- KatLondon
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- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Well, whatever - as I said, the old one is uot now and the problem I face is trying to ush sometihng into a lace where there is no sace or ga, let a lone the 'hole' that every website seems to mention.
I will try depressing the mainspring, that soubnds hopeful. The old cors is not broken - ie, nothnig is left inside. It's very clean at the end, a clean cut, and the bit that was rubbing the edge is frayed, so you can clearly see where there has been friction.
Anyway I'm working about 12 hours each today and tomorrow so this now has to wait till Wednesday...
Thanks guys!
- thetypewriterman
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 925
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
I hate to see a girl struggle ! You will have to remove the spring drum, dismantle it and very carefully un-ship the mainspring. You can then insert the new drawcord through the hole (now that the spring isn't blocking your path), you can then refit the spring so that it is trapping the end of the drawcord inside the spring drum. Then, as the 'Haynes' car repair manuals always used to glibly say - 'Reassembly is the reverse of the dismantling process' !!! Sorry, but not an easy repair. This method of securing the draw cord goes right back to the original Corona 3, so the design does have some heritage !
- KatLondon
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- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Right! Thanks, Tyepwriterman. And I hate to BE the girl who's struggling, but all the better to know how to at least struggle correctly! My job for the next two days has been postponed so maybe I'll have a go at this later. ERGGHHHH
Trust me to get the broken drawband that's more than just fiddly.
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Thread Starter- Mech
- Touch Typist
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- From: California
- Registered: 06-4-2015
- Posts: 109
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
KatLondon wrote:
Right! Thanks, Tyepwriterman. And I hate to BE the girl who's struggling, but all the better to know how to at least struggle correctly! My job for the next two days has been postponed so maybe I'll have a go at this later. ERGGHHHH
Trust me to get the broken drawband that's more than just fiddly.
Kat - I too hate that you have to struggle with this. If you get a chance, could you post a picture or pictures of the drawstring opening in your main spring drum? If the opening is similar to my 1952 Skyriter, I'll take the drawstring off my Skyriter and then attempt to re-attach it, taking photos of my own for you along the way. If I have to take the mainspring drum out, I'll take it out.
The drawstring repairs I have done recently have all been a bit different in terms of anchoring to the mainspring, but I haven't yet had to remove the drum (except for a broken mainspring repair).
- KatLondon
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- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Hi Mech,
I'll take some pictures and then I'll have a go doing what Tom says - I'm likely to struggle far less with a set of Skyriter-specific instructions, and am actually quite patient! So let\s see if we can't get mine fixed without having yours dismantled ;)
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Thread Starter- Mech
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- From: California
- Registered: 06-4-2015
- Posts: 109
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Good luck, Kat. If you run into problems and we have a similar Skyriter set-up, I'm still open to taking the drawstring off mine and re-attaching.
- KatLondon
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- Posts: 995
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Okay, so I am happy to report that I've DONE IT - and it wasn't even that hard!
I should have gone with my gut instinct that this was what I'd have to do, but it was good to have that confirmed. Basically, it was minimal intervention.
Here's the old cord. You can see: frayed, but not knotted. 
So like the Typewriterman says, I took the drum off and opened it up - the spring itself was interesting to see, but it doesn't really show in the photograph, sorry. A very, very long thin strip of flat metal, coiled round and round and filling the whole drum. I could see how it had help the cord in place, it was so tight. (& could also see how it could easily take your eye out if you tried to remove it and it sprang around the place.) But there was a little chink, maybe half a mm, near the opening where the cord had to go through. So I slid a small screwdriver in between the spring and the drum, to hold that space and slip the cord in. Then eased it slowly along along from the slot, opening up sort of 2mm at a time until there was about a cm of cord held in place by the spring.
Reassembled, ie, put front back on drum and screwed the screw in, and then all I had to do was wind the drum etc. It's working great now. 
Thanks guys! 
Last edited by KatLondon (17-6-2015 00:15:52)
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Thread Starter- KatLondon
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- From: London
- Registered: 11-10-2014
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Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Apologies for the bad images, my phne camera hates anything but perfect light levels. And also, don't worry. I don't ALWAYS use the Adler special for a table...
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Thread Starter- Mech
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- Registered: 06-4-2015
- Posts: 109
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Okay, so I am happy to report that I've DONE IT - and it wasn't even that hard!
Kat, I am so relieved that this had a happy ending. Great work - I am very glad your Skyriter is typing again.
- malole
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- From: East Anglia, UK
- Registered: 02-6-2014
- Posts: 330
Re: Replacing the drawband on a Skyriter
Bravo. Great to see it typing. Very useful pics too, thanks for sharing this fix 
