Typewriter Talk / swapping out entire keyset Royal HH

**Posted by lazydog** 21-3-2023 10:43:48

Hi all,

I am so grateful for the expertise and generosity of this forum. I post a lot of questions (don't know enough to share many answers yet), and all your willingness to share answers is such a help.

I acquired a 1955 pica Royal HH with some bad rust in the works for a song; carriage works fine. I think the keys are a lost cause; I probably broke them worse trying to get them unstuck. Live and learn.

I am pretty sure I have ANOTHER HH keyset (green tops), living in a KMG body as part of a mid 50s refurb. It is elite. That machine also has a longer carriage, but I don't think that will matter for what I am considering doing.

Which is replacing the whole keyset (is that the term: keys, arms, slugs, basket, all of it) in the rusted HH with the one from the KMG. Seems like it should be straightforward, since someone did that exact thing to the KMG at one point. Might even work better since it was made for it.

Sounds crazy, no? Any pointers or suggestions for good tutorials on how I might proceed? I could just start unscrewing things and teach myself, since neither of these machines is particularly rare or precious--but better to know something before launching in.

And was this "drop an HH into a KMM/G" a popular refurb in the 50s or 60s? Like repainting your Lettera? I have a seen a few out there.

Thanks!

**Posted by OregonJim** 21-3-2023 11:41:07

If you are changing the type slugs from pica to elite, then you'll have to change the escapement as well. The starwheel is pitched differently because the character spacing is different (10cpi vs. 12cpi).

And if they don't have the same vertical pitch (pica and elite are *usually* both 6lpi), then the line spacing mechanism on the carriage has to be swapped, too.

**Posted by lazydog** 21-3-2023 13:12:47

Well that makes sense of course--I guess what I am revealing is my complete ignorance of what is going on under there, whether escapement is "part" of key basket etc or carriage assembly. I am imagining the whole thing just slides in and out and gets bolted to the carriage and shell and if things mesh right then they are essentially interchangeable and modular. Apparently not!

This exchange is probably above my pay grade at this point...I appreciate it!

**Posted by Uwe** 21-3-2023 13:29:03

How bad are the original parts that you would even consider this? I'd love to see a photo. Rust can generally be dealt with; it might be a lot of work and more manageable for you than attempting part swapping.

**Posted by OregonJim** 21-3-2023 16:49:18

lazydog wrote:
Well that makes sense of course--I guess what I am revealing is my complete ignorance of what is going on under there, whether escapement is "part" of key basket etc or carriage assembly.

The escapement is the clock-like mechanism buried deep inside the typewriter (some are more accessible than others). There is also a rod that runs across all the typebars (the "universal bar"). When one of the typebars contacts this rod (as you type a character), it trips the escapement, causing the starwheel to "tick" the carriage one character space to the left. The escapement is usually mounted underneath the carriage rails near the center.

I don't have an HH or a KMG, but I believe a "total guts swap" would be rather involved as many of the controls (touch control, ribbon color selector, ribbon reverse, tab set/clear, etc.) would be in different locations and have different mounting hardware between the two machines.