Typewriter Talk / AT&T 6310 SureSpell 2

**Posted by Bill** 22-3-2014 13:35:10

Hello folks,

I live in Colorado where we had major flooding all over the state last year, As a result of that, I was asked to see if I could get an AT&T 6310 SureSpell typewriter cleaned up and working again for a woman who is 82 and does not deal with computers well. The carriage would not move all the way (when off), after investigating, I found a tinny piece of sand stuck inside the stepper motor gears. With that removed it was all fine. I took the safe route and clean the circuit board and keyboard before turning it on. Once all that was done, I was shocked that it all worked just fine. Now here's the unfortunate part...

The correction key was missing from the keyboard. So I fabricated something that would work (a pencil shaft and some gorilla tape) just to depress the rubber switch inside. That worked fine. So now, since it was all working, I got interested in the features. The keyboard has dual function keys marked in blue. Presumably, you hold down the "code" button and press another blue labeled button to get one of the functions engaged. It has things like "Text Memory" where you can type into a buffer and have the text stored for recall later. So, in fooling around, I got it into a mode that I cannot get it back out of (or now its really broken :-(. Now, as I type, the text only appears in the little LCD window until I hit "return". Then it types it all out. So it seems to be in a mode of some sort. It remains this way even after I turn it off and/or unplug it.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

Last edited by Bill (22-3-2014 13:37:22)

**Posted by Uwe** 22-3-2014 17:09:43

Hi Bill, and welcome to TT!

Maybe try this? It's the reset process for a Nakajima electronic; the company made many private label machines, but I'm not sure AT&T was one of its customers.

To reset the machine back to factory settings do the following:
1. Switch off the machine.
2. While holding down the Margin Release key switch it back ON.
3. The machine should begin typing a pre-programmed test page.
4. Let it run for 5 seconds, then switch the machine OFF again.
5. Wait another 5 seconds and switch it back ON.
6. The typewriter should be restored to its factory settings.

Note: This will clear everything in its memory!

**Posted by Bill** 22-3-2014 19:42:15

Uwe, you just made an old lady in Colorado REAL happy :-)

Your instructions worked except that I needed to use the number 1 & 2 keys. There was a sticker on it that said for a demo, hold down 1 & 2 keys and power it on. So I tried those per your instructions and it worked!

Thanks a bunch!

**Posted by Uwe** 22-3-2014 23:01:38

Good news Bill.

Actually, I'm surprised that she can use such a machine and not a computer given how complicated word processing typewriters can be. Regardless, it's nice to see that typewriters still serve a practical use for those who aren't hardcore collectors.

**Posted by Bill** 22-3-2014 23:26:57

She does use the computer also. She just wanted this back as well. Everything makes an emotional difference in this case.

Speaking of collectors...., I spent about four years working on slectrics and ever since have had great admiration for the mechanical engineers of that time. Now a senior software engineer, i appreciate the binary mechnical nature of tilt & rotate even more. I keep thinking about getting one dunked (if anyone in the world does that anymore) and putting it on display with the hand-crank to do slow-moes for the young engineers around.... can't hand-crank an iPad :-)

Last edited by Bill (22-3-2014 23:27:39)

**Posted by Uwe** 23-3-2014 13:35:14

Bill wrote:
I keep thinking about getting one dunked (if anyone in the world does that anymore)

Are you referring to dunk cleaning? I can't imagine doing that to a Selectric, so I suspect the term means something else. ;-)

**Posted by Bill** 23-3-2014 15:09:23

Yep, as well as repairing them, we had very large cleaning contracts for one publisher and also Avon that we did once in a while. Maybe the Boss wanted to do it faster/easier, me I just followed orders : -) We had a special setup with two chemical tanks (3'x3') with lids on them and an air booth. One tank had some sort of solvent or something that eats grease/oil and the other was an oil bath. I thought the solvent was something special but I don't recall. Striping them down did not take long, then they sat for several hours in the chemical bath. After that, they hung above the chemical tank overnight to drain. Then the air booth and maybe water, then hung up again so as to not transfer the solvent to the oil bath. After that they got dunked in the oil bath (again special light oil of some sort). The oil bath also had hangers so you could hang them above the bath to drain overnight. After all this, the internals simply shined.... I'd probably stop at the cleaning and not oil it, it I were to display it. Some day maybe.....

Last edited by Bill (23-3-2014 15:10:47)

**Posted by Uwe** 23-3-2014 15:19:40

Fascinating! It's interesting to know how professionals back in the day did this type of chore in bulk compared to those of us with our laundry tubs and heat guns. ;-)

**Posted by phxxer** 03-4-2014 11:00:46

A little late to the party, but it sounds like you got her typewriter into "line by line" mode, often shown as L/L on a button, maybe hit a mode or code button and hold it down. These are usually toggle switches. Each time it is pressed, it reverses the current action. At least that is how it works on my Brother Word Processors. Yes, I have 3 of them. I find them fascinating, especially when they type every other line backwards, from right to left.