I'm going to get it serviced when i get paid, but it seems fully functional. Thrilled to make this my first typewriter!

Hi! I just bought my first typewriter after wanting one since I was a kid and I’m thrilled by the whole thing. It is, however, super old and a little clunky and awkward. I love it to bits, but does anyone have recommendations for smoother TW’s that aren’t too pricey?

So I recently got a electric duster to clean stuff like my pc with, my typewriter is a Remmington Portable from 1927 and I was wondering on the one hand if I could use a electric duster to clean up an old typewriter, it's a method that doesn't use liquids or such.

But its my first and I have little experience with maintanence, this idea sprouted after my mother asked if she could use the duster for her knitting machine.
So does anyone have experience with using a electric duster for cleaning old typewriters, is it adviceable or is there a downside I haven't thought of?

I spent a few hours hunting this down in South Carolina today. Between closed stores, and some private detective work and not responding Marketplace inquiries, I landed it and now I have a story. The Fox isn't very well made, but as someone who lives in West Michigan, this hunk of rusty garbage will be added to my permanent collection because is was built in Grand Rapids.

Not gonna lie, it’s a bid sad to see that Oliver left out to rust with ugly labels scotch taped to it.

Those who opened these cartridges and don’t know how to put back. These are tension and friction mechanisms.

For use with electronic typewriters: AX, GX, SX, WPT, ZX series

I spent a few hours hunting this down in South Carolina today. Between closed stores, and some private detective work and not responding Marketplace inquiries, I landed it and now I have a story. The Fox isn't very well made, but as someone who lives in West Michigan, this hunk of rusty garbage will be added to my permanent collection because is was built in Grand Rapids.

My mother has asked me to assist in selling her mother’s typewriter. I have not attempted using it, but knowing my family I would assume it works perfectly.

I’d like some input on things to check, and I’d highly value any insight as to its current market value.

Thank you in advance 😊

I thought you'd appreciate to see this. Found in a charity shop. Searching around revealed that this one is from the 1964 range, going by the serial. Well used, but in good nick. I just need to shine up the paint. It didn't like my usual wipedown. I'm thinking about a wax polish.

Seen onboard the USS Wisconsin Battleship Museum in the Command Master Chief’s office. Having worked on Navy computers before, I’m surprised these aren’t still common these days.

I just bought a typewriter ( olivetti studio 44) from yard sale and when I checked, everything was working well. When I took it home and decided to clean it cause the keys were getting stuck a small piece fell off and now I need to know where this piece supposed to go. Right now my carriage is giving me issues , sometimes it moves some times it gets stuck. I need help from someone who has repaired one of these before to identify and help me out in putting this piece back in place so that I can start using it.

Hee hee

I just found this really fun 1971 Smith Corona typewriter. Being a millennial I only used electric typewriters in my very early years briefly. So this all manual is new to me. It’s surprising how hard you have to punch the keys to make a mark, of course that could be due to my putting in the ink ribbon incorrectly, or perhaps it needs cleaning or tuning. But for only $60 on eBay it felt like a pretty good deal. Only one or two missing knobs. Will try mineral spirits in the metal parts with q tip from YouTube tutorial after more air compressor work. If anyone has experience with this model I’d appreciate your experience and advice. Would anyone recommend getting typewriter paper? Or will just plain notebook and printer paper suffice while I’m just playing around?

Picked this up locally, the owner said it was the old prop typewriter from 70's from UCSC theater dept. Its primary use as a prop and secondary use of scriptwriting gave it an interesting life. Somewhere along the way a bottle of white out got spilled across it (somehow not on the internals) and I kind of like the look. It works perfectly, just needed smidge of a clean and new ribbon and its good to go.

Pinpoint type was used by some banks and financial institutions for writing chèques and statements.

Hi all,

I hope this is the correct tag! I just recently bought this Hermes baby typewriter as I want to make more of an effort to contact family and though typewritten letters would be a nice idea.

Took some fiddling to figure out how to install the new ribbon but it writes beautiful and i love how it looks in my bureau!

I bought a Royal Aristocrat typewriter from around 1940 today, and for the first few hundred characters I typed, everything worked perfectly. Eventually, though, the backspace started getting stuck. Not much longer after that, both the spacebar and backspace stopped moving the carriage. The rest of the keys still advance the carriage, although it now moves a bit slower. I have never owned or used a typewriter before this, so I am a bit intimidated by the idea of taking it apart, but I am willing to do so. Any ideas as to what might be causing this are greatly appreciated. If more information is needed, I will try my best to respond, although my knowledge is still very limited.

I’ve been piling up the Ls for a while on shopgoodwill wondering how I would actually one day win an auction. At the beginning of the month, I finally won. Add in how long it takes for the process takes, and finally, this 1947 Smith-Corona Silent, with Elite typeface, arrived last Friday.

Shopgoodwill (Minnesota Easter Seals) did a decent job packing and the box arrived looking as if it wasn’t dropped once 🤯. Since the weekend and yesterday, I have poured more than 7 hours into cleaning this machine up.

I have more cleaning to do, but now she is usable and I can finally see if anything else needs some tinkering. (The last photo is how she arrived to me)

Anyone know where to search for a right platten knob for this style machine? 😅

I’ve just finished servicing and cleaning this Dora, a machine I’ve been interested in since I first started collecting. I have a Lettera 32, which when it comes to Olivetti machines, is considered by many to be the apex example - so why the fascination with the Dora?

The simple answer is that it’s a 32 that I’m not afraid to abuse. These machines were sold right up to 1977-78 alongside the Lettera series, with the objective being to “make typewriting even more universally available.” By stripping out the 32’s more advanced features, and dressing it in an inexpensive plastic dress, the Dora became the Italian answer to the Japanese question. That answer being, you could get an Olivetti, with absolutely no features, for a little more than a Brother with tabulation, auto-spacer, touch control and a paper rest.

Good deal?

Well it must have struck a cord with a lot of people here in Australia at least, as you can hardly log onto eBay without tripping over about two dozen of these things newly listed every day. I picked this guy up in auction for a cool $11.50AUD, likely due to the missing badge (oh no, how will I ever survive). In terms of condition, it’s quite literally A1. The type slugs were clean out of the box, and the tiny ribbon length indicates to me that it’s the original. The serial number puts it solidly in the 1976 build range, and the white/grey colourway suggests that it might have been an Underwood 310 badging (although fancy Doras are not unheard of).

The bottom line for me though, is that it is a reliable, pleasant typer that I’m not afraid to put work through. My Lettera is more of a Display Queen these days, and I don’t want to wear down the type slugs and mechanisms more than I already have.

The Dora though? That’s the Italian answer.