Typewriter Talk / Royal Futura 800 - Hack/Modification

**Posted by Pete E.** 23-11-2020 14:55:54

I did make this new lever a bit shorter and eliminated the need to adjust in/out to the "stencil" position of the ribbon selector mechanism under the ribbon cover.

I do not use stencil so this allowed me to shorted the "travel" distance of my new conversion-lever. But taking off the conversion lever with loosening 1 screw/nut will restore the stencil feature if a future owner needed it.

Unfortunately my supply of spare paper bail levers in my parts bin is very small. Only have parts for 1-2 more Futura 800 machines and with the addition of my in-coming "cocoa" colored machine, I might try to get a "meadow green" machine in the future. But then there is that "blue" and even the "americana" machine...never end once you are on the slippery slope of collecting.

**Posted by Pete E.** 28-11-2020 17:59:07

My new-to-me "Cocoa" colored Royal Futura 800 has a new home.

After a thorough cleaning, light oiling, and a new ribbon...it is working perfectly. Very lightly used machine. Owner's name of "Richard Yee" in dyno-labels on the underside of the frame.

Also completed the ribbon selector modification to bring it outside of the ribbon cover. But this time with a lever off of an Olivetti parts machine I picked up locally for $ 10.

Bit of a touch-up needed to the paint along one corner of the back panel. I will go
to the hobby store this afternoon.

Royal sure had consistency with making these. My grey 1959 machine and this 1962 machine sound and work identically. Even having travelled different paths in their lives.

Case is excellent and even has its plastic original handle 100% intact.

**Posted by steini** 29-11-2020 01:50:20

I think typewriter model is as beautiful as a bad typer ;) I almost choked when you called silky! The one I had at least was quite bad, maybe it was abused in the past by a clumsy typist, but my feeling was that the materials and the building tolerances were the cause of not giving the best results. In a way it felt a bit more like the Optima Elite 3, very nice looking, but a bit raw and basic, absolutely nothing to do with the smoothness of a Olympia SM series or an Olivetti 44 for example.

**Posted by Pete E.** 29-11-2020 09:26:08

For the immaculate-conditoned Futura 800's in my collection, I would rate them just a bit below my Olympia SM3, dead even with my SM7, and a bit better than my SM9. But I like my Aztec 600 (aka Rheinmettal KtS) and my AMC (aka Alpina) even more than these Olympia and Royal machines.

**Posted by biermeister1** 20-12-2020 16:24:23

Cool mod! Gorgeous machine, and just as importantly--case condition looks excellent! The handles seem to break on these. To chime into the thread, I have two of these--and a *bunch* of other machines--and these are among the best typers, really well built, and cool looking. I've never found a QDL that matched these, maybe I've had bad luck. Having said this, I can't seem to kick my love of Olympia as the best, but...so many variables

**Posted by Pete E.** 21-12-2020 09:59:15

These leather replacement handles work really well and the leather is even padded inside the leather. I gt them at this place on-line and they ship very quickly. The leather handle comes with its own D-rings and only downside is they do not lay flat like the original plastic ones.

https://www.brettunsvillage.com/trunks/trunk-parts/suitcase-handles/

**Posted by Guth** 22-12-2020 12:14:31

This was a very nicely done modification. Your final choice for the lever to activate the ribbon position selector was a good one as it nicely compliments the overall look and color scheme of this particular example. I've only had the opportunity to try one Futura 800 myself. Sadly, the typing performance did not match that which you've described with the Futura's that you have personally encountered. Had that been the case I would have purchased the typewriter as I'm quite fond of the design in general. It's good to know that there are others out there that are spoken of highly as I wouldn't mind owning a Futura 800 at some point in the future.

**Posted by Pete E.** 22-12-2020 20:46:42

Hi Guth, a few months back I bought a meadow-green Futura 800 on-line. It was a real dog and had none of the tightness and precision of my first machine I had at the time (my grey-on-grey one). Seller had a return policy and even paid for the return trip. All I lost money-wise was getting it to my home, initially, in the post for $ 38 or so. I was glad to be rid of it.

**Posted by Pete E.** 26-12-2020 12:59:02

Here is the inside view of the finished modification for my Cocoa-colored Futura 800 :

**Posted by Guth** 27-12-2020 00:37:47

Of course, you'll need to issue the appropriate part numbers and then update the Futura 800 Parts Reference Microfiche as soon as possible.