Greetings my fellow typewriter enthusiasts!
I am planning to buy a mid-century(ish) standard typewriter, a workhorse that could type some really dense books without a problem, a smooth and high quality tank that could stand half a century only with basic cleaning (maybe a bit exaggerated, I hope you get the hyperbole).
Among the different models I am considering is the Underwood Touchmaster 5, I love the front margin setup and the bulky design. However a typewriter technician told me that such model (as the Touchmaster 2 and the Typemaster apparently), uses a ball chain that tends to break and would be really hard to find a replacement, so he doesn't recommends me such machine considering the use I plan to give it.
I know what chain the technician is talking about, however I am not sure if it actually breaks with ease, neither what it does or found any information about it getting damaged, and I wouldn't like to discard a machine for something that maybe can be ignored or fixed easily (also I am quite curious now). So my questions are, can the machine keep working even if that chain breaks? Is that chain related with the automatic spool inversion or movement? Can that chain be replaced by any other ball chain or belt?
. . . Should I instead consider other models like the Facit T2, Olympia SG3 (the black keys one) or the Royal 440?
Thanks on advance and excuse my English 