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I just bought a 1937 LC Smith Silent Super-Speed. Everything seems to work properly, no sticky keys, pliant platen roller and the tab function seems to be working as designed.
But I can only type on the right side of the paper. The carriage only returns halfway and then stops with a clunk, like it's hitting a stop.
Everything seems to be clear in the tabulator housing. Nothing out of place, or protruding.
Has anyone seen this before? Is there something that could be out of place under the carriage? A carriage lock I haven't found yet?
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Hi Shady
The first thing I'd check is the margin release, does the carriage go any further is you press the margin release key while returning the carriage? I this doesn't help, I'd say you either have a piece of debris or something stuck in the rack or in the carriage track where the small star wheels round the carriage balls run. Hope this gives you some ideas,
Sky
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Thanks. I went and double-checked. The margins stops are all the way out and pressing the margin release doesn't fix anything.
I've already checked the cog rail under the carriage without finding anything. And it doesn't feel like debris in the gears. It feels, and sounds, like I'm running into a solid block.
I shifted the type basket, in hopes that something was protruding, but still nothing. The carriage runs all the way to the right and rings the bell, but only moves about 3 spaces past the center to the left before hitting something solid.
And removing the platen just shows how round and smooth the feed rollers are. Nice, but not helpful.
I think I need a service manual.
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Sorry, reverse that. The carriage moves to the right, but not to the left.
Working from the back of the typewriter has screwed up my sense of direction.
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Aaargh! It's backward again!
All the way to the left, not to the right.
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I give up. It goes to the end, but only halfway back to the beginning.
I'm so lost, today.
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Sometimes when a draw band has partially come off the main-spring, it can bind up when you try to do a carriage return and it only travels back 1/2 of the way.
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Thanks. I just took a look and everything there looks good. I have the side panels off, so I can see it from all directions.
It's a solid clunk like it's hitting a metal block somewhere. My best guess is something loose under the carriage. I'm trying to loosen the screws below the top plate that hold the carriage mounting pillars, but those are designed to be pulled with the top off the typewriter. And since I can't move the carriage over, I can't get to some of the top screws. I'm going to buy a 1/4" breaker bar and use an interchangeable screwdriver tip. Hopefully I can lift the carriage enough to see underneath.
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ShadyDaze, before you put a bunch of torque on that screw to try to force it out, I strongly recommend trying a few alternative options first. Typewriter screws are much more fragile than modern versions, and are sizes and thread counts that aren't commonly used anymore, so replacements are hard to find. I've broken off or worn many screw heads on the first few machines I worked on - it is worth some patience on these old screws.
Some suggestions:
1) Try a little chemistry before force. I use Kroil. Put a few drops and let it soak in for about 20-30 minutes. Then, try only a moderate amount of torque. If it doesn't go. Put a few more drops and wait again. Sometimes, I let it go overnight. Usually, if you let Kroil do its work, it'll eventually come out with almost no hard torque.
2) Buy a set of hollow-ground screwdriver bits. A normal screwdriver is wedge-shaped. This means all the force you put into it gets transferred to the upper edge of the screw head slot, which usually smashes it and causes the screwdriver to slip (or worse, breaks the screw head). A hollow-ground bit is nearly parallel at the tip, so the force gets distributed across the entire tip / screw slot, giving you better grip, much less likelihood of slipping, and is much gentler on the screw head. One caveat: because of their shape, hollow grinds are a bit more fragile than standard bits. Luckily, they're fairly inexpensive, too.
Chapman has a great picture describing it, below.
Chapman has a set specifically for typewriters, curated by typewriter tech Lucas Dul. I've got a Chapman gunsmith set that a machinist friend gave me when he heard I was restoring typewriters, and I've gotten extras from Chapman (The #88, #90, #93, #95, #97 are the ones I use). There are other manufacturers, but I've no experience with them.
They're also really handy to have around for any project on old, small screws..
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Thanks. I'll get a set..