The Mrs used to be a copy / touch / shorthand typist and I know would
like to have access to a manual typewriter to have a play on now and
again.

Ages ago we bought a couple of 'Imperial Upright' typewriters but
neither of them work and are really a bit too big / heavy for her to
move about. [1]

Mum is looking for a good home for Dads old Facet 1620 portable (in
it's nice travel case) and I had a quick play with it last night and
it seems to be ok other than the carriage is stuck (well, you can move
it with the carriage release but not with the space bar or keys etc).
Googling about suggests that it could be a gummed up escarpment so I
should be able to free that up but I was wondering ...

I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

Or do I just vacuum / brush it out and de gum any gummed up bits with
denatured alcohol and lube with 3 in 1 or gun oil?

Cheers, T i m

[1] I might see if any of the local care homes want the uprights as I
believe they often have such things for their 'memories' area.

On 18/09/2018 21:34, T i m wrote:
The Mrs used to be a copy / touch / shorthand typist and I know would
like to have access to a manual typewriter to have a play on now and
again.

Ages ago we bought a couple of 'Imperial Upright' typewriters but
neither of them work and are really a bit too big / heavy for her to
move about. [1]

My lovely wife got a job organising conferences for the local chamber of
commerce. They issued her with a brand new IBM golfball typewriter. One
day she wanted to reorganise her workspace and decided to move the
typewriter from one side of the room to the other. She got it most of
the way across the room before it became too heavy for her and she
dropped it.

On Tue, 18 Sep 2018 21:34:46 +0100, T i m wrote:

I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

I recall a typewriter repair man that had a cleaner, much like a dishwasher
uisng white spirit. A turntable in a sealed metal box, and a sprayer for
solvent. The typewriter woulks it in there, spining in spray of solvent. He'd
remove it, anf the go over the roller with rubber reconditioner, maybe something
from the offset printers, and then re-lube...

I think it will be fine.


Thomas Prufer

On Wednesday, 19 September 2018 00:21:06 UTC+1, GB wrote:
My lovely wife got a job organising conferences for the local chamber of
commerce. They issued her with a brand new IBM golfball typewriter. One
day she wanted to reorganise her workspace and decided to move the
typewriter from one side of the room to the other. She got it most of
the way across the room before it became too heavy for her


yes, I remember those.

and she dropped it.

Ouch. But it probably still worked afterwards. I seem to remember a project in one of the electronics magazines for a printer interface board for them.

Owain

Well up until fairly recently there used to be a project at one of HM
Prisons which serviced old manual typewriters as they also did Braille
machines, but apparently due to low demand I think it stopped.
I'd be tempted to look for sticky grease as normally this is the problem
with manuals. Its even worse if it belonged to a smoker at any time.
I personally would be careful taking it apart though if it mostly works, so
a good clean and some fresh oil might well do the trick. It can be difficult
to get the ribbons though.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"T i m" wrote in message
...
The Mrs used to be a copy / touch / shorthand typist and I know would
like to have access to a manual typewriter to have a play on now and
again.

Ages ago we bought a couple of 'Imperial Upright' typewriters but
neither of them work and are really a bit too big / heavy for her to
move about. [1]

Mum is looking for a good home for Dads old Facet 1620 portable (in
it's nice travel case) and I had a quick play with it last night and
it seems to be ok other than the carriage is stuck (well, you can move
it with the carriage release but not with the space bar or keys etc).
Googling about suggests that it could be a gummed up escarpment so I
should be able to free that up but I was wondering ...

I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

Or do I just vacuum / brush it out and de gum any gummed up bits with
denatured alcohol and lube with 3 in 1 or gun oil?

Cheers, T i m

[1] I might see if any of the local care homes want the uprights as I
believe they often have such things for their 'memories' area.

On Wednesday, 19 September 2018 07:31:54 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:
It can be difficult
to get the ribbons though.

There are still obsolete dot matrix printer ribbons on ebay. Black, purple, black+red, CMYK, take your pick. Just get the right height.


NT

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 01:17:48 +0100, Nick Odell
wrote:

snip

Yup, that was one of the pages I found that covered the lockup but
there was no real mention about the idea of ultrasonic cleaning?


I can't think why not.

