I've now seen twelve platens, and although generally "hard," some are quite able to take an indent by fingernail.  How "squishy" is a new (general use) platen?  Thoughts on turboplaten vs. JJ

- Generally, if it the rubber gives to a fingernail, it still has some life left (there might even be some pitting as well). I personally enlist the service of JJ Short for my machines. Wonderful quality and excellent customer service. I think they also provide discounts for multiple platens of the same core type.

I would be very interested to know if anyone here has tried a 'Turboplaten', and what they think of it.  I wasn't aware of this until recently, but from what I have seen on the internet, I wonder if it grips the paper as well as a rubber one would.  I don't doubt that the impressions work fine, as long as the material has a similar reilience to rubber of course.

Why would anyone buy a so-called Turboplaten?

According to its inventor, the product is a result of home experimentation, which led him to use PVC tubing as a replacement for rubber. PVC can be nasty stuff, and I’m not buying this shade tree mechanic’s answer to the replacement of worn platens.

Reading over his claims only supports my hesitation.

First, he boasts about the platen’s durability based on a ten-year-old test subject that was only subjected to “general and sporadic usage”. I have rubber platens three times that old, and have seen three times the action, and are still performing as they should - not to mention they're still soft enough for safe use.

He also claims that the Turboplaten "is more resilient than rubber, hence more responsive to the strike of the typeslug [sic], increasing the speed of typebar [sic] retraction”. In other words he’s trying to convince us that PVC is better at absorbing impact than rubber, and as a result it kicks back the type bar faster, which in turn presumably makes your typewriter faster.

Nonsense.

Has he actually performed objective, scientifically accurate testing to substantiate that claim? If so, let’s see it. Based on what he’s saying I’m not convinced that he even understands how a type bar actually works.

He goes on to state that PVC “doesn't decompose like rubber, [and] outlasts by a significant -- and still increasing -- margin.”

He’s right. PVC doesn’t decompose like rubber, it decomposes like polyvinyl chloride, which is a synthetic plastic – and it’s not a pretty thing. If you’re not already familiar with the subject, I strongly recommend that you read up on the realities of PVC degradation, microplastics, and how we ingest them, and then try to convince me that it’s a wonder replacement for rubber.

Finally, he claims that he’s sold around six hundred Turboplatens. That could very well be true; however, whether it’s because I don’t pay enough attention to typewriter bloggers, or don’t know that many collectors who are willing to replace a platen, I’ve yet to come across anyone’s first-hand experience with one. This forum has over 2,000 members, presumably all of them here because of their interest in typewriters, and yet I can't recall anyone having ever gushed about – let alone mention – the Turboplaten.

A Turboplaten will apparently run you USD$100. Yipes, that’s quite an investment considering that the vast majority of my typewriters cost me less than half that price. I’ll admit that it’s been a while since I priced a traditional rubber replacement, but aren’t they cheaper? And even if they were comparably priced, I know that a rubber replacement, given that I’m middle-aged, will last me the rest of my life. And for the sake of preserving the appearance of my machines, rubber (or cork) is a period-accurate material.

Uwe wrote:

A Turboplaten will apparently run you USD$100. Yipes, that’s quite an investment considering that the vast majority of my typewriters cost me less than half that price. I’ll admit that it’s been a while since I priced a traditional rubber replacement, but aren’t they cheaper?

JJ Short generally costs between $65-$80 plus shipping both ways. It can vary depending on the size of the platen, whether it has a stepped core, and whether the platen rubber requires special alterations to accommodate the hardware. I think Debarth still does platens as well, and costs more than JJ Short.

I don't know why anyone would choose a Turboplaten when there is JJ Short. I have no experience with Turboplatens, but JJ Short is an established rubber company with extensive experience, materials, tools, and capabilities. Turboplatens are one guy's DIY solution. I am not saying he is without talent, but why would one choose a DIY job over having a platen recovered with the correct materials using the correct methods? I have had many platens recovered by JJ Short. They are the real deal and do excellent work.