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22-3-2016 12:47:06  #421


Re: New Member Thread

I bought my first typewriter a little over a year ago. I was looking for an Olivetti Lettera 32 to keep a journal and write short stories with. Cormac McCarthy used one, so I assumed it was a decent place to start. My options locally were non-existent or overpriced -- and they were all beat up Royals and Underwoods anyway. Craigslist proved equally fruitless, so I decided to take a look on eBay.

Wow! I wasn't about to spend $120+ on a typewriter, especially my first one. So I decided to research a few other typewriter models and discovered all the notable typewriter blogs and the rest of the Typosphere. I then created a list of 3 different models that were appealing and started looking for a deal...

I ended up purchasing an Olympia SM9 for $30 shipped. It was an "Or Best Offer" situation on a typewriter that was listed with one photo, a wide carriage and a four paragraph warning about the machine being "as is" and not wanting to deal with "picky" and "fussy" typewriter collectors.

To my relief, I received the machine in great condition. In fact, it's the only machine I own that hasn't required treatment with mineral spirits, PB Blaster, an air compressor or minor "forming". I gave the case a wipe down with bleach wipes, cleaned up the shell with some Dawn, and installed a new ribbon. I think it was made in 1967(?) and is still the best feeling typewriter I own.

Until about a month ago, the Olympia SM9 was the only typewriter I owned. Then, after a string of interesting coincidences (Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?) I came to own five more machines, including two Lettera 32's (which I had wanted all along).

1) Olympia SM 9 (1967?, W. Germany) - Standard typeface, 11cpi. Solid base, great touch. Of all my machines, if I had to write a 1,000 page novel, this would be the one to do it on.

2) Olivetti-Underwood 21 (1963?, Barcelona) - Techno typeface, 11cpi. Put a purple ribbon on it and the type impression is amazing. Rich, full and no fading whatsoever. Too bad it's such a chore to type on. Plastic card holder guides are broken off. Space bar is mushy.

3) Olivetti Lettera 32 (1974?, Barcelona) - Standard typeface, 10cpi. I really wanted this model and it did not fail to impress. Great size and simplicity of execution. Very loose feel, though. Uppercase slugs, especially on the left side of the keyboard, imprint blurry and faint. I did a DIY platen replacement to address it, but no real change in print quality. It is, however, a much quieter machine.

4) Olivetti-Underwood Lettera 32 (1965?, Ivrea) - Standard typeface, 10cpi. I bought this "broke" machine for cheap on eBay. The metal carriage lock had bent and, once removed and straightened out, worked perfectly. Compared to my later-model Barcelona Lettera, it has a "snappier" touch (the other feels too loose in comparison) and the coloring is far more blue than the greenish Barcelona one. This is my go-to typewriter right now.

5) Hermes 3000 (1967?, Switzerland) - Standard typeface, 10cpi. Bought it for cheap without the front protection plate. Decent looking, otherwise. One broken platen knob. Type touch adjustment lever didn't work. Type would stop in the middle of the carriage, though, regardless of where you set your margins. Then the machine stopped advancing at all, unless I held it upside down. Curiosity got the better of me and now the entire thing is stripped part. I also knocked the carriage bearings off the rail. Ugh. Still haven't gotten them back where I want them to be, but I've gotten close...

6) Hermes Media 3 (1969?, Switzerland) - Epoca typeface, 10cpi. Even though my above experiences soured me a little on Hermes models, I couldn't pass up Epoca. Also one broken platen knob. I took this one apart, too, because I couldn't get the ribbon selector switch to move and I wanted to take some reference pictures for what a "working" Hermes looked like. I cleaned it out, resolved my issues with it, and put it back together safely  Other than the additional tabulator settings in the 3000, the machines seem largely identical. Before I put it back together, I added a mechanical pencil spring to where the non-existent touch regulator would be to create a new "default" tension that has made it a "snappier" typer.

 

25-3-2016 10:29:19  #422


Re: New Member Thread

Hello ztyper,

Just returned from NJ to pack up household goods and TWs for the long haul to Oregon. I took pictures during packing and plan to write a short article about moving a collection long distance. Hope everything arrives in good shape. Please PM with off-line email when you get the chance and I will be happy to send you my NJ display article.

 

29-3-2016 18:08:45  #423


Re: New Member Thread

Hello, all. I have never collected typewriters before, but I came across an old Royal today, and I just had to have it! I sat in the parking lot for a good 45 minutes, just trying to reaseearch it. It was great to find people who are so involved in learning about and restoring some of these old guys.

 

02-4-2016 04:15:20  #424


Re: New Member Thread

Hello all! I’m Nicole, 30 and live on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia.