Nor can I Nick. The only reason I can think why not was if there were
any components that didn't appreciate whatever 'solvent' was used. I
was thinking felt pads or plastic washers or spacers etc.

I wish I'd had access to an ultrasonic cleaner
when I needed to thoroughly de-gunk my Adler Tippa-S[1]. It's a right
bugger to take to pieces and put back together again - DAMHIKT

I think you could get this Facet down to a bare chassis fairly easily
as like some big uprights, it's built on it's own chassis rather than
being built *into* the chassis as such. The top unclips and then you
can remove a panel on the bottom and then it looks like just a few
screws (4?) would allow you to lift the guts out of the frame. At that
point it would be begging to be submerged in something for a nice deep
clean.

When I bought it, I also bought some typewriter cleaning sticks
comprising a little glass ampule and a cotton wick. When you crushed the
ampule Carbon Tetrachloride came gushing out which would wash away the
gunge.

They sound like a good solution (excuse the pun). ;-)

So if you think that the ultrasonic bath might be a step too far,
try some solvent and an artist's paint brush first.

The thing is, because it as lived in it's case, I don't think it's
dirty (as in dusty) as such but just slightly gummed up in one place
(the escarpment). Whilst I'm confident I could release that part, it
stands to reason that many many of the metal to metal joints in there
could do with a clean and re-lube.

I'm not saying it wouldn't work ok with just a brush out with some
solvent and re-lube, just that it might be nice to give it a good once
over.

Nick
[1]Bought with the proceeds from the first magazine
article I got paid for,

That's a nice fact. ;-)

I still have it and use it occasionally.

And another.

I can remember Mum always having a portable typewriter of some sort
round there and all kids she looked after (including ours) being
allowed to use it (as long as they did so respectfully).

Cheers, T i m

On 19/09/18 07:31, Brian Gaff wrote:
Well up until fairly recently there used to be a project at one of HM
Prisons which serviced old manual typewriters as they also did Braille
machines, but apparently due to low demand I think it stopped.
I'd be tempted to look for sticky grease as normally this is the problem
with manuals. Its even worse if it belonged to a smoker at any time.
I personally would be careful taking it apart though if it mostly works, so
a good clean and some fresh oil might well do the trick. It can be difficult
to get the ribbons though.


I was looking on eBay last night for current offers for manual
typewriters and noticed that there were plenty of ribbon suppliers out
there.

I have a little stash of redundant dot matrix printer cartridges and
when I need a new typewriter ribbon I just re-spool one of them. It only
types in black, mind, but I can't remember the last time I wanted to use
red.

Nick

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 00:21:02 +0100, GB
wrote:

On 18/09/2018 21:34, T i m wrote:
The Mrs used to be a copy / touch / shorthand typist and I know would
like to have access to a manual typewriter to have a play on now and
again.

Ages ago we bought a couple of 'Imperial Upright' typewriters but
neither of them work and are really a bit too big / heavy for her to
move about. [1]

My lovely wife got a job organising conferences for the local chamber of
commerce. They issued her with a brand new IBM golfball typewriter. One
day she wanted to reorganise her workspace and decided to move the
typewriter from one side of the room to the other. She got it most of
the way across the room before it became too heavy for her and she
dropped it.

Ooops. ;-(

I'd say this little Facet portable is as heavy as a heavy laptop and
that is something people 'notice' when you hand it to them.

In the same way as daughter realised just how heavy a 12V / 20Ah gel
battery is when she picked one up with one hand yesterday. She picked
it up ok but you could tell she was surprised by it's density and not
wanting to drop it, continued with both hands. ;-)

I think there is a technique for picking up and safely moving heavy
things and those of us who do regularly, learn such. Often it's
because we drop or nearly drop something 'important' because we were
caught out (like your Mrs).

You make sure it's fully disconnected and is 'safe' to move as it is
(carriage bolts / fluids / trays / panels removed etc). A clear path
from A to B and if carrying by and, enough energy / power to be able
to handle the entire trip. A solid / non-slip handhold (and / or
gloves to make that better / easier) and somewhere clear to put it
down at the end.

