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

wrote in message
...

I'm pretty sure 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.

There are two types of ribbons. The older type is cloth soaked with ink.
Cloth ribbons can be used over and over, until there isn't enough ink left
to give a good impression. The ribbon spools automatically reverse at the
end of the roll; there's no need to "rewind" them. Cloth ribbons can be
re-inked, but are usually thrown away. It isn't worth the trouble, and it's
hard to re-ink a red+black ribbon.

The newer type is carbon film -- carbon pigment on a thin plastic base. When
the ribbon is struck, almost all the pigment is transferred to the paper, so
the ribbon can't be used again. These are designed to run in one direction,
and are discarded after a single use. They're used because the impression
simply looks better -- it's solid, without any cloth pattern.

I believe Smith-Corona made carbon-film ribbons that had enough pigment to
be used several times, but I'm not sure.

On Feb 6, 7:58 pm, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
wrote in message

...

I'm pretty sure 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.

There are two types of ribbons. The older type is cloth soaked with ink.
Cloth ribbons can be used over and over, until there isn't enough ink left
to give a good impression. The ribbon spools automatically reverse at the
end of the roll; there's no need to "rewind" them. Cloth ribbons can be
re-inked, but are usually thrown away. It isn't worth the trouble, and it's
hard to re-ink a red+black ribbon.

Where is the best place to buy replacement ribbons? The ribbon I have
currently is only black so I would assume that I can only use an all
black ribbon.

The newer type is carbon film -- carbon pigment on a thin plastic base. When
the ribbon is struck, almost all the pigment is transferred to the paper, so
the ribbon can't be used again. These are designed to run in one direction,
and are discarded after a single use. They're used because the impression
simply looks better -- it's solid, without any cloth pattern.

Can I use a carbon film ribbon on this typewriter? I think heard
somewhere that they aren't interchangeable.

Thanks
Alex

Can you use Google?

On Feb 6, 8:33*pm, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
Can you use Google?

The cloth ribbons were usually on a spool or pair of spools. The film
ribbons were usually in a cartridge.

For the OP, go to Office Max, Office Depot or Staples and see what
they can do to help you.

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On Feb 6, 8:33 pm, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
Can you use Google?

The cloth ribbons were usually on a spool or pair of spools. The film
ribbons were usually in a cartridge.

For the OP, go to Office Max, Office Depot or Staples and see what
they can do to help you.

I doubt that they will be able to help with the problems he is having with
the return tab and space bar. I'm fairly sure that they will have a ribbon
for it though.

Mike

On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 18:19:33 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Feb 6, 7:58 pm, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
wrote in message

...

I'm pretty sure 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.

There are two types of ribbons. The older type is cloth soaked with ink.
Cloth ribbons can be used over and over, until there isn't enough ink left
to give a good impression. The ribbon spools automatically reverse at the
end of the roll; there's no need to "rewind" them. Cloth ribbons can be
re-inked, but are usually thrown away. It isn't worth the trouble, and it's
hard to re-ink a red+black ribbon.

Where is the best place to buy replacement ribbons? The ribbon I have
currently is only black so I would assume that I can only use an all
black ribbon.

My own Correcting Selectric is only 4 feet away, but I'm too tired to
get up, take all the papers off, and look at it, unless you ask me to.

So I don't know about Selectrics, but many other typewriters could use
either all black or black and red. Black/red ribbons are used by
accountants or similar people who want to show losses and negative
numbers in red. (Hence the expression, "In the black", making a
profit)

Maybe a few people would by a combo ribbon just to use red for
emphasis.

But for most people and all black ribbon is more economical. It can
be used twice as long. Non-electric typewriters had a 2 position
lever, iirc, for track 1 of the ribbon (black), and track2 (red or
black depending on the ribbon). I think you had to change to red
manually whenever you needed it, but maybe there was a third position.

If you had an all black ribbon, you had to remember to change tracks
once in a while, so the tracks were used at least somewhat evenly. A
good time might have been when the ribbon reversed, but I often didn't
notice that.

OTOH, I had one or two typewriters where even though the ribbon was
supposed to reverse direction at the end, it didn't. Maybe I wound
the ribbon in the wrong direction, or allowed the rivet to be on the
wrong side of the lever, or maybe it broke. Nothing else ever broke,
but I did have many problems on more than one machine with the ribbon
not reversing automatically. There is a lever in there somewhere to
reverse it manually.


I found my Selectric on the sidewalk and it has some problem** that I
got rid of once but it came back, maybe because I almost never use the
thing. (Latt time was at least 7 years ago. But I wanted one and now
that I have one, I'm not getting rid of it. Good for filling out
forms. (or course so is a pen or pencil.)

**It might be similar to yours, in that some function doesn't happen
right away, maybe doesn't happen at all. Maybe the shift key, or the
space key.

I guess the general instruction is to use a very light oil, and oil
every pivot, perhaps trying the typewriter pretty frequently in
between so when you do oil the right thing, you'll know what thing
that was. OTOH, it might take a bit of time for the oil to sink in and
really work, so maybe you won't know what you oiled that helped it.
But you'll have some idea of what all you oiled.

If there is a big rubber drive wheel that runs from side to side,
don't gtt oil on that or none of the keys will work as well. But
since the Selectric uses a ball, there probably isn't any wide rubber
drive wheel.

The newer type is carbon film -- carbon pigment on a thin plastic base. When
the ribbon is struck, almost all the pigment is transferred to the paper, so
the ribbon can't be used again. These are designed to run in one direction,
and are discarded after a single use. They're used because the impression
simply looks better -- it's solid, without any cloth pattern.

