Ah, Tim here again.  Found some spare time and just threw some coal into my old Strombrowski, Dowkowicz steam powered typing machine, from my old days in the KGB . Naw, the Qwerkywriter S is the cat’s azz.

I gave away my old Galaxie deluxe to a nice young high school girl who showed a real interest in the old manual typewriters.  Had the Galaxie at the Tim Hortons and she got on it and you should have seen the delight in her eyes.  She said she would give a lung for something like this so I just said, it’s yours.  Buy something better when you can get to that point, and give this to somebody who has the spark like you.

I did the eBay thing on a professionally and respectfully restored 1926 #10.  What a nice crisp typer.  It has chrome ribbon spools that just steals the show.  You can see them move as you type.  Also has the white keys which have that gorgeous yellow patina.  A wonder to type on.  Also picked up a 1950 Underwood Rhythm Touch.  Was missing the back plate and the chrome on the bottom and the button for the ribbon reverse. Cleaned it up nicely and it has become my go to typer.  Those Bakelite tombstone keys are lovely.

I snapped up an absolutely perfect, completely new, 1969 Hermes 3000.  I would have to say that this is the best typing machine I have ever run across.  Way, way, overbuilt  and solid.  Hard to believe it can get any better than this.

I sit with the old retired ladies at the coffee shop and when talking about my typewriter obsession one of them said she had an old one in the case in the basement and hadn’t used it since the seventies when the ribbon lift quit working.  She gave it to me for free and I played around with it until the mechanism played itself out to me and a little prying got it working.  All cleaned up, this 1949 Quiet deluxe in a very nice linen case is my new coffee shop typer.

Those are the four I got on the go.  I sourced out the backplate and chrome and a spare platen for the Underwood but am still looking for the ribbon reverse spoiler button for the side.  If anybody out there has a spare one, please contact me. 

Anyway, since this is getting long, It’s very nice to find a place where you can pull up a chair next to the fire and chat with others who have these similar interests. 

Talk to you soon,

Timbo

Hi, I'm Sandro, checking in.
I'm not a collector, more like an enthusiast user. Every now and then, I want to write something, and if the work does not proceed (wordprocessors  are eraser-tolerant, incouraging endless afterthoughts) on my computers i fire up my very early  Lettera 32 or (more likely ) my Studio 44.  Sometimes it is just the pleasure of hearing and feeling something pleasantly mechanic.  I also discovered something totally unexpected: typing in daylight hours being  a sort of socially tolerated noise, typing has powerful 'collateral' effects as a noise deterrent from loud neighbours.  As a direct consequence, I sourced a nice well-used 1954 Remington Quiet-Riter , dark wrinkled grey, with Italian QZERTY keyboard, always wanted a Remington since admiring some antique Standard model in childhood. I  properly cleaned it (well it was a case-sitter, so no real need but anyway spent an afternoon doing it), ordered and installed a correct new fresh ribbon  (damn, Remington spools are truly nice to look at and play with, but messy! Reels are much much cleaner to handle for the uninitiated), and success! I discovered it is a much enjoyable machine to type on. I bought it for the peculiar name, and indeed with all that soundproofing materials inside, it is really quieter then most Olivetti machines,  and also for the fantastic 50s aesthetic. I have also a working 1953  Hermes Baby, also QZERTY, bought for the design and the long history of this beautiful model.
I don't know how this will evolve as I have little space and even less sparetime... but the seed is growing :-)

Hi, I just wanted to finally pop in and say Hi!

I've been registered on here way longer than I realised without a single post. I dont pop in often but I enjoy rummaging around and picking up tips and tricks.

I own a Olivetti Lettera 32 that I picked up around the end of 2017. It took me a while to figure out the ribbon and a few other things but now I have a printout of a manual, a new ribbon that fits and a bit more practice under my belt.

I've given the machine a clean over and made some adjustments so it types much better but I am really just doing the minimum as I have no real clue!

Anyway, wanted to make a post and join in the community.

Hi to all onboard. I have a technical question regarding a Brother 215 portable. Only the top half of the letter a A hits the Platen. All of the rest of the letters  work quite well. I can't seem to figure out why. Everything is aligned and matches all other parts. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.
 

Hello John, and welcome to TT. 

This thread is dedicated to self-introductions for new members. If you need technical advice please post those questions in the Maintenance & Repairs sub-forum. Thanks.