You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



01-7-2014 04:16:53  #1


Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

Forgive me for not using the correct terminology here, but I have a problem with a Remington Portable's teeth.(escapement?) Picture here to show you what the dentist sees. I can't see a way to bring the two together at all. I'm wondering if the problem is over-grinding, creating a gap that can never be bridged, or whether it has suffered an accident which can be corrected somehow.
My main question is, is it worth trying to fix this? Pretty annoying, it's just five millimetres or so away from being a functioning typewriter! And yes, I am so rubbish at manipulating images that I had to fashion an oold style red pointer!

 

 

02-7-2014 05:40:05  #2


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

*Update*
Problem identified but more than I can tackle. However, this second little Remington portable in my collection will still be a writing machine one way or another!

     Thread Starter
 

02-7-2014 07:31:09  #3


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

Why not let us know what the problem was (you identified the prob - right?).  Someone here may be able to give a straightforward cure.  Worth a try.


Sincerely,
beak.
 
 

02-7-2014 07:45:59  #4


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

There is a connection between the carriage lock mechanism and the teeth. When you release the lock, the teeth should drop down snugly to meet the catch, nice and tight. But this typewriter has lost tension in that mechanism, it's very loose, and feels like there is a spring or wire that needs to be replaced. As I can't for the life of me get at the inside of the carriage workings, I can't fix this or get in there to see exactly what needs to be replaced. The platen is well stuck in place, with the screw on the end the most recalcitrant screw I ever came across! So I'm leaving off fixing this bit for now. The Remington Portables are fascinating in design, I love them, but the carriage lock is perhaps a bit over-engineered compared to the locks on later, other makes of portables.
If I do manage to fix this at some point, I'll be taking photos for future reference and I'll post them here.
In the meantime, I'm polishing it up, de-rusting and getting it ready for a conversion to a USB machine. I'll post on that - sucess or failure, later on. Still waiting for the kit.

     Thread Starter
 

05-7-2014 14:52:10  #5


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

Partial Actual Fix!
I was reading a post on the blog Retrotech Geneva the other night, about a shift key which was fixed with a rubber band. This must have been my inspiration today when I suddenly thought, "what if I held that part tight with a rubber band?" I tried it, and as you can see, it worked. I can only use half the platen, as the rubber band is preventing a full line to be typed, but that's ok with me! The typeface is 12 cpi which I was really very excited about. I'll post a proper type sample another day. But here is the rubber band fix. Crazy, huh?


and the moment I realised it had worked. I was using a used up ribbon, not wound onto the remington spools as a quick test:

the carriage was skipping until I tightened the rubber band VERY tight. You can see my surprise.
 

     Thread Starter
 

05-7-2014 23:06:54  #6


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

malole wrote:

But here is the rubber band fix. Crazy, huh? 

Crazy? Not at all: Here's one Rubber band fix, and another, more ingenious use of a rubber band.
 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

06-7-2014 04:27:55  #7


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

Ah-ha, seems a pack of rubber bands is an essential part of the typist's tool kit! Those other fixes are great. I wonder how many different rubber band fixes you can do!

     Thread Starter
 

06-7-2014 14:22:45  #8


Re: Remington Portable 2 - teggy pegs problem

I'd like to see someone replace each spring for all of the typebars with rubber bands! It would probably work, but also have the sloppiest type action you could ever imagine...


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum