Typewriter Talk / A question about the Underwood Touch Master 5

**Posted by Argio** 16-9-2018 22:01:55

Thanks for the note, I will have it in mind.
And of course I shall post pictures of my findings in the proper subforums or site as well of my current typewriters.

**Posted by UnderwoodStd** 29-9-2018 09:12:02

Argio wrote:
A fairly important function for such little chain, well that discards it for now, maybe in the future I will try to make some repair experiments if I acquire a Touchmaster. I think I could find an Olympia SG3 in fairly good condition, made in Germany hopefully. The Hermes Ambassador seems like a really good option as well, thanks.

I have a Touchmaster and what broke was not the chain but a plastic gear in the ribbon drive which split, if I recall correctly..A repair with wire and epoxy is holding, but then, no novels.Plastic gears and ball chains seem like an Achilles heel for such a doughty typewriter.

**Posted by Argio** 02-10-2018 07:10:47

It seem like an Achilles heel indeed.
I hope eventually to get a damaged example for repair experiments.

**Posted by Shifty** 23-2-2022 11:21:55

Royal HH will solve all your problems. Absolute beast of a machine with an excellent touch. Designed to be flogged.

**Posted by Beachycove** 24-2-2022 09:57:12

To be honest, I can’t see the chain breaking as it is sprung and so has a built-in shock absorber. Plus, it’s a ball chain, made of good quality steel. Those things are pretty robust, and they are not subject to very much tension. The same ball chain mechanism goes back to the earlier 1950s machines, and has been reliable.

The weakness in the T-M Five seems more commonly to lie in the entirely separate tab brake mechanism. I recently had to tweak one of mine (I have a couple) by adding a shim and by shaving off some plastic on a gear, but if it were to get really bad, it would be possible to find a machinist just to make another gear, which is all we are talking about. The original plastics in the mechanism are just laid on top of metal, so as far as I can see, while they are there to make the mechanism smooth and quiet, and though tending to cracks, they are not ultra-fragile. The other solution would be just to remove the brake.

But I am not living in fear of a failure happening — all this talk about dark plastics lurking in the Touch-Master Five is overblown.

**Posted by M. Höhne** 24-2-2022 12:17:16

My TouchMaster Five works very well now but it came to me with a very rough carriage movement in both directions. Normally you would look to the carriage track or the escapement interface but it turned out that what I had to fix was the Tab Brake. The problem was that the large plastic gear (Strangely, it was molded over a metal strengthening disk intended to make it more durable.) had developed many cracks radiating out from the hub and caused an expansion of the gear tooth circle which of course interfered with the rack.

I compressed the outer diameter back to normal with an ordinary hose clamp and poured a layer of epoxy around the surface of the gear. After it set, the brake runs as smooth as it was designed to. A bit of luck is that JB Weld's gray color is close to the gear's color so the repair even looks good.

It is nice that it is so easy to get to and the self-contained mechanism comes off with two screws. Yes, you could just remove it, but that big carriage is a lot of weight to be flying freely. If your gear isn't too far gone, it's worth fixing. Or 3D print one.

**Posted by Beachycove** 25-2-2022 14:12:13

That is very helpful — same problem on mine, but less severe. Your solution is a much better one than mine. Will have a look at it again in this light!

**Posted by Lucas Dul** 27-2-2022 16:12:41

I'll weigh in here a little. Last summer I serviced a lovely touch master 5 for an elderly gentleman who had used it a lot over the decades. The ball chain is a very low stress part and I don't think it is at all likely to break via normal use. It is totally replaceable by a capable tech though, so I wouldn't be terribly worried about it. They are reliable machines, that's for sure, and they have a wonderfully light touch. Much lighter than the earlier classic models. Very robust and refined, I doubt you would find any issues with one that has been well-cared for and maybe even serviced recently.