Beachycove wrote:

I like the Touch-Master 5 as well, largely because of the late 50s/early 60s look, which is Olivetti work, I gather.

I could be mistaken, but I remember reading that the design of the TM5, aesthetics included, is from Underwood themselves, and I can believe that as the earlier Touch-Master II looks pretty much identical. If correct, it's probably the last non-Olivetti design to come out of the Underwood factory. I quite like the look as well.

Beachycove wrote:

One caught my eye in an antiques mall a few years back, and I thought, wouldn’t a magnificent machine like that be handy for this and that? I had been wrestling with labels in the office and was sick and tired of fiddling with printers. Home — and thence to the office — came the TM5.

There was some very minor damage, so I also bought a parts machine that appeared in a local for sale ad, but I ended up fixing both during the COVID lockdown by making some small parts from metal, so that I now have two TM5s, one pica and one elite, one being wide carriage and the other not. BUT, I am missing the ribbon covers on one, which I can’t find anywhere. I fashioned some from copper sheeting, but they just don’t look right. Any chance you would sell me them from your parts unit?

I would love to help you with the ribbon covers, but as my parts machine is currently fully operational and therefore still sellable as such if my situation changes and I need to get rid of it, I am still hesitant to start removing and selling any parts from it. If I end up removing any essential parts, rendering it non-operational, I will be in touch.

Beachycove wrote:

As to the platen and knobs, I do believe that all those knobs should screw off the platens so that you can swap parts as required. See the repair manual available on the inter-webs.

And as to the carriage removal: It has been a while, but I seem to recall having taken off the spring from the carriage (and secured it on the screw conveniently placed rear top left), then moved the carriage left and right to remove a couple more screws found under it on the main body. I think the tabulator on the back had to come off as well, but that ought to be removed at this stage for cleaning and lubrication anyway, so it won’t hurt to take it off. Then, as I recall, the carriage lifts or slides right off.

I found the repair manual:
https://typewriterdatabase.com/1968-Ames_Standard_SVC.underwood-repair.manual 
Thankfully it had all the information I need for removing the carriage and more.

Sadly it seems like simply changing the knobs won't let me swap the platens, as it is the platen itself which is a couple of mm longer on the main, 1964 machine. Not sure why they decided to make such a minor change into the carriage and the platen. So I would probably have to swap carriages if I want to use the softer platen on the nicer machine, but as the other carriage is in a worse condition aesthetically, I''m hesitant to do that. Also I'm not sure if the fact that the carriages are not 100% identical would end up having any unforeseen consequences.

In the near future I might end up just recovering the platen, as there are some companies that don't charge an arm and a leg for it; but it isn't really a critical thing, just something that would be a nice addition to an already nice machine.

Beachycove wrote:

There is a centrifugal brake at the rear left that is part of the tabulator mechanism. It has a plastic gear (underlaid with metal) on which the plastic often seems to be cracked, and that can cause annoying problems like missing spaces. The trouble is that the gear effectively expands so that the teeth don’t mesh properly with the other gears present. Very common fault on the TM5, which you can read about online. Both mine were like this. Obviously this wa a weak point in the design. Best method of repair I have come across is to remove the brake (easily done), and stick a circular compression clamp like one of those little screw-on fuel line clamps around the cracked gear, in order to gently draw the plastics together (they should slide over the underlying metal). Then use an adhesive like shoo goo or epoxy to fix it for another fifty years. The machine will then likely outlive all of us.

I became aware of this part first by reading this excellent article: https://dactylographe.home.blog/2019/11/14/underwood-under-the-weather/.

I checked the tab brakes on my machines, and sure enough, the plastic gear is cracked on both. It actually looks worse on the otherwise nicer 1964 machine.

1964:


1966:


Both machines seem to have some problems with the tab or tab break mechanism: On the 1964 machine the tab break seems to rotate fine, but doesn't seem to slow down the carriage: The tabulator itself works, but if I remove all the tab stops and test it, I can tell that it actually goes full steam ahead, and the end result is rather violent. Not that it stops me from using the tabulator while writing, as I have tab stops set at regular intervals, so the break is not really needed.




On the 1966 machine the tabulator works very sluggishly if I press the tab key all the way down, grinding to a halt at some point, and I think this might be about something else than the tab break. If I press the tab key down just half-way or so, it actually seems to work the way I imagine it should:



Perhaps I will remove the tab stops when I have the time and try the fix you and M. Höhne recommended. It seems simple and easy enough.

Pete E. wrote:

Here is my "fix" for hard platens in my collection.

Thanks for that advice, Pete. I've considered trying something like this. At the moment I use three backing sheets of regular printer paper.