Under wood. Underwood?

April 16, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Very busy weekend - we are already preparing for the next winter, stapling wood in the barn.
It was a hard winter this year and it may get even worse the next winter - given state of things in the world. It frees my mind to have this done already now, when weather is mild, no mosquitos and flies yet.
It took us 2 days to fill the place with birch wood. Almost done, a few cubic meters more in coming weeks. I must have been very tired because I constantly thought of myself as “under wood”. Which brought me an idea for a small photo session.

I know it’s a bit childish but… hell, all reasons are good to bring out this beauty and admire its lines!

Harrington Mk7 - modified type element for Blickensderfer 5

April 09, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Winter is unwilling to let go this year but today we got a sunny day.

I was modifying Harrington typeface to match my 3D printing process. Letters became bold, to get better margins with direct inking technique used on Blicks. This typeface is very delicate but proportional and is otherwise very suitable for Blickensderfer.

The result is good. Finally!
With felt ink pad and oil-based ink the imprint is of reasonable quality. I’m not sure I can get it any better.

There will be one more iteration before I consider it done: I will replace fractions with Swedish and maybe Polish letters. Although I finally managed to implement fractions with this Mk7 version - I don’t really use them! And I lack Swedish letters when typing a letter. Having them at hand will make the type element more suitable for my use.

So there will be Mark 8, most probably the final revision!

Underwood Finger Flite Universal. Fifties esthetics at its best.

April 02, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Not exactly rare machine, quite the opposite, but a great looker and magnificent typewriter. Basket-shift machine, no-nonsense operation, very light and snappy touch. Moreover - very easy to service, I dare to claim that Underwood engineers were thinking about servicemen when they designed this machine.

My specimen was just dirty. Very dirty but still working fine. It also had type bar broken but luckily it was still attached to the machine.

The usual procedure - stripping down to bare bones for cleaning and inspection. Body panels are kept with just a few screws. To remove the front and side panel one needs to unscrew ribbon-wind/manual reverse knob.

It is a left-hand thread.

Right-hand platen knob goes out after loosening the set screw.

Left-hand knob has its set screw hidden longer inside the axis.

Pulling it out, like for de-coupling the platen line spacing ratchet, reveals the screw.

To gain more place for platen removal I removed the paper table. Loosening locking nut and backing the set screw unhooks the table from its pivot.

As the table was not sitting exactly in the center I adjusted the similar screw on the other side.

Now comes the platen. It sits tight and paper-release lever is in the way.

Just take the lever up - paper release position - and you get a clearance.

On the left side the platen is still held by its axis. It cannot be removed while the platen sits in the carriage so just press it into the platen. After the platen is out it can be pulled out with pliers or pushed out with the platen knob from the other side.

Extracted from the platen the axis shows clutch release cone.

The platen was in good shape but bearing marks of frequent use. I sand it smooth and clean the oxidized rubber.

Paper deflector is in excellent shape - no rust, no dirt either. It is hanged with similar pivoting concept as the paper table.

You don’t have to remove it to inspect and pull out paper rollers. Just lift it and swing out of way. Servicemen-friendly approach.

I remove it anyway, for better access for cleaning. Loosening one screw, on the right side of the carriage, frees the component.

Service-side of the carriage - with line advance and ratchet pressure roller - nothing flies away in absence of the platen. All sits secured. Again - servicemen in mind: easy to clean and to repair.

Serial number on the rail of the carriage, right side.

Machine ready for cleaning. It was enough to brush it and blowing dust with compressed air. Remaining, accessible dirt cleaned with stick-pads.

Spacebar is made of Bakelite. It bears traces of unsuccessful gluing. Looks like a glue to bond rubber, no wonder it did not hold long.

I considered my options. I could use this piece to make a new key. To match a burgundy color I could carve it from mahogany.
Or I can try to salvage the original key. Worth trying, always better with original parts - and this one is a sign of really brutal excitement!

I clean all rests of the old glue.

Tedious job but necessary to provide reliable surface for epoxy. I used fast curing semi-transparent epoxy. Left excess until partial curing, I will cut it once half-cured and sand the rest after full cure.

While this was left to cure I clean body panels. I use sunny weather to dry them on car roof.

Type slugs cleaned.

So why was the spacebar broken? One reason may be that the owner - or repairmen - installed too thick rubber bumpers on the bottom tabs. There was not enough space for them, spacebar could not be pressed down enough to trigger escapement. To “fix” the problem someone bent the bottom of the panel, to gain 1-2 mm room. All that instead of simply replacing these rubber rings with something a bit smaller.

