On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 17:29:31 +1000, "Larry" wrote:
hemyd wrote:
: wrote in message
: ...
: : I recently picked up an IBM Selectric I at a goodwill for a whopping
: : $5. For the most part it is working ok. It has one weird flaw (or at
: : least weird to me). When you press the space bar nothing happens
: : for a few seconds. Then the carriage moves forward a space. Same
: : thing with
: : the tab and backspace keys. The return key has the same problem.
: : Although it takes about 30 seconds to do anything. Is this anything
: : I
: : can fix myself? I had an IBM Selectric II a while ago. I only ever
: : lubed it once, although it was IBM oil that came with it when I
: : bought
: : it used, therefore I wouldn't know what to get to service this one.
: :
: : One more question. I'm pretty sure that this selectric has the cloth
: : reusable ribbon. What does it mean by "reusable" and is there any
: : way
: : I can reuse it? It is printing fine now, only a tad faded. But still
: : perfectly readable.
: : Thanks
: : Alex
:
: From experience - a lot of experience fixing these, but over two
: decades ago, although the problem may be due to wear, it may simply
: be that the machine has been sitting around too long doing nothing. I
: have found on numerous occasions this causes many mechanisms to
: "gunge up" with dried oil and dirt, and go stiff. On the right hand
: side of under the carriage (you have to remove the two black plastic
: covers under the golfball carrier), there are two wheels (cams) on
: the central shaft. They get tripped to activate the spacebar,
: backspace and carriage return. The pawls which engage the ratchet
: once they are tripped cause the cam to turn. It's possible that the
: pawls have gone stiff. A good washout with kero, then a relube, may
: be beneficial. It could fix many faults on these.
:
: Henry Mydlarz
Henry,
You sound like you worked for the Corp during my era with them. 30 yrs with
IBM Canada - now living in Hervey Bay. I see you are also in Australia -
Contact me, if you wish at
Cheers,
Don't overlook lubing the felt wipers on the print shaft. Thats the
one with the groove in it that holds the carrier. Just drop some
3-in-1 oil on the shaft and tab/carriage return it a few times. This
should make the carrier escape faster. As was pointed out in an
earlier post there are two spring clutches under the plastic cover on
the right hand side if the tension spring is broken, the CR is real
slow.
Don also ex IBM service