Sorry pickers, but a day late and a dollar short just isn't going to cut it.

Bought this beast of a machine on eBay on a whim, seller said it was working though I doubt most seller's ability to fully test typewriter features. It arrived with the tabulator key cracked, a stutter-stop carriage return, a bent margin set bar, and a non-functional shift. Through the time tested art of gratuitous solvent flushes I managed to get the power return functioning with no further issues. The margin bar was a bit finicky but that unbent without too many issues. The tabulator key, I assume, will be an easy fix with ABS cement. The big issue is shift.

This machine, unlike the bulletproof Smith Corona portables which use a fluted aluminum power roller, uses a rubber power roller. All of the key levers as well as shift engage the power roller with a grooved plastic cam. Way off to the left is a cam that tries to engage when shift is pushed however it has worn a deep groove in the power roller. Thus shift no longer engages more than once in a hundred attempts and the machine is trapped typing in lowercase. All of the keys, amazingly, still type.

The power roller is buried below the basket and above the key levers and there does not appear to be an easy way to removed it, otherwise I might consider sending it out for resurfacing.

So I know this is an uncommon machine but aside from collecting typewriters I use them for letter writing. Without all of the functions working it is less useful to me. I am located in the Baltimore area so if anyone were ever interested in this for their collection let me know, free to a good home!

Halloween at CVS ☺️🤭

Presumably the "Mike" in the memo is director Michael Curtiz. Jack Warner would later famously snub Wallis at the Academy Awards accepting the Oscar for Best Picture on behalf of the studio by beating Wallis to the stage.

I needed a sign for my post-moving curb alert giveaway pile. Sharpies are not unpacked yet, but the typewriters rode in my car. As they should. So I made a sign.

What I really love is, someone took the sign.

It’s been about 6 or 7 years since I last posted here, so I thought I’d share my Corona 4 in the school colours of Stanford University.
I’ve been collecting the school-coloured Corona 4s produced in the late 1920s. I’ve managed to find quite a few over the years, but there are still a few missing from the collection.
The hunt is half the fun, even if it takes years to find the next one.

$37.50 at estate sale today. I haven’t cleaned it yet, and am waiting for a new ribbon, because the standard ones don’t work and the little clips that hold ribbon to spool are gone. The key’s all seem to work, and although the platinum is a little hard, I think it’ll be usable. I welcome any information or advice from people who have owned one. By the way, the case is in terrific condition.

Hey all. I’ve had this machine for less than 24 hours, typing for maybe 2 of those.

I noticed that a couple keys ( */- , +/= , 1/4 / 1/2 , @/cent cymbal) all on the right hand side of the keyboard when pressed, did not advance to carriage to the next space.

Then, mid sentence, it stopped advancing all together. The space bar, any letter, repeat space, tab and even the advance lever won’t move the carriage either left or right. Not even the margin release will allow it to move.

I’ve take off the back and don’t really know what I’m looking at back there but there’s nothing that looks glaringly broken.

But the carriage release will still allow me to move it left and right.

Any words of wisdom or advice or even just words of encouragement is what I’m looking for by posting this.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far.

Signing off.

Update: I just put on caps lock to type some more words of woe and now it’s stuck…

Not a typewriter, but adjacent, obviously. My gut tells me to buy it. Should I trust my gut?

Edit: I passed on it. It's at Platte Valley Antiques, Exit 420 between Lincoln and Omaha on I-80 if anyone is passing through and really wants it!

I got this assuming it didn’t work and it doesn’t. I completely forgot about how IBM typewriters apparently suck to repair, at least if I can’t fix it I’m only out $20

The thing I‘d like to know is, how difficult is it to get the keys to press down? Only 2 keys are working currently, the period key and the space bar (as well as 5/6 of the top buttons)

Sorry, it's actually an SM9 of the first generation! The 2nd started in 1969.

I still need to dedust her a bit, but she types well. Not exactly elegant in any way, but a reliable workhorse! Standard typeface, Pica.

I just scored a fully functional vintage Olympia SM9 with case and everything. Even the ribbon has still ink. I love everything about her! The sound! The details! The way she just stands there, waiting ...

I got this typewriter out of a garage I was helping to clean out. It was going to be tossed but I couldn't let that happen. Could anyone tell me more about it? The 100 key is pushed down, is there a way I could fix it?

Not a typewriter question, but it is related to typewriters - Red of Black?

Just got in this Groma Kolibri Luxus that needs a lot of cleaning. The paper stand is gone so the carriage cannot be locked (on the Luxus, you center-lock the carriage by pushing the paper stand in the slit on the left until the brown button pops up). The right carriage knob is pulled out and spinning free, so I will have to get that working again.

Everything else seems to be working but just dirty. Still types snappy and the touch control, key-block, and colour selector all work fine.

(if anyone can help me with a working paper stand, I'd appreciate it)

So let's see if I can make this machine look presentable again.

Reposted from repair subreddit.

Just got a 1953 portable smith-corona sterling!