Fixed that by replacing them with thinner, silicone tubing. Bottom panel straightened back to original shape.

With the mechanism cleaned, platen sanded and cleaned I assemble all back together. Straightforward process. To install the platen it is best to press the axle all the way into the platen. It will be pushed out after installing the right-hand platen knob so no worries.

Original ribbon was at its life-end so I wind a new one: cotton!

This machine needs to have rivets - or any kind of hinder - on the ribbon, to trigger ribbon reverse mechanism. Neat solution with document binder pins:

Done!

So finally - type test!

Time for photo session. Lines of this machine remind me Buick Super from the 50s.

Even ribbon cover opens like a car hood.

What’s under the hood? Type strength regulator, of course!

Decals on this machine are in pristine shape.

Ribbon color selector is also a decal.

Underwood emblem is in painted metal, a few chips in paint reveal yellowish metal surface.

I’m glad that I saved the original spacebar. It shows clearly that it was repaired but functions perfectly and bears sign of events full of anger (I think).

I added epoxy fillet underneath. It adds lots of strength and is only visible when the machine is up-side-down.

Fantastic machine indeed!

Everest Mod 90. Italian beauty.

March 30, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I used to trust commercial auction houses to describe objects professionally. Accompanying photographs are always detailed and show all scratches or wear&tear of sold objects.

This machine came to me from one such auction house in Sweden. Nobody else was bidding so the price was reasonable. It was a few years ago, thou. When I finally received mail with the machine I was very excited: the form, color, emblems - I like everything about this model. Will it type equally good as it looks? I wanted to try.
Nothing in the description nor photographs suggested this.

I checked again pictures accompanying the auction but there was no trace of this. You cannot miss these cracks and dents in keys, even if you know nothing about typewriters. The photographs were made in a way to mask this, with proper lighting!

Well, you learn all the time. To send back this machine would cost me too much to be worth it. I wrote to the auction house complaining about the condition but I was ignored. Fine, no more purchases from Kalmar auction house. Ever.

The machine went to storage and I forgot about her. I was too angry to even start working on her. Only recently, when “venting” the collection I stumbled upon her. What a beautiful machine!
Time to do something about it - how does she type?

Oh, she types beautifully! She came with carbon ribbon, type slugs were clean and Elite-size typeface was perfectly aligned and crisp on paper. The action is smooth and snappy, no marshmallows!

After typing a few pages I decided it’s time to take care of her. She is worth saving.

List of problems was short:

dust everywhere but luckily no excess oil or WD40 - all was moving smoothly
damaged keys
a bit “clunky” sound of spacebar and rather noisy action. Needs better sound isolation
line advance mechanism was not working

I considered options for repairing the keyboard. One could be to 3D-print new keys. And while doing totally new ones I could make them with metal rings and glass tops. Original keys could be used for repairing other machines - I have a few with missing keys.

I removed one key and started sanding it, to get rid off legend. I wanted to use it as Shift key on another machine.

But then I stopped, looking on half-done key: the scratches disappeared, sanded away, and the legend was still there, nice and clear. What if I just sand these keys, to satin finish, and keep them as originally on the machine? It will suit her much better than “prosthetic” keyboard I wanted to make.

That seemed to be a way forward. Instead of fixing this other machine (with missing Shift) I took Everest on the bench. At last!

Removing panels and ribbon cover (car-hood style) is pretty straightforward, with a couple of screws on sides. No screws holding them at the bottom of the machine.
The back panel is a part of the frame - spacebar escapement trip and ribbon vibrator/color selector are anchored there.

One can leave it on and still clean the machine - access from the bottom is good - but I wanted to add sound isolation there so it had to be removed.

This machine most probably was never serviced. All screws, even the smallest, are in pristine condition. No butchered heads. What a joy!

Platen removal is straightforward but there is a catch to it.

First goes platen knob. On this machine it is enough to unscrew the right one. The screw is centric to the shaft.

At the very base sits a thin shim or washer, acting as a support for compression spring.

After removing platen knob one needs to unscrew one (only!) screw holding the shaft.

Unlike on all other machines I worked on - this is not a set-screw and it needs to be removed entirely. In my case it was not possible - platen’s rubber was overhanging the screw head and it could not be entirely backed. The shaft was sitting rock-solid. I had to shear the screw to remove the shaft!