It's funny when you see others work, moving stuff out of the way by
putting them in the way for the next move or *not* capturing all the
loose leads / cables to then have one snag on something along the way
(in a way you couldn't do even if you tried). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

T i m brought next idea :
I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

Or do I just vacuum / brush it out and de gum any gummed up bits with
denatured alcohol and lube with 3 in 1 or gun oil?

They refurbed one on that BBC2 early evening prog.. He completely
stripped the old typewriter down, cleaned the parts, reassembled and
lubed. I thought at the time, what a lot of wasted time and effort.

Me, I would removed the roller and dunk the rest in a bath of parrafin,
with some included movement of parts and gentle brushing, to remove
all the gundge. Then lub up and good to go.

They are just metal parts and will take no harm from a good soak in
parrafin.

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 10:20:10 +0100, Harry Bloomfield
wrote:

T i m brought next idea :
I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

Or do I just vacuum / brush it out and de gum any gummed up bits with
denatured alcohol and lube with 3 in 1 or gun oil?

They refurbed one on that BBC2 early evening prog.

I don't think I saw that one.

He completely
stripped the old typewriter down, cleaned the parts, reassembled and
lubed. I thought at the time, what a lot of wasted time and effort.

Well I guess it's all part of the 'show'. It also entertains those
doing it as I'm sure it's nice to exercise your skills for others to
see now and again? ;-)

Me, I would removed the roller

I'm not sure how easy a job that would be?

and dunk the rest in a bath of parrafin,
with some included movement of parts and gentle brushing, to remove
all the gundge.

Yup, that's the sort of thing I was asking about. As mentioned, my
only fear would be for any felt pads or rubber stops that may also
lurk within the machine being affected by any solvent used that was
good enough to actually be of use?

Then lub up and good to go.

Reading around it seems that many 'typewriter people' recommend
running a typewriter mainly dry (except for those bits that really do
need lubing, like the carriage bearings) because there is then less
chance of it attracting more dust and dirt?

Given this is a portable, has a nice carry case and so unlikely being
left out, I can't see that being an issue.

They are just metal parts and will take no harm from a good soak in
parrafin.

True, the metal parts wouldn't but it has plastic keys and I think
there is a rubber strip where the arms land (plus the roller etc).

Maybe it's that sort of thing as to why I've not seem many people who
seem familiar with typewriter repair recommend the dunk tank?

That's why, rather than relying on a good solvent and some mechanical
agitation I was wondering if mostly water with a light degreaser
(detergent?) and ultrasonic agitation might be 'better'?

Cheers, T i m

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 08:13:37 +0200, Thomas Prufer
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2018 21:34:46 +0100, T i m wrote:

I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

I recall a typewriter repair man that had a cleaner, much like a dishwasher
uisng white spirit.

Hmm, a dishwasher you say ... weg ;-)

A turntable in a sealed metal box, and a sprayer for
solvent. The typewriter woulks it in there, spining in spray of solvent. He'd
remove it, anf the go over the roller with rubber reconditioner, maybe something
from the offset printers, and then re-lube...

I think a very important part there would be 'the solvent' Thomas.
Something effective enough to dissolve any grunge but to leave any
'other' stuff alone ... like glues retaining rubber stops or the
plastic keys etc?

I think it will be fine.

Well, I'm not sure it's particularly valuable even if it isn't but I
don't particularly want to destroy it when just making it cleaner.

I think the next step might be to get the guts out of it's frame and
see what might be vulnerable to say paraffin (the carriage has plastic
knobs on the end for example) and go from there.

Some of they keys appeared sticky and the beginning but did seem to
loosen up with just a few actions so apart from this stick carriage
issue, I don't think it's too far off.

As a sort of an aside, when my mate first got his ultrasonic tank we
experimented with it cleaning some old model railway track (amongst
other things). I'd have to say it did a reasonable job, even on some
badly rusted track but wasn't perfect.

I don't think we tried anything greasy because I didn't want to
contaminate his new tank as it was really for cleaning PCB's.

I have a small US cleaner (Lidl probably) that I'm not sure cleans
most things any cleaner than I could get them myself manually,
although I have seen some dirt 'falling off' parts in the cleaner when
it's running. Let's say the US cleaner hasn't 'fixed' anything that I
felt might appreciate a good cleaning?