Can I use a carbon film ribbon on this typewriter? I think heard
somewhere that they aren't interchangeable.

They aren't interchangeable, but some electric typewriters have two
sets of spindles and two sets of ribbon guides, ending at the same
place where the keys hit the paper.

Gosh I wish I had the energy to look at mine.

Thanks
Alex


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

Ribbons are not the OP's original problem. There is a delay in
exectution of tab, space, backspace etc.

I would guess that it needs a belt. I have my reasons. I had a
Selectric when I was younger, so of course I eventually took it apart.
Mechanical engergy is moved in a slightly different way when it does
not have to move the typehead. The three functions mentioned are
exactly that.

The reason might be that those three functions are induced directly by
the keyboard, any actual typing the mechanism assures that the
carriage does not move during the strike cycle, no matter how fast you
type.

The best way to insure this is to have the typehead driver mechanism
invoke the carriage move after the strike cycle.

You might look in there and find a rubber belt dried up. Possibly
rejuvinate it. Or if it even has a leather or cloth belt (I would not
be surprised) there might be a way provided to tighten it.

I was always fascinated by Selectrics, I never did learn completely
how they work, like the specifics, but their theory of operation is no
mystery to me.

Yup, if the keys work well and the space and stuff does not, look for
a belt. Hey if it's leather or cloth you can just wash it and throw it
in the dryer if no way is provided to tighten it. After doing so
though, measure it, it becomes more likely to break.

JURB

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.

wrote:

Ribbons are not the OP's original problem. There is a delay in
exectution of tab, space, backspace etc.

I would guess that it needs a belt. I have my reasons.

I recommend the O.P. join the 'classiccmp' mailing list;
it has a number of TTY and Selectric experts who will
likely help.

Michael

On Feb 8, 10:04*am, msg wrote:
wrote:
Ribbons are not the OP's original problem. There is a delay in
exectution of tab, space, backspace etc.

I would guess that it needs a belt. I have my reasons.

I recommend the O.P. join the 'classiccmp' mailing list;
it has a number of TTY and Selectric experts who will
likely help.

Michael

Hi Michael
Hate to disagree with you but in 20 odd years of repairing selectrics,
belts (which are toothed) either strip a few teeth caused by the cycle
clutch seizing or snap. Actually the main cause was when the secretary
droped a pencil in the works, jammed the lot and stripped teeth off
the belt. Stretching rarely causes problems as its toothed. There is
only one drive belt on a selectric and the main stress on it is the
cycle clutch that drives the latches for character selection, so a
faulty drive belt shows up in broken teeth on the golf ball or
incorect character selection or snapped rotate tape, or shift
mechanism fails. Basically if the belt is faulty you wont be able to
print and the machine will struggle to get capitals. Carrier return
is controled by a spring clutch and oil on it will give a slow return,
Spacebar and tab by two eccentric cams on the right hand shaft, the
pawl ratchet mechanism that causes them to spin wears, (you sometimes
hear the pawl and ratchet grate as the pawl trys to engage, the cam
vibrates for a few seconds). Eventually the pawl engages, the cam
spins and the carrier moves a step. Another possibilty is weak
mainspring, this gives motion to the right, ie spacebar, tab, It may
be full of sticky old oil or possibly just needs more tension, simply
by twisting it a few notches. But a weak mainspring will probably
cause characters to occasionally type on top of each other. There are
many possibilties but in my day I would first clean the carrier return
clutch and for the spacebar trouble change the cam ratchet for a quick
fix and the cam asembly for a good fix. Any IBM engineer will tell you
there are many causes of the symtons mentioned, I have only listed the
common ones.
Ex IBM Engineer

wrote:

On Feb 8, 10:04 am, msg wrote:

wrote:

Ribbons are not the OP's original problem. There is a delay in
exectution of tab, space, backspace etc.

I would guess that it needs a belt. I have my reasons.

I recommend the O.P. join the 'classiccmp' mailing list;
it has a number of TTY and Selectric experts who will
likely help.

Michael


Hi Michael
Hate to disagree with you...

I think you meant to address this to ' ;-)

My recommendation was that the O.P. join a mailing list whose members
have considerable experience with Selectrics and Teletypes.

I said nothing about belts. I unfortunately have lost all of my
Selectric manuals and test equipment including a genuine IBM I/O
Selectric Test Set (in a ruggedized transport case).

Michael

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

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,

Larry

*****

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

Don wrote:

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


Wouldn't PTFE (Teflon) oil be better? It wasn't available when those
machines were new.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Meat Plow wrote:

I owned a Selectric years ago and any petroleum based lube slowed the CR
down.


That's why I suggested PTFE. It works were nothing else will. I
salvaged hundreds of Commodore 1541 & 1571 disk drives with a couple
tubes of it.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Meat Plow wrote:

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:54:30 -0500, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:

I owned a Selectric years ago and any petroleum based lube slowed the CR
down.


That's why I suggested PTFE. It works were nothing else will. I
salvaged hundreds of Commodore 1541 & 1571 disk drives with a couple
tubes of it.

I know and that's a good selection (pun intended)


You think that you're slick, don't you? ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

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 :-)

On Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 8:40:14 PM UTC-5, 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.

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

Your best best is to take then unit and throw it out, these machines are very troublesome and need a lot of care and maintenance. They are also very overated

That was ten (10) years ago, or so.