Wow, and I thought the KMM I got a few days ago was in rough condition.  Good luck to you; I'll be interested to follow your progress.

Don't be confused by the picture. The carriage is sitting behind the main body. It just looks like it's attached because of the camera angle. At least I got all of the typebars pushed back down to lie flat now.


It's 8 Oct and things are going slowly at the rustbucket corral. I got the front cover off after fretting for several days about it. (It was easy once I figured it out). And I loosened up the type bars and basket shift. They aren't "loose" they're just moving now with considerable effort. The mainspring drum is still frozen and parts of the escapement are moving, but other parts aren't. Unless I can see some action on getting that mainspring to move I think I'm about close to putting these parts in a box on the shelf. This machine will never be usable. About half the keyrod springs have rusted so badly that they've just crumbled. And I am absolutely stumped about how to make that carriage return handle move. I've considered the difficulty of removing the lower carriage rail from this machine and perhaps putting it on a '37 KHM that I've got that won't type very well because of a warped carriage rail. But even that project is looking like a lot of work. My hands are sore from trying to "carefully" twist out rusted screws without stripping out the slot. Not an easy thing even with the help of penetrating oil and vibration!
   And I'm beginning to wonder what I can do with my other rusty friend, the Remington Standard 10 that is sitting in the corner of my garage. So this might be all she wrote for this ole dogie. Time for her to head to that big pasture in the sky.

I'd strongly recommend moving on and using both of these as parts machines. The parts from these typewriters could possibly keep many other typewriters fully functional for years to come. 

I purchased a similar set (in my case a Royal KMM and an Underwood No.5) specifically to use for parts/spares, and they look MUCH better than what you have. I personally don't understand the desire to invest a bunch of time into a rotted/rusted typewriter, when nice examples can still be found of something like a KMM for under $50. But that's just me. I'd rather use that time for other pursuits... like visiting more estate sales, flea markets, and antique stores in hunt of typewriters that have been well cared for throughout the last 50+ years, and don't need any major work. There are some amazing machines out there. Within the last 4 weeks, I have passed on a couple of 1930s colored Royal portables (a blue model and a purple one), a neat old Halda, several 1930s to 1950s Remingtons, etc., all of which were priced between $20-$75 and fully functional (funds have been tight, otherwise I would have snapped up the blue/purple Royals...). Then again, I enjoy the hunt more than the countless tedious hours spent trying to restore a decrepid old machine...

Last edited by Retro-Z (09-10-2015 03:48:26)

They both actaully look pretty decent machines for a nice COMPLETE restoration. Taken apart, rechrome parts, repaint them, that would be cool.