One thing it might clean easily could be a stainless steel watch strap
but using an old toothbrush and holding it under warm running water
seems to do a pretty good job?

Cheers, T i m

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 11:15:12 +0100, T i m wrote:

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 08:13:37 +0200, Thomas Prufer
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2018 21:34:46 +0100, T i m wrote:

I think a very important part there would be 'the solvent' Thomas.
Something effective enough to dissolve any grunge but to leave any
'other' stuff alone ... like glues retaining rubber stops or the
plastic keys etc?

I think it was Varsol, aka Stoddard solvent or white spirit.

For a typewriter, I'd probably go with water and ultrasound cleaner: there's the
stuff the clockmakers use... Tickopure? Rinse with fairly warm water to get the
metal warm, blow out with compressed air, dry for just a short while and
oil/lube soon to avoid rust spots.


As a sort of an aside, when my mate first got his ultrasonic tank we
experimented with it cleaning some old model railway track (amongst
other things). I'd have to say it did a reasonable job, even on some
badly rusted track but wasn't perfect.

I don't think we tried anything greasy because I didn't want to
contaminate his new tank as it was really for cleaning PCB's.

I have a small US cleaner (Lidl probably) that I'm not sure cleans
most things any cleaner than I could get them myself manually,
although I have seen some dirt 'falling off' parts in the cleaner when
it's running. Let's say the US cleaner hasn't 'fixed' anything that I
felt might appreciate a good cleaning?

One thing it might clean easily could be a stainless steel watch strap
but using an old toothbrush and holding it under warm running water
seems to do a pretty good job?

I have been told that professional US cleaners can do a much better job, up to
disintegrating delicate parts when turned up to high -- unlike the Aldi/Lidl
ones.

Thomas Prufer

On Wednesday, 19 September 2018 10:15:30 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
I think there is a technique for picking up and safely moving heavy
things and those of us who do regularly, learn such.

We of a certain age were taught to centre the carriage then lock it into position using the margin stops, if there isn't a separate carriage lock function.

And we could turn out a memo with four flimsies, correctly spelled, punctuated, and error-free, in the time it takes someone to boot up a PC and Word.

Owain

presented the following explanation :
Ouch. But it probably still worked afterwards. I seem to remember a project
in one of the electronics magazines for a printer interface board for them.

Wireless World I think..

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 13:01:34 +0200, Thomas Prufer
wrote:

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 11:15:12 +0100, T i m wrote:

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 08:13:37 +0200, Thomas Prufer
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2018 21:34:46 +0100, T i m wrote:

I think a very important part there would be 'the solvent' Thomas.
Something effective enough to dissolve any grunge but to leave any
'other' stuff alone ... like glues retaining rubber stops or the
plastic keys etc?

I think it was Varsol, aka Stoddard solvent or white spirit.

I don't know of the first two but I know white spirit and agree it
might be a bit 'softer' to plastics / rubbers than paraffin.

For a typewriter, I'd probably go with water and ultrasound cleaner: there's the
stuff the clockmakers use... Tickopure?

I've not heard of that either but it sounds like it (Tickopur) would
be good for clocks. ;-)

Rinse with fairly warm water to get the
metal warm,

Check.

blow out with compressed air,

Check.

dry for just a short while

I might put a fan on it.

and
oil/lube soon to avoid rust spots.

Understood.

snip

One thing it might clean easily could be a stainless steel watch strap
but using an old toothbrush and holding it under warm running water
seems to do a pretty good job?

I have been told that professional US cleaners can do a much better job, up to
disintegrating delicate parts when turned up to high -- unlike the Aldi/Lidl
ones.

I have been given such a thing (I think I posted about it elsewhere)
and did a test with some aluminium foil and indeed it perforated it.
[1]

My mates one should take this typewriter and cost over £100 from China
but not sure if it would be considered 'professional' or not?

Cheers, T i m

[1] It's a fancy thing that I understand is typically used by dentists
to sterilise the tools. It even has a built in printer to allow you to
audit each cleaning run.

The display is very weak and so I can't see what to do to program it
but was thinking bypassing the inbuilt controller and just replacing
it with a basic thermostat for any heater and a clockwork timer for
the runtime?

