1 of 1- JoeV
- Touch Typist
Offline - Registered: 11-4-2015
- Posts: 152
Brother - Beginning of line letters are lower
Hi folks;
Just a question for you Brother experts out there. My Brother-made Webster XL-747 has an issue where the first one or two letters of a line will be intermittently slightly lower than the rest of the line. It happens with both lower and upper case letters, and the same letter typed further down the line will be properly aligned.
I wonder if it's something to do with the line advance ratchet, maybe right after a carriage return/line feed the ratchet moves a bit further, then straightens out after one or two letters. Or could it be something wonky with the carriage or platen alignment? I was even thinking that if the platen was not parallel to the type basket, but if the left side was a bit further back, the type bars might hit slightly lower than otherwise. Strangely, it seems to be intermittent, like something to do with my typing style? Hmm...
~Joe
- TypewriterGuy
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- From: United States
- Registered: 24-4-2015
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Re: Brother - Beginning of line letters are lower
Hmmm. Does it matter where the margins are?
Back from a long break.
Starting fresh with my favorite typer. A Royal Futura!
- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
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Re: Brother - Beginning of line letters are lower
You have diagnosed the problem very well. It is almost certainly the linespace ratchet over-throwing and then correcting itself with the vibration of the typing. The detent roller is not seating correctly in the 'valley' between two teeth. Rather, it is hitting the slope and then settling down to the bottom. The solution is to undo the screw that holds the detent roller in position, and move the roller until it seats correctly after each linespace operation. This is not a usual problem with Brothers, so it has been a long time since I have had to do this. Therefore, forgive me that I cannot remember if you have to remove the platen or not, to get to the screw.
- Uwe
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- Registered: 12-3-2013
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Re: Brother - Beginning of line letters are lower
I've had a number of machines from other manufacturers exhibit this issue too, and as thetypewriterman suggested, I don't think it's something common to Brother models. In my experience some of the problems were related to the line space lever mechanism and the platen settling into position after a few letters had been typed by vibration, but a few times the source of the problem was a stubborn left side paper bail roller.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- JoeV
- Touch Typist
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- Registered: 11-4-2015
- Posts: 152
Re: Brother - Beginning of line letters are lower
Thank you for the suggestions. I removed the carriage return lever, left platen knob and cover. The mechanism was very dirty with dust and debris, so I cleaned, degreased and lightly relubed the mechanism. I was lucky enough to have dropped the ball bearing for the carriage return lever's detent for storage position, but I found it afterwards. All went back together smoothly. The roller that engages the cog appeared to be tightly mounted, its screw was not loose.
I'd say the problem is much less evident now, but not entirely "fixed." If I release the lever after a carriage return with a snappy action, no problem, but the first letter is still slightly low if I make a "soft" carriage return; but not as low as before. At this point, I can live with it. The root cause might end up being a weak spring in the ratchet mechanism. If I have reason to go into that area again for some other reason, I'll look in more detail at the problem.
Thanks again for all your help.
~Joe
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