It turns out that this screw is entering the shaft all the way thru and it is the shaft, not platen, which is threaded. That’s how they manage to keep the shaft well connected to platen with only one screw.

With platen removed I could dive deeper into carriage guts.

To save me trouble at re-assembly I secure line advance ratchet and surrounding mechanism with a temporary screw.

While looking at this I noticed why the line advance mechanism was not working: the tab got bent and was sitting outside of space setting arm. Formed it back into shape - it should sit as on picture below.

Paper table and deflector create one assembly. To remove it from the carriage one needs to unscrew one screw, on the right side.

This removes one bracket and the table can be moved out from the other, on the left. But before - detach two hard springs on the back.

And voila! Paper feed rollers accessible for inspection.

Last body panels to remove - ribbon bowls. Each is held by just one screw, running through a spacer below.

Stripped from panels the machine gives good access to internal mechanism. Down to my de-dusting station: big dust got brushed away, rests blown out with compressed air.

Paper rollers were in excellent condition but very dirty, with rests of TipEx and other dirt. Chemical cleaning brought them back to shape.(attention: product placement!)

Body panels have some sound isolation but it is just thick cardboard. I will replace them with felt.

Next I remove keys. All will be sanded and polished to satin finish.

One key got too much chipping to be good enough for just sanding. I need to rebuild the top part of it. JB-welding should take care of that.

I left it for two days to fully cure.

Shaped with sanding paper and painted looks almost like it never happened.

Once all keys got their satin finish I could put them back onto the machine. At last!

I decided to re-coat the platen. It was not damaged - no chipping nor cracks but it was hard and slippery, not taking paper well enough. I used two layers of thick, double-walled heat shrink tubing. But first the platen needs to be turned down on a lathe, to accommodate these new layers.

Original diameter recorded.

Heat shrink tube, depending on amount of shrinkage, will become thicker. Which is logical - the material does not disappear, just shrinks. I removed nominal thickness for two layers of tubing, to have a bit of excess material for final turn on a lathe.

Platen ends got excess rubber removed so that set screw could be now installed/removed with ease. No need to shear the screw to remove the platen now.

I had to fix this sheared screw which parts were still sitting inside central rod.

Since this is a thru-hole it went smooth.

I don’t have set screws matching the existing thread (whatever it is but it’s not metric) so I re-tapped it for M2.5.

All ready for assembly.

Last thing to do - new ribbon. Spools on this machine have slightly smaller diameter than universal spools.

Ribbon rewinding is easy here - the machine is equipped with “universal ribbon winding port” on each side.

All right, so how does she type now?

Well, she types like a dream!

It’s end of March so the snow is still everywhere. Right environment for Everest photo session.

Venting the engine…

According to Typewriter Database this machine was produced around 1951. Decorations, however, have the look of earlier era, classic pre-War esthetics.

Yes, she is a looker. And typer, for sure.

Post scriptum: glass key variant!

I was lucky enough to find another such Everest in more standard, glass-key version.
The key action is very similar to the one above but this machine was apparently renovated at some point.
She has a new platen - “new” being somewhere like 30 years ago that is. The rubber is still elastic and paper feed rollers are in perfect condition.

She must have had a carrying owner - all I needed to do was to dust off the mechanism a bit and treat body panels with Fulgentine, to bring back the shine and deep, green color.
Boy - is this machine not pretty?!

Harrington - new type element for Blick

March 20, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I was looking for a type face which will be interesting, ornamental and easy to read. And possible to implement on Blick. Harrington caught my eye but initial attempts to print it were unsuccessful. Mostly due to letters breaking during layer detach and eroding. Especially delicate serifs. And this typeface is all about serifs!

The typeface is balanced and proportional so very suitable for Blick.
To reinforce it - while not making it bold - I used the same concept as used on traditional, metal slugs: I reinforced serifs with separate extrusions, formed with chamfers to not interfere with imprint.

It took a while to adjust the model but seemed to be worth it. I printed the cylinder over the night. I chose no anti-aliasing - to keep delicate details intact.

I still use my home-made ink, while waiting for delivery of oil-based stamp ink, so inking is very rudimentary but first test type is looking promising!

I type on very thin paper, without any backing sheet, on stone-hard platen. This is to clearly see if alignment is correct. And it’s not - capitals are only partially printed, small letters are darker at the bottom.

