1 of 1- Repartee
- Key Master
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- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
What wrong with my Super-Riter?
My latest companion machine (which I decided to get to know by taking on a 50,000 word spin) has a few charming character flaws. I succeeded in analyzing them from a behavioral point of view so maybe a typer-analyst can suggest what's going on in its unconscious:
First, It sometimes skips spaces. This is prevented by a light touch, good concentration and good hand position while conversely failure is correlated with a heavier touch and loss of concentration and presumably poor hand position. Of course when you lose concentration you are not aware what you are doing, so you can't figure out what happened! The second issue is the ribbon does not reverse properly at one end of travel: it starts to reverse and then goes back to the original direction of rotation.
I finally discovered regarding the first it's not just a heavier touch but a longer dwell time: some keys, not all, skip spaces if you strike them fast enough and hold them long enough, and in fact if you give these keys a good stroke and hold your finger down they skitter across the paper like a power-spacer! In normal typing they only skip a space though, and then only when my technique gets sloppy. As for the second issue I discovered that when the arm falls out of the center piece at the end of the ribbon this triggers the reversing mechanism, but the first few turns of ribbon do not hold it in tightly enough so it reverses again. You have to manually wind a few tight turns to proceed, but only when starting the left hand spool.
Any thoughts on this?
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: What wrong with my Super-Riter?
For the first issue: The universal bar frame behind the type bars isn't pushing the loose and rigid dogs (the thing that pivots and spaces forward the escapement wheel) far enough--it's going in-between somehow, letting it skip one or more spaces. There may be an adjustment you can make. Take off the back (you may have to remove the side panels to access the bolts holding the back on), and look at what happens when you press a key. See how far this member that pivots under the toothed wheel in the back, and see if there is an adjustment that will make that little member pivot farther. Or, it could be that it's going too far, and needs to be backed off. Try to get it to pivot farther first to see if this corrects this problem. Now for issue #2: The toggle links in the ribbon mechanism down the middle will need to be cleaned out real good, and lubed with a couple of drops of tranny fluid down them. This will need to be exercised. I've had these kinds of troubles with Underwoods and Remingtons, since both typewriters have this type of mechanism. Let me know how you come out on this deal.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- Repartee
- Key Master
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- From: Brooklyn
- Registered: 12-10-2015
- Posts: 683
Re: What wrong with my Super-Riter?
Thank you sir. Also for confirming that I have to take off the side panels to get the back off as I have wanted to get the back off to fix the bell, which only makes a faint click. I'm guessing the striker needs to be backed off as it is striking and not releasing.
Repair efforts have come to a halt and not just for the normal falling off of enthusiasm for a new activity but because I committed the freshman error of allowing available work areas to be covered by typewriters! Obviously one needs to be cleared off and made sacrosanct. But I'm not going to be taking this one apart before the end of the month because we are in the Baja 50,000 and damn it we are going to cross the finish line smoking and rattling unless the machine breaks down altogether.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
- •
Thread Starter- TypewriterKing
- Inactive Account
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
- Registered: 17-2-2016
- Posts: 1,011
Re: What wrong with my Super-Riter?
Repartee wrote:
Thank you sir. Also for confirming that I have to take off the side panels to get the back off as I have wanted to get the back off to fix the bell, which only makes a faint click. I'm guessing the striker needs to be backed off as it is striking and not releasing.
Repair efforts have come to a halt and not just for the normal falling off of enthusiasm for a new activity but because I committed the freshman error of allowing available work areas to be covered by typewriters! Obviously one needs to be cleared off and made sacrosanct. But I'm not going to be taking this one apart before the end of the month because we are in the Baja 50,000 and damn it we are going to cross the finish line smoking and rattling unless the machine breaks down altogether.
Go Get 'Em, Tiger!!
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
