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Frustrating! I am bringing back to life bit by bit a 1946 Underwood Universal portable. I keep trying bending the wire that doubles as the clapper, and just keep getting a soft <tuk> rather than a <ping>. This is black arts, indeed. Anyone have inside tips?
I had the same trouble in tuning up an SX-150. Underwood 's use of a wire connection from the margin mechanism rather than a "harder" connection would seem to make for more adjustability, but it's harder to get right.
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Is your bell hammer springing back? If it continues to rest on the bell, it will dampen the noise. I see this issue with the three bank model, the striker tends to rest on the bell preventing it from vibrating. Bells that receive one sharp strike and no contact afterwards ring very well...they also need to be secure though. Or, it could just be an issue with the bell. Perhaps it wasn’t tuned properly and it’s just a bad bell. You can always hold it up by the post and strike it with a screwdriver or something.
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The bell dings fine when you strike it with something else. It also rings when I manually pull the striker away from it and release it. It's just when it operates normally while moving the carriage or using the spacebar or typing that it doesn't ring. I've compared the striker position with that of a couple of other similar Underwoods I have, and the striker on those rests right next to the bell. Black arts, as I said!
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Contact the local witch?
Or perhaps the mechanism on the carriage isn’t raising the striker high enough? Or it’s pinning it down somehow...
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There is a bell trip adjustment screw on the left of the carriage frame pointer. Perhaps that needs some fiddling to trip it just the right amount.
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Hmm, I'll have to look for that. The Ames manual makes no mention of this. Thanks.