My platen is at its closest position (cylinder adjustment) so no way to move it closer and imprint suggests that. So there will be next iteration, with type face shifted a millimeter or so, to match the platen. I don’t want to change other adjustments on the machine - she is adjusted for original type element and needs to stay like that.

So the story continues…

Messing up with Blick - second cork platen, new type elements

March 18, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

This time I took care to make the platen concentric. In the same style as original I made two separate axle pins, to be pressed-in and glued on both platen ends.

In my favorite typewriter-supply shop I bought thinner cork composite, just 1.5 mm. Turned the dowel accordingly.

With thin cork I skipped cutting 45 degrees overlap. Gluing went quicker that way and the effect is very good. Glue line is hardly visible.

It looks cool on Blick.

So did it make a difference compared to the old, hard platen?

Well, it did but on the wrong side, again.
Even so thin cork is too soft, letters dive into it deep enough to leave artifacts around, resulting in dirty imprint.

It’s never too late to give up but I decided to try a few more ideas before I dump this path.

To recap:
- I made a new platen to improve imprint from my custom type elements. With a bit more elastic platen hope was that “stamping” will work better.
- Elastic platen should also protect type element from premature wear. After all - it is plastic.

So the remaining problem is that type slugs dive too deep into the platen so that surrounding face of the slug is also printed.

How about reducing this surrounding area?

One of my original cylinders has these grooves separating each facet. I printed a new version, with Bernard typeface.

Did that do the trick?
No. A little better but not a revolution.

OK, so maybe I increase the height of these slugs?
Originally I made them stick out 0.5mm. If I increase extrusion to 0.7mm, will it print properly? And will that be possible to 3D print?

I tried.
It did 3D print OK, no problems here. But the imprint was only slightly better.
Small steps all the time.

I chatted with Leonard Chau who successfully printed many of these. He seems to print as high as 1mm type slugs, with additional curvature on them, to match platen curvature.

Well, let’s try that!
I increased extrusions on my CAD model and then cut them with platen profile.

As a result each type slug has a slight curvature on its face.

Very excited I run a batch of three cylinders, with Bernard, Fraktur and Harrington.

Harrington typeface prove to be too delicate for such high extrusion, some letters did not print completely. With Fraktur and Bernard all went fine.

So - did that finally made a trick?
No.

It turned out that this introduced curvature made the imprint even worse. It became very sensitive to cylinder (platen) position relative to the type element. It became too tricky to calibrate.

Moreover - with so high type slugs they became very susceptible to damage.

So I fall back to original platen and lower extrusions. I went through all my typing elements with different designs and selected these which work the best. They will be a benchmark for developing this further.

So far my most successful implementation is Fraktur: SW Gothe. It is very ornamental so difficult to read.

Nothing to type long letters to anyone we care about.
But if you don’t want them to answer - yeah, Fraktur is a way to go.

As for a casual typeface - one to be used for letter writing etc - I pause my work with Bernard. It seems to be too condensed and prints poorly on Blick.

I will instead focus on Harrington. It should be easy to read and at the same time it has intriguing features with its serifs. I will just need to make it more substantial for darker imprint.

But that most probably is dependent on ink, too. It’s obvious my inking has a lot to desire.

Chatting with Leonard we came to conclusion that oil-based ink can be an option. Hard to find these days as most applications switched to water-based inks. Water inks are not corrosive and do not deteriorate rubber.

But this is not concern for me as I make my cylinders from epoxy.
I’ll just need to take care not using original Blickensderfer cylinders with that ink.
They are made of rubber.

To be continued…

Scriva / Triumph Norm 6. Snappy typer in cherry-red

March 18, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I have a weak spot for Triumph machines. One of them, Triumph Perfekt from 50-ties, is my go-to machine for longer typing.

When I found this Scriva I knew already that it is a Swedish clone of Triumph. I grabbed it even though it was extremely dirty and clogged. Nothing was moving! It must have been sprayed with WD-40 or equivalent and then left to die. Run it hard & leave it wet!

Somewhere there is an escapement mechanism!

I masochistically like such machines: you never know what will come out of that mess. Will it type nicely? Will it have nice typeface? What is the color of body panels???

Ribbon cover is made of ebonite, all other panels are steel. Easy to remove, no surprises.

Platen removal is even simpler: both platen knobs are screwed into the core. Both are standard, right-hand threads. A bit of cursing and they unscrewed from both sides, freeing the platen. So no central rod to be removed and wiggled upon installation. Nice!

