1 of 1- beak
- Key Master
Offline 
- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
TWs over Christmas, and an AIR problem.
Hi all - hope you all had a good time over the Christmas break.
Confession time: who spent any part of the time fiddling with a typewriter, trying to make it work, or work better?
I did; up to my ears in meths, going through the routine with a filthy Olympia SM4 that came my way the other week. It's going, but not well enough yet.
OH - I bought a can of compressed air to help blow the muck out of it. EXPENSIVE at $16 (Australia) for a little can, and it did not last long at all. Shan't be doing that again. So any other suggestions for cheap air for blowing out dust?
Hope you all have a good New Year!
Sincerely,
beak.
- skywatcher
- Moderator
Offline
- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
- Posts: 736
Re: TWs over Christmas, and an AIR problem.
Hi Beak
Yes, it's been a while since I've been here, been pretty tied up looking after an injured wife. Broken ankles take a long time to mend. Anyhow, I realize I have an unfair advantage over many as I have a fully equipped mechanic's shop with a 6 hp, twin cylinder 60 gallon air compressor in the corner plumbed into half a dozen quick coupler air fittings around the shop.
Anyhow, in answer to your question, one option is to pick up a portable air tank at an automotive type store. In the US and Canada, that would be Autozone or NAPA, in England it would probably be Halfords or the like. Google says you have Supercheap Auto over there. You can then fill the tank at most petrol stations. Another option is to pick up a small portable air compressor (looks like one is on special for around $200.00). Once you have one, you'll be surprised how many uses you'll end up finding for it.
The other thing I recommend is a pressure regulator, never hit a typewriter with more than 40 psi as you may blow linkages off or keys to pieces. Once you have an air compressor, you may find a solvent gun to be a very useful accessory for actually washing out the inner workings of your units. Hope this gives you some ideas with which to work. 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)
- beak
- Key Master
Offline
- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: TWs over Christmas, and an AIR problem.
Thanks for the 40psi tip - the can I bought was 70, but the SM4 survived it, this time. Shall look at the optons you came up with, though I hope not to be tackling more TWs this mucky very often.
Sincerely,
beak.
- •
Thread Starter- Shangas
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: Melbourne, Australia
- Registered: 17-3-2013
- Posts: 298
Re: TWs over Christmas, and an AIR problem.
I would suggest purchasing a watchmaker's puffer-bulb. They're little rubber things about the size of a tennis-ball, with a steel nozzle at one end. That might be more handy than a throwaway can of air.
"Not Yet Published" - My History Blog
"I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit" - Sir Pelham Grenville "P.G." Wodehouse
"The biggest obstacle to professional writing is the necessity for changing a typewriter ribbon" - Robert Benchley
