Typewriter Talk / Olympia SGE A62 Electric - In-Bound...

**Posted by Pete E.** 03-2-2022 18:45:31

Fed Express confirmed today this Olympia SGE A62 has begun its travels from Salt Lake City, Utah to the Boise, Idaho area.

Should have the big heavy box by Saturday. Total shipping weight with packaging is 53-54 lbs.

Fingers crossed that the folks at SGW took my suggestions and packed it well for its trip.

More photos after it spends some time on my work-bench.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 05-2-2022 14:49:47

Few hours in the garage with major clean-up and service.

Only issue still needing attention is that the red-ribbon is a bit sticky and sometimes rises up properly and other times only half-way giving letters on paper a 2-tone look.

Everything else works perfectly.

Odd thing...the long Tab bar (or what I thought was a Tab bar) above the numbers-row is just a stationary, "dummy" bar that does not move and has no function. The Tab key is at the upper left side of the key-board just above the capital-lock key-top.
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**Posted by Pete E.** 05-2-2022 14:51:55

This was my $ 9.99 "win" on Shop Goodwill and with S/H...it set me back a total of $ 40 USD.

**Posted by fountainpensplus** 05-2-2022 16:47:18

Nice Pete! One question since it looks so similar to my recent SKE; are the red keys extra sensitive? If I even barely dawdle (and I mean barely) I will get two periods with mine. George

**Posted by Pete E.** 05-2-2022 17:11:14

Hi George,

Yes the red-keys can give you more strikes than what you want. I still use the "chicken peck" technique when I type. Pretending the key are hot so I want strike and get off quickly.

My new SGE A62 has a touch control lever that actually does work. When I set mine to "heavy" strike, the problem with the red keys is reduced.

I think keeping the levers & mechanisms below the red-keys as clean as possible helps, too.
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**Posted by fountainpensplus** 05-2-2022 17:20:45

Thanks Pete. Noted and something to see if the SKE can be tempered. I have all my fingers on the keys which is not an issue with a manual for me but has been with an electric or even my computer keyboard. Particularly when it gets late, I'm tired and one of the fingers feels the extra pull of gravity.

**Posted by Pete E.** 05-2-2022 21:03:55

View under its skirt...

Heard from a 25+ year typewriter technician and another fellow who was a salesman for about the same amount of time (on the FaceBook Group for Olmpia SG machines) that the Model SGE A62 was sold to schools only for student use. Reason believed for the deletion of the paper support and the paper injector features.

Dealer could not submit an order to Olympia unless they had a purchase order from a school in hand.
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**Posted by thetypewriterman** 06-2-2022 05:56:10

We didn't get the SGE 62 here in the UK, only the SGE50. Olympia then launched the SGE60 around 1975 which didn't sell because it was unreliable, and then the SGE65 which was a modified SGE60. This was also troublesome, and the Olympia dealer that I was working for at the time was paid a small fortune by the manufacturers to modify SGE65s on site that they had sold direct to government offices. I seem to remember that the carriage return clutch was a big source of trouble. Dealer resistance to the SGE65 was so high that Olympia had to re-introduce the recently-discontinued SGE50 or lose sales. The rumour was that Olympia had already sold the tooling for this machine to Optima/Erika in East Germany and therefore had to buy the machines back from behind the Iron Curtain. Clever old East Germany told them that they would only supply if they took Erika portables as well - hence the sudden appearance of the Olympia Regina (a disguised Erika). Although old technology, being basically an electrified SG3, the SGE50 was an excellent, reliable machine. It's only Achillies heel was that the pivot on the plastic shift cam would wear in time, causing the cam to wobble from side to side until it broke completely. A bit of a pain to change but not impossible by any means.

**Posted by Pete E.** 06-2-2022 11:08:30

Hi Tom,

Thank you so much for the back story and history of these machines. I always appreciate your time in posting.

I will be sure to keep on eye on that plastic shift cam, too.

BTW...my SGE A62 has frame and carriage serial numbers that match.

I was also looking for some inventory-tag on the machine but could not find one. I remember all the machines in my school typing classes had a permanent metal tag that was screwed onto the machines...with School ID number and District name. I am thinking that maybe this one went elsewhere. I would think a school/student machine would show much more physical wear. This one is pretty immaculate with only 1-2 minor chips in the paint that can easily be missed.

Only part of this machine that I do not like is finding the available real-estate on which to park it. I had no appreciation for how large and heavy this beast is...

**Posted by Pete E.** 06-2-2022 13:10:00

Here is a reply I received over on the FaceBook group...

" Regardless of the intent of these machines, some did make it to the general population by a few of the unscrupulous dealers who would purchase some of these with fraudulent school purchase orders. Theses machines cost considerably less for schools which made them profitable to sell to the retail market. Not saying this happened with this one. Just a possibility that would explain the good condition as school machines got really beat up. "
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