I very recently became interested in typewriters primarily because I am sick of how irritating and distracting modern technology is, and how everything online is designed to exploit and divert your attention. I want to hop off this train!

I do a lot of reading and writing (for personal use; I don’t consider myself a writer) and I am excited about now having the ability to type things up on my own terms, without the endless distractions and demands of a computer. 

Last week I picked up (and swiftly devoured) Richard Polt’s book The Typewriter Revolution and within hours I had pulled my old Olympia out of the shed to start cleaning it  up.

Typewriters offer such a wonderful opportunity to be self-powered and self sufficient. And I love the fact that you can get into this machine, get to know it and fix it and clean it yourself! The hours I have spent cleaning and fixing so far have been so enjoyable. I think it’s fair to say I’m hooked.

I now have an Olympia Traveller De Luxe (Script No. 69) from 1968, a Hermes Baby from 1968 (Hermes Pica), a 1970s Adler Tippa (Elite Cubic) and my husband is now the proud owner of a Remington Noiseless Portable from 1938.

The Remington has been the biggest project, it was pretty filthy inside and the carriage belt has snapped so I’ll fix that up once cleaning is done. I seem to have a European model with the Backspace and Margin Release buttons in the front panel, not in the keyboard, so I can’t get that panel off. Once I have three posts I am eager to ask you kindly souls for any ideas on that one over in the repairs forum

Lovely to be here!

 

02-4-2016 05:28:05  #425


Re: New Member Thread

Hi Nicole! It all sounds great, and looks like you have a fast-growing little family ;) You'll find plenty of Olympia enthusiasts here - and the rest...! Richard Polt's book is fabulous, isn't it. 

 

02-4-2016 05:53:01  #426


Re: New Member Thread

KatLondon wrote:

Hi Nicole! It all sounds great, and looks like you have a fast-growing little family ;) You'll find plenty of Olympia enthusiasts here - and the rest...! Richard Polt's book is fabulous, isn't it. 

Thanks KatLondon! Oh gosh, my family of typewriters grew ridiculously fast.. I honestly bought three typewriters in 24 hours. They were all cheap and less than 10km away though so it felt like they were meant to be I'm now keeping a lid on any more acquisition urges.. for now! 

 

02-4-2016 05:56:33  #427


Re: New Member Thread

Hello Nicole!

Not that many from Australia here - I think we are a 'developing market' when it comes to the TW.

I have seen the book you mentioned, but never knew what it was about - I may get a copy now.

Welcome!


Sincerely,
beak.
 
 

02-4-2016 06:18:25  #428


Re: New Member Thread

beak wrote:

Hello Nicole!

Not that many from Australia here - I think we are a 'developing market' when it comes to the TW.

I have seen the book you mentioned, but never knew what it was about - I may get a copy now.

Welcome!

Cheers, beak! I'm very glad to be one of a small but growing Australian contingent in that case.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

02-4-2016 12:07:44  #429


Re: New Member Thread

I was just thinking about how this hobby of ours, unlike any of the others that I've been involved in, attracts such a diverse group of people. We have a seemingly equal balance here of women and men, representatives of the youngest and oldest generations, and citizens from nations the world over. Even the underlying personality trait that would draw someone to a typewriter is varied too: some of us are artists and see the typewriter as a paintbrush, the page a blank canvas, while others are more analytically minded and are drawn instead by the complexity of the machine that lurks hidden from view under metal and plastic skins. If it wasn't for the language barrier, I'm sure our diversity would be all the more exotic.   


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
     Thread Starter
 

03-4-2016 00:11:07  #430


Re: New Member Thread

Uwe wrote:

I was just thinking about how this hobby of ours, unlike any of the others that I've been involved in, attracts such a diverse group of people. We have a seemingly equal balance here of women and men, representatives of the youngest and oldest generations, and citizens from nations the world over. Even the underlying personality trait that would draw someone to a typewriter is varied too: some of us are artists and see the typewriter as a paintbrush, the page a blank canvas, while others are more analytically minded and are drawn instead by the complexity of the machine that lurks hidden from view under metal and plastic skins. If it wasn't for the language barrier, I'm sure our diversity would be all the more exotic.   

That's really cool! I also think it's so awesome that typewriters let you indulge different facets of your own personality; sometimes perhaps your mechanical/tinkering side, sometimes your creative or thinking side while you use it as a writing machine.

It's nice to have different aspects to your relationship with one object, I think. It happens to us so rarely these days now that things aren't made to last anymore. You never maintain or tend them and so you never form relationships with them.
 

 

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