Typewriter Talk / Scheidegger Princess

**Posted by Pete E.** 27-12-2023 14:20:23

Service completed this morning. Now we are both back in our warm home.

Added new felt to the ribbon cover and some small pieces of felt to the metal stops for the space bar to knock down that space-bar racket.

In the spring when outdoor painting weather returns, I will plan to add an ivory colour to the top of the typewriter case-lid to brighten it up a bit.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 28-12-2023 20:15:14

Forgot to mention.

The Princess-Matic with its bottom plate in place weighs in at 11.0 lbs.

My Olympia SF weighs in at 9.8 lbs. and the Travellers come in around 10.2 lbs.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 29-12-2023 11:23:34

This morning I emailed Richard Polt my photo-scans of the 4-page user-guide for the Scheidegger Princess-Matic typewriter.

He should have it posted up on his Typewriter Manuals web page in a week or so. In the section for "Princess" machines :

https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-manuals.html

Currently on his web site, he has a user-guide for the Princess 300 machine...but that is only 2 pages in length.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 30-12-2023 17:03:05

A Princess "Futura" is running on eBay out of Spain this week.

Probably near the end of the Princess production-run. New body cowlings but the mechanicals seems like they are still there from their 300 heritage.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 01-1-2024 11:03:46

Found this bit of info. about the Princess Futura/Norma on a German language web site and did a translation...Princess Norma/Futura were manufactured in Germany from 1964 to 1968. 11 They were continued in the Bulgarian production as Maritsa 13 (Norma) and Maritsa 23 (Futura).

Here is the link to that web site :

https://www.typewriters.ch/collection-2/princess/

**Posted by Laurenz van Gaalen** 01-1-2024 13:09:00

And here is the link to JvC's video about the Maritsa 11:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wPfJ4XMIZtM

**Posted by Pete E.** 01-1-2024 20:20:31

1954 Princess-Matic on the left and 1961 Olympia Splendid 99 on the right.

My top-prize goes to the Princess-Matic.

Besides having a full Tabulator with set/clear...it is a heavy machine, feels more robust, and there is no side-to-side play of the key-tops. It also allows me to type a bit faster with its key-slugs returning with more snap/punch. There are also the key-tops which are a bit larger in size and it gives the feeling that have a bit more spacing amongst the key-tops.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 05-1-2024 12:23:45

Last bit of colour splash...
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**Posted by AndrewP** 06-1-2024 03:33:14

What paint material do you use for a key-cap?

I would worry that the paint would not hold up to daily use (especially if fingernails scratch it).

**Posted by Pete E.** 06-1-2024 08:18:04

Krylon spray paint (for metal and plastics).

I have 2-3 years on some of my key-top re-paints and do not see any wear on the paint. But I do type with my fleshy finger tips and my finger-nails do not get involved.

I let the painted key-tops dry/cure for 2-3 days in my warm home before I replace them back on the machine.
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