked, but they're the wrong way round obviously. You can see where the gold lettering washed off.