Typewriter and calculator repair/clean up

[Mysion]

Bought a old typewriter last weekend. It's a royal model 10 and the serial dates it from 1922-1923.

The old rubber is all hard, it's missing lettering for the O key and the e key is malfunctioning. Several other keys stick out or are slow. Other than that it seems to be in good shape.

I'm going to clean it all up with some denatured alcohol and use sewing machine oil to get it running smoothly.  I've got an old calculator from the 20's too and I'm going to clean it up at the same time.
I'll post some pics from the inside soon.





I always tought that calculator was huge but it looks dainty next to the royal 10!
Fucker weighs about 30 pounds. 

[RJFreeman]

nice!

[Mysion]

The first thing I wanted to fix was the E key. When you press a key carriage is supposed to advance. If it doesn't then you end up with letters typed on top of each other. This quickly makes text nearly unreadable.   

After messing with it for a while I found a bar that the pull when they are pressed. All keys pulled it except the E key seemed to only pull it half way. I could get the the key to work if I pushed on the bar at the same time.  To fix it I bent up one of the U shaped bars in the pic bellow. One of the bars has scuffs on it. IT's the one about 1/3 the picture from the left.  That's the one that I had to bend up. It was a thick metal rod in a delecate area. I was worried I would break on of the springs.



The second problem to taclke was the keys that stick up.



I was able to narrow the problem down to the bars in the picture bellow. There are the ones in the center of the pic that the springs connect to. The issue was that 3 of these bars where bent. By bending them back in place now all the keys lie flat. There's a 4th one that's also bent but it wasn't affecting any thing so I just let it be.



I'm going to tackle the sticking caps lock and margin release next. Maybe I can move some springs around too and make the shift key easier to push. It takes nearly all of my little finger strength right now to use it.

[amyk]

Are you going to turn it into an electric typewriter next?

[SeanB]

E key wearing is common, as E is the most used letter in typing. You will need to clean the mechanism, easiest is to use some illuminating kerosene and a bottle brush, and scrub the inside and bottom of the unit, then rinse with clean kerosene, then apply some light oil to all the pivots again to lubricate them after the kerosene has dripped out with all the gunk in it. That will solve most of the sticky keys, and will make the rest easier to operate.

To clean the platen you will need rubber cleaner, or use methylated spirits or IPA to wipe most of the residue off. Note rubber cleaner is death to paint. To get some you need to find a local offset printer supplier and order some, or ask nicely at a local small offset  printer if they will sell or give you a nearly empty can. To clean the keys the printer will have Blankrola, which is used to clean ink off, and which will work there. that is also good to keep off paint, but it is water soluble.

[Mysion]

SeanB I got the E key working in the previous post. It wasn't working due to bent part. The 3 key also would not lie flat because of bent parts as well. The mechanism for the E key only had to be bent about a bees dick for it to work again.

I haven't heard of the rubber cleaners before. I'll try and find a rubber cleaner or I'll just use methylated spirits. Even then two rollers need to be replaced because due to age they have a large dent on them from how they've been resting. It would be really nice tough if this method help all the other rubber parts. I'll have to give it a go! Thanks for the tip.

[SeanB]

Blankrola will rejuvenate the flat spots somewhat, but if they are really bad the only thing is to have them relined, which is a very common thing done on offset printers to fix bad rollers. Any large print shop will know the local reliners, or just look for a rubber reliner in your area. They need just the roller, and strip the old rubber off partly with a blade on a lathe then wrap it with green unvulcanised rubber sheet and then heat cure it before they cut to the right diameter.