1 - Foljambe
- Platen Punisher
Offline 
- From: Kingston, Ontario
- Registered: 04-4-2013
- Posts: 54
A cure for keychoppers?
I just acquired this Underwood teaching typewriter with blank keys. Will the lack of letters keep away the keychoppers?
It looks like a student got frustrated at the blankness and gave a good whack to a few of the keys. Is there a way to remove the finger pad piece from the arm and replace it, or do I need to replace the entire pad/arm (which would require getting the identical key from another machine, I assume).
Sorry for the blurry pictures. Too much coffee today.
- skywatcher
- Moderator
Offline
- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 735
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
Hi Foli
Blank keys do not keep keychoppers away. A few years ago, there was a Royal QDL with all blank black keys on eBay USA. I tried to buy it but the seller would not ship to Canada. A couple of weeks later, she was trying to sell the set of chopped keys from that typewriter. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed. All the best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
Foljambe wrote:
Will the lack of letters keep away the keychoppers?
Have to agree with Sky. They'll just insert their own paper backing in the keys to create their baubles.
Is there a way to remove the finger pad piece from the arm and replace it,
If you look on the underside of the key you should see that there are three tabs holding the nickel-plated trim in place. If you gentle bend those tabs straight, you should be able to remove the trim and the key label glass/acrylic so you can insert whatever you want there. I wouldn't do this too often as I'm not sure how quickly the metal making up the tab and trim will fatigue; you don't want to end up breaking them off.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
Offline
- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
A cure for keychoppers? How about showing them pictures of parts of fingers amputated after a frostbite or some other accident,and tell them, "That's how a typewriter feels after you've stolen its keys!"
Maybe all you have to do is just turn on the lights and night and watch 'em scatter in all directions.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- Repartee
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
The rhinoceros is endangered because some people in Asia believe the horn is an aphrodisiac. Aside from this weird belief they are not too smart since if they really believed this substance was an elixir of ecstasy they might look into sustainable rhino farming.
The people to blame for typewriter mutilation are not the suppliers - because I have demonized them they are merely pests - but the end consumers who wear the damn things. I am sure they would not be satisfied with key tops of modern manufacture even if they were made the same way as vintage keys, because they must have some strange belief that the real stuff enhances their libido. Like the rhino horn consumers it probably excites them more to drive a species to extinction for their pleasure than otherwise - a variation on thanatophilia.
Better cut off this rant before I really am inciting violence, which I never would do because it would be wrong and violence never solves anything and begets more violence! Unless, that is, you get all of them...
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
Offline
- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
The rhinoceros is endangered because some people in Asia believe the horn is an aphrodisiac. Aside from this weird belief they are not too smart since if they really believed this substance was an elixir of ecstasy they might look into sustainable rhino farming.
The people to blame for typewriter mutilation are not the suppliers - because I have demonized them they are merely pests - but the end consumers who wear the damn things. I am sure they would not be satisfied with key tops of modern manufacture even if they were made the same way as vintage keys, because they must have some strange belief that the real stuff enhances their libido. Like the rhino horn consumers it probably excites them more to drive a species to extinction for their pleasure than otherwise - a variation on thanatophilia.
Better cut off this rant before I really am inciting violence, which I never would do because it would be wrong and violence never solves anything and begets more violence! Unless, that is, you get all of them...
Throughout our history as human beings, there have always been those among us who are turned on in many ways by the expense and destruction of what they neither relate to nor understand. We can at least be thankful for our knowledge of what we can save, nurture, and appreciate.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- igotztowrite
- Touch Typist
Offline
- From: California, USA
- Registered: 08-11-2015
- Posts: 109
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
- mre12ax7
- Touch Typist
Offline
- Registered: 28-3-2015
- Posts: 192
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
You probably saw it from me.
I used them to re-key a Remington 12.
They have little loops cast on them to use for necklaces etc, which I removed when I attached them to the typewriter
My blog - Just Typewriters
- Uwe
- Moderator
Offline
- From: Toronto, Canada
- Registered: 12-3-2013
- Posts: 4,410
Re: A cure for keychoppers?
It might be a discontinued product as I don't see it listed at the manufacturer's website.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- igotztowrite
- Touch Typist
Offline
- From: California, USA
- Registered: 08-11-2015
- Posts: 109
