Hi oscarc - Oscar? -  I don't know what Power Blaster is but I've done similar kinds of things with a 'maintenance spray that was a mixture of oil, naptha and other things, and then giving it a good old clean with electrical contact cleaner or meths. This sounds like a similar approach. I always think MORE CLEANING is the answer to almost everything. Cleaning and then using - it's amazing to me how things just begin to work when you go to USE them... Sometimes it takes a page or two  and then suddenly something loosens up.

PS - cross-posted with TypewriterGuy there! Vacuuming also sounds fine. Just keep on brushing it out, too - I have a brush I use to get inside the thing and dust with. It seems to be a combination of things, with these filthy machines: what the vacuum doesn't dislodge, the brush will, and what the brush doesn't, the meths-&-cotton bud will... I've had big lumps  of dust  work their way out once I started typing, too.

Last edited by KatLondon (25-5-2015 10:52:54)

I would NEVER vacuum a typewriter. Inevitably the suction will be strong enough to liberate any loose parts (springs and screws) and they would be lost forever. Similarly, I also never use high pressure air to clean a machine as I've seen far too many small springs inside machines that are tentatively hanging in place and wouldn't be able to withstand a concentrated blast of air.

I would continue cleaning the machine, concentrating on the escapement in particular. It's a difficult component on most machines to reach without removing the carriage, and therefore it's very easy to miss a critical component that might be bound with congealed oil.

It really depends on the typewriter. I vaccummed out my remington 10s, (They are fully open), and it worked great. 

Hi Oscar, just to share my speerience with you - this HH that I just got is also turning out to be a challenge! The guy I got it from told me he was disappointed he hadn't been able to get more for it - he'd thought it would go for more than the £12 I paid for it (after three rounds on eBay, each at a lower price - & even then I only made my mnd up at the very last minute). He also said it had been in his garage for 15-20 years. He was non-plussed when the carriage return lever wouldn't move, and said definitely, and several times, that it WOULD work, that it certainly HAD worked...etc...

I've just spent a bit over two hours on it today (when *I* should have been working) just getting the carriage de-gunged - especially inside the lever, where the movements are. Ugh. Disgusting. It's still a bit stiff, and I reckon will take another go with the penetrating oil and then more meths.Once I've done the segment and got the keys rid of that awful white stuff (which turns out to be on their undersides as well - how the hell I'm going to get leverage to clean that off, I have no idea), then I'll just start [putting the thing into use and see how it goes. I will say, I've got the carriage gliding along very nicely now. 

Fwiw, you should take the back off and really have a look at what's going on inside. Also, the top of the carriage, where the paper rest is, opens up. So you've got good access to its underside and inside. The escapement is a bit hard to get at but with the back off you can just about do it.

With the carriage extended all the way to one side and then the other, you can clean inside the rails and wipe the teeth, too. Just anything that might be clogging the works. and if there's a spring or something loose and jamming sometihng, cleaning may expose and/or dislodge it.

I haven't tried to get the whole body off, just the back. If you have, let me know how that went?