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 05:41:42 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Wednesday, 19 September 2018 10:15:30 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
I think there is a technique for picking up and safely moving heavy
things and those of us who do regularly, learn such.

We of a certain age were taught to centre the carriage then lock it into position using the margin stops, if there isn't a separate carriage lock function.

I have toggled everything I can but feel it's a 'hard' fault.

And we could turn out a memo with four flimsies, correctly spelled, punctuated, and error-free, in the time it takes someone to boot up a PC and Word.

Hehe ... yeah, those were the days. ;-)

My BIL is 'old skool' and I believe one of the last managers in the
insurance Co to still dictate a letter to the 'Typing pool', get it
typed up and back on paper and proof read before being posted or
emailed off. Emails to him were also printed off by his secretary and
given to him to read and comment on and them to reply etc.

His point that they were being paid manage to 'manage' (people and
accounts) and not be distracted by typing letters and emails?

Cheers, T i m

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 17:11:49 +0100, T i m wrote:

On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 13:01:34 +0200, Thomas Prufer
wrote:

I think it was Varsol, aka Stoddard solvent or white spirit.

I don't know of the first two but I know white spirit and agree it
might be a bit 'softer' to plastics / rubbers than paraffin.

Wiki says: "White spirit (UK)[note 1] or mineral spirits (US, Canada), also
known as mineral turpentine (AU/NZ), turpentine substitute, petroleum spirits,
solvent naphtha (petroleum), Varsol, Stoddard solvent, or, generically, "paint
thinner", is a petroleum-derived clear liquid used as a common organic solvent
in painting."

So a random mix of aromatic flammable hydrocarbons, sounds good.

If I had an US cleaner large enough: I'd spray the gummed metal bits with brake
or carburetor cleaner, let soak for a bit, blow it off, and the drop the lot in
the US cleaner.

My mates one should take this typewriter and cost over £100 from China
but not sure if it would be considered 'professional' or not?

It's what you have... use it. I was just warning not to set it to "continuous",
and wander off to the pub and forget about the typewriter stewing in water being
heated with a few hundred watts, all the while the US is pitting the metal:-)


Thomas Prufer

On Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:34:47 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
The Mrs used to be a copy / touch / shorthand typist and I know would
like to have access to a manual typewriter to have a play on now and
again.

Ages ago we bought a couple of 'Imperial Upright' typewriters but
neither of them work and are really a bit too big / heavy for her to
move about. [1]

Mum is looking for a good home for Dads old Facet 1620 portable (in
it's nice travel case) and I had a quick play with it last night and
it seems to be ok other than the carriage is stuck (well, you can move
it with the carriage release but not with the space bar or keys etc).
Googling about suggests that it could be a gummed up escarpment so I
should be able to free that up but I was wondering ...

I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

Or do I just vacuum / brush it out and de gum any gummed up bits with
denatured alcohol and lube with 3 in 1 or gun oil?

Cheers, T i m

[1] I might see if any of the local care homes want the uprights as I
believe they often have such things for their 'memories' area.

Your main problem will be getting new ribbons.

On Friday, 21 September 2018 07:32:37 UTC+1, harry wrote:
On Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:34:47 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
The Mrs used to be a copy / touch / shorthand typist and I know would
like to have access to a manual typewriter to have a play on now and
again.

Ages ago we bought a couple of 'Imperial Upright' typewriters but
neither of them work and are really a bit too big / heavy for her to
move about. [1]

Mum is looking for a good home for Dads old Facet 1620 portable (in
it's nice travel case) and I had a quick play with it last night and
it seems to be ok other than the carriage is stuck (well, you can move
it with the carriage release but not with the space bar or keys etc).
Googling about suggests that it could be a gummed up escarpment so I
should be able to free that up but I was wondering ...

I have access to a fairly large ultrasonic cleaner so if I could get
all the delicate bits off, is there any good reason why I couldn't
drop the chassis in that and then dry and re lube the bits that should
be lubed?

Or do I just vacuum / brush it out and de gum any gummed up bits with
denatured alcohol and lube with 3 in 1 or gun oil?

Cheers, T i m

[1] I might see if any of the local care homes want the uprights as I
believe they often have such things for their 'memories' area.

Your main problem will be getting new ribbons.

bzzt