On Fri, 8 Feb 2008 00:12:37 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Feb 7, 1:40*am, wrote:
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.

Hi,
First of all its unlikely to be a worn drive belt, teeth do strip off
the belts but you would soon see that. The carriage return is
controlled by a spring clutch on the right hand shaft, it is operated
by a white nylon clutch that presses against it, odds are the clutch
has oil on it, causing it to slip,so spray it clean, do the same with
similar spring clutch next to it. (Oil on these springs causes slow
Carriage return and tab) Selectrics are driven by spring clutches, the
main one is the drive clutch which is driven by the black drive belt,
this one drives the golfball selection, (a worn one causes the
character print to hesitate) it does wear and is a sod to replace, so
a quick fix if its slipping is to pump thick grease into it, there
should be a lub point on it somewhere. All of the spring clutches on
old machine are probably worn so the above info is not in the manual
but what engineers did for a quick fix in the days of selectrics. Also
between the tab and carriage return clutches are two circular cams
these are sometimes slow to release, they also wear one of them
controls spacebar, no real quick fix on that, the pawl on them wears,
that needs replacement, easy if you can obtain a pawl. PS This is from
memory from my IBM days some 30 yrs ago. (Ink ribbons constanly fed
through reversing automatically and you replaced them when the print
got too faint)
Good luck.

My suggestions might not have been very good, I can't tell for
certain. I'm not the OP but I've saved your posts and I'm going to
try to fix my Selectric properly with their help. Thanks

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)