robmck wrote:

I've a grey-keyed 18b and the W is doing exactly this.

Anyone know how to fix it? 

Can't remember where I read it but someone proposed the idea of filling in the top of the keys with something like urethane varnish to level out the top. But this sounds a little sketchy. 

robmck wrote:

I've a grey-keyed 18b and the W is doing exactly this.

Anyone know how to fix it? 

Hey Robmck
Take a shot of that W key sometime, as it would be helpful to illustrate this issue that happens on some Torpedos. 

Finally gotten a chance to get back at this.

I've got nearly identical 1961 Torpedo 18bs, same year, only 7000 apart in serial numbers (only feature difference is typeface). The slightly newer one exhibits this problem, the other doesn't. A few months back, I really pressed the grey key-cap tops into the black key-cap bases, which worked pretty well. After a week or so of typing on it, it's just started to come back up again. It's not enough to be obvious at a glance, but you really notice it in your fingertips while typing (I've just gotten used to it because I love the feel of the key travel).

(Actually, now that I'm looking at it under a microscope, effectively, I see cracks. I don't know if that was my pressing the grey back down, or it was already there...)

I notice that on many of the keys on which the grey has started to lift, the grey plastic looks like it had leaked past the mold in the original casting. (See, especially, the W on the right half of the letter (closer to the camera)). The older machine without this problem doesn't show that. 

Here are photos of the machine with the problem (Nothing like using a macro lens on your keys to tell you it's time to clean them again). I've also included an H which does not have this problem as comparison to see how the grey sits with the black.

















And here are a few from the other typewriter that's not so bad. The grey rests above the black, but fairly uniformly.

Apologies as this machine is new to me and hasn't been cleaned at all.

FYI: The distortion of the keys found on the 18b from 1961 that I previously owned was much more noticeable than what can be seen in the photos included above. This was easy to see with the eye while seated in front of the typewriter. It was definitely noticeable to the touch (I found this to be the greatest disappointment).