The platen is in good shape, no cracks or dents. Oxidized and dirty but salvageable.
Feed rollers and paper deflector form complete subassembly. Easily removed with just two screws. Rollers are grippy and round - just dirty. Good sign.

One type arm was not able to come to resting position. Apparently someone tried typing on clogged mechanism and bent a link. Easy fix.

After brushing the dust and blowing with compressed air the gross of dirt was removed. What was left was a goo on all internal parts. Still hardly anything could move. I decided to give it a deep immersion in ultrasound bath. White spirit with a few drops of machine oil.

It took four such sessions, followed by compressed air, within three weeks. After the first cleaning bath the mechanism was free but I knew that after the thinner evaporates there still can be problems.

Leaving the machine “naked” for a week to check if all is fine. Nope, of curse - so another bath and compressed air. Finally, after the fourth bath, all goo was gone and the mechanism was working fine.

In the meantime I worked on the platen. After light sanding on a lathe the rubber appeared to be in good shape although a bit on hard side. I treated it with chemistry to bring back a bit of elasticity.

Felt pads - noise isolation - are in good shape and not smelly, just dirty. They cleaned up very nicely.

I finally could put all back onto the machine.

Spacebar rubber dampeners were shot, I made new ones from silicone.

Now the escapement is visible - nice and clean.

I could finally try typing.
And it types like a dream!
Elite sized, very pleasant typeface. Carriage shift, well balanced - feels very light.

Very handy machine indeed. Classy look, very snappy typer and not as noisy as my other Triumph.

Platen and feed rollers grip a paper like a bulldog!

Cherry-red with small blue details. Eye-feast!

Bi-chrome selector was so dirty I could not tell which mode I’m in. It cleaned up nicely, too.

Like other Triumphs this machine has very robust carriage lock mechanism. So that the escapement is protected well during transport.

That beauty deserves a photo session.

Cork platen for Blick 5. First prototype fail.

March 05, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I prevail in being stubborn and continue messing with my Blick 5, to make it type properly with my home-made, custom type elements.

The problem I face is bad imprint. It is not related to my type elements - I see this equally well when typing with the original one. I recon that main sources of poor imprint are:

hard platen. Hardly any surprise.
poor quality inking cylinder
poor quality ink

Now, starting from the end: I use standard, round-the-corner-paper-shop stamping-pad ink. It is bad and cheap. I tried mixing it with glycerin, to get it more “substantial” but results were not much better. Richard Polt suggests using Bates Numbering Machine Ink. Not surprisingly it is now out-of-stock on Amazon but I found a shop in Germany which still has it. It’s on its way so I hope to “tick” this point.

Poor quality inking cylinder - well, after my moderate success with home-made felt cylinders (I used black-powder gun wads, punched to match the size) I switched to pre-inked, modern cylinders which you buy at paper shop. They are still being used in cash registers or calculators. While the ink in them is working well with the Blick - they are fragile and wear out rather quickly. Again, Richard Polt comes with rescue - there is a product which matches exactly spec for Blick: wool felt wads for gun care. Caliber 7mm. I bought both 7 and 6.5mm as they are quite cheap. They are on their way, too. With proper ink this combo will hopefully do the trick.

Hard platen is a constant struggle for all typewriter aficionados with limited budget. Doing rubber re-coating with JJ Shorts or similar company is a big expense. What scares me most, thou, is a possibility that the platen will be lost in transit and gone! For Underwood or Remington that can be fixed by donor machine but Blicks are not that common and not cheap either.

I know one company which uses their own couriers to pick and deliver platens/rollers from customers. But guess what - they don’t do it for free which, after adding all in total, costs roughly as much as a Blickensderfer in decent condition.

All that aside - tinkering is a pleasure in itself so I’ve decided to come with my own solution.

Putting heat-shrink tubes is a known hack. I could turn the platen down on a lathe to compensate for tubes’ thickness and have it “re-coated” that way. This is an option I want to keep as a last resort. All in all - having the original platen on Blick (mine is in good shape) is a value in itself.

Putting bicycle tube on the platen is another option which I already tried. For most machines this rubber is too soft and imprint gets too fat. The only exception from this, in my case, is my Underwood 5 which seems to like it. It prints well and sharp.

My recent restoration, Oliver 5, has cork platen. That gave me a thought to try the same on my Blick.

As this will be a prototype I decided to make a new platen and to save the original intact. Disassembling the carriage will be also an occasion to do some adjustments and cleaning.

Starting from the right side, unscrewing the bell/knob and line advance mechanism.

No need to unhook the line advance spring, I leave it dangling.

This next step is not necessary to remove the platen but I want to properly clean the carriage so I unscrew right bracket which holds the platen. Note slots on its base - these are used to adjust platen position relative to typing element, like when top or bottom of letters is printed uneven.

Carriage left side - carriage release rod and reinforcing rod (with small nuts). Carriage release rod is so long and springy that it can be simply unhooked without removing platen brackets.

It’s never too many photographs when putting apart a machine. Right side of the carriage and position of small springs before the complete subassembly is removed.

Left side of the carriage is as simple as a threaded knob and locking nut. All threads are standard, right-hand threads.

The original platen has wooden core. Central axis of diameter 5mm is most probably glued/press fitted and constitutes one part with the platen. The platen has 32mm in diameter and 248mm length (excluding shaft)

Smaller diameter of the last 7mm of the platen is to accommodate a scale for line advance. For my prototype platen I will skip that, for simplicity. It should otherwise have 29mm in diameter.

While at it - I decided to renew paper roller. It was still working but the rubber deteriorated badly.

Shaft is made of steel, no brass sheath since the roller rotates with its axis. Simple solution as on the platen. Rubber stripped revealing some surface rust.

I took care of that.

I built the new roller using heat-shrink and plastic tubing. Made it a tad smaller in diameter, to prevent it from colliding with a screw head at the base of the machine. I had this problem when typing on really thick paper. It is possible that the original roller expanded due to aging and cracking. I made a new one 2mm smaller in diameter.

Now to the platen. First thing to determine was if I have a proper threading tool to replicate original threads. I wanted to use same screws and fittings, making only the platen brand new.

I tested all my ANSI threads, UNF and UCF and none was fitting. In an act of despair I tested metric, too. Guess what - M4 is matching perfectly!

I turned a wooden dowel to 28mm diameter since the cork I will be using has 2mm thickness. The axle was made of brass, just in case M4 is not exactly fitting. In such case it will be the axle which will get damaged, not original fittings.

Drilling so long and small hole was a challenge, even on a lathe. The drill has a tendency to wander in such non-homogeneous material as wood. I drilled from both sides so any inconsistency should happen deep inside the dowel.

With the axle pressed-in the core was ready to be dressed with cork.

Now - the usual way would be to cut a strip of cork and wind it around the platen in a spiral fashion. That makes it easy and time effective and this is what I see on my Olivers which have cork platen.

But I wanted to try another, more labor-intensive way of doing it: single sheet, overlapping at edges at 45 degrees, to form a uniform surface. I’m a hobbyist, after all.

Since I chose this approach I had to glue the cork in two stages: first just the edge, leaving excess of material for later trimming. Weighted and held with masking tape the assembly was left overnight for curing. I used standard, white wood glue. Polyurethane wood glue was not grabbing the cork.

The next stage was to wrap the remaining cork around the core, exactly mark meeting edges and cut the edge at 45 degrees. I was too busy to make photographs.

The resulting roller is even and smooth. After light sanding one cannot feel the join line of both edges. It is visible, thou but not disturbing.

So how does it work?

Well, it prove to be too soft again.

The letters were deforming paper and in some cases type-element face surrounding the letter was also printed. Clearly they were diving into the cork structure together with a paper.

Put aside poor ink roller and cheap ink - this platen did not make situation better. Moreover - even though I was careful to make both axle ends concentric they ended up a bit off, resulting with variable platen position with each line advance. That resulted in the same letter printed differently depending on a row: sometimes it was perfect, other times upper or lower part was faded. Clear sign that the platen was not revolving only in one direction.

Well - what lessons did I learn?

final platen will be made of hardwood, this should prevent the axle from bending when being pushed into the wood and wood “giving in” as being soft.
the axle will be made of 2 parts, shorter. Just enough to anchor them in the core. Drilling will be then more precise and concentric, from both ends. Much shorter.
the cork I was using was too thick. And it is really not 100% cork but rather a cork-rubber composite. The problem with pure cork is that at such thin sheets it is very brittle and cracks easily when bent. It may be a bit stiffer than my chosen material but I will try again with the same material but thinner. I will also sