selectrics wrote:

Silicone spray works fine in the segment.

I wouldn't recommend it. The segment was designed to run dry, and when properly cleaned an 80-year-old segment will work as well as the day it was first assembled. If you have to rely on any type of lubricant to keep the type bars moving through the segment then it needs more attention than a shot from a spray can.  
 

And can I dunk one with soapy water and oven dry it?

I wouldn't recommend it.  First, you'd still have water inside the machine in little bitty corners where the heat couldn't get to it--unless you had the oven on so high you melt all the rubber and plastic on the machine.  If you want a good cheap solvent, charcoal starter will degrease just about anything.  Diesel is even cheaper, but a little bit more oily.  If you get a typewriter too dry--especially if you live near the coast or if the humidity is like Florida or Central Texas, you'll have rust issues sooner or later.  Besides, too dry a machine will also be fairly stiff and ponderous to use.

Uwe wrote:

I use Comet, which surely has to be available in your particular area. And you need to rinse it well after cleaning it; you don't want any residue of the cleaning product left to dry on the machine. To dry it I use a combination of blowing air and natural heat from the sun (a problem during winter months were I live) because my oven doesn't go low enough to safely dry a typewriter in it. Eventually I'll get around to just making a custom drying oven for the shop, but for now the method I'm using works quite well.

 
Thanks Uwe, exactly the advice I was looking for. I have a can somewhere... so this won't harm the paint?

And King, I'm drying it in the oven with no rubber on it, no feet or platen or anything. I don't think there's that much more rubber. Besides 130 isn't that high. Hopefully.

Uwe wrote:

???

Dunk cleaning is a thorough method of cleaning and degreasing a filthy machine, and it's a technique that was used by professional repairmen, some of whom would have owned typewriter washing machines and dryers that would have done the work for them. And you don't just dunk clean and dry a machine, you have to lubricate it - properly - once you are done. If there's a component that is subject to rusting because you live in a humid environment, it will rust regardless of whether or not the machine has been dunk cleaned.

Please don't misunderstand me--I never said anything against dunk cleaning.  In fact, if I had a dunk tank, I would be making full use of it.  But, bear in mind that they don't use soap and water in these things.  There are special solvents that typewriter repairmen order--special degreasers.  I have pestered enough typewriter repairmen as a youth to know that.  I also know that there are similar setups in automotive and heavy equipment garages that perform the same function.  I used to use these parts washers as a mechanic in an equipment rental shop some years ago.  And, yes, they used special solvents and degreasers very similar to what a typewriter shop would use.  The only gripe I would have about one would be that the fluid could get old, used, and full of dirt--but that's a replacement of cleaning fluid issue,  and one would have to balance out keeping the fluid somewhat fresh and the expense of doing so.