ESC4P3 wrote:

I’m thinking I may be satisfied with just these two, but if I were to expand [...]

Welcome, John!

One turns into two.  Two turns into six.  Six turns into fifty.  And then you start thinking about getting serious...
 

John,

You might try giving Duane Jensen a call at Phoenix Typewriters about the left platen knob for your 5TE. 

https://www.phoenixtypewriter.com/

Pete E. wrote:

John,

You might try giving Duane Jensen a call at Phoenix Typewriters about the left platen knob for your 5TE. 

https://www.phoenixtypewriter.com/

That’s a good suggestion. Thanks.
 I bought a specialized nut from Ace Hardware that gets the job done and actually looks pretty good. People that aren’t familiar with these typewriters might think it is the original piece. I was thinking i would eventually check out a couple of the greater area repair shops, but you might have the better idea.

I’ve also been concentrating on another typewriter my wife bought recently for $12.50 from a local Goodwill. It’s a Smith Corona Coronet Cartridge 12 with a manual return. I haven’t been able to figure out the year yet as the database doesn’t have any info on them. My guess is very late ‘60s to early ‘70s. The carriage was malfunctioning, but I got it fixed and cleaned up. It’s in really good shape. My wife wants to give it to a friend of hers who liked the idea of my other typewriters when we showed them to her.

Hello my name is Dana. I am in Ohio, USA. I like to write short stories as a hobby. But other than that I work as an account manager. 
I had always expressed interest and was fascinated by typewriters. But never bought one up until recently. I was at a town yard sale and saw 3 type writers. out of the three only one had stood out to me. The Royal Quiet De luxe. It is green and in extremely good condition. I got it for $20 did my research and got some ribbon. It works great! I am so excited to be part of this typewriter world! I look forward to learning more about typewriter and hopefully getting another one! 

Hello all, I'm happy to have found this place, though I may not be as active as some.

My name is Rich.  I'm a librarian and writer (mostly poetry), and in the past did a little songwriting and classical composition, though none of my music has been published or performed, with one possible exception.

I'm old enough (72 at this writing) to have used typewriters as a daily tool, including Russian, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew-alphabet manual machines before the Selectric and word processors (for most of my career I've been, inter alia, a foreign-language cataloger).  My first real typewriter was an Olivetti Lettera-22, a gift from my parents, which I used through high school and college and well into grad school.  Currently I have two Royals, a KHM and an HH, which formerly got regular use but now need a cleanup and some reconditioning, especially the KHM.  In addition there are three portables tucked away in a closet, which my wife variously brought from her parents' house or found at thrift stores: a Smith-Corona electric, an SC Super-Silent (I think), and a delectable little Royal Quiet DeLuxe, in excellent condition for its age, which at some point I plan to beg for.

I'm not an active collector and at this point in my life am not likely to go deeply into maintenance and repair; my main pleasure has always been to appreciate and type with these marvelous machines, and that is what I hope in time to get back to with the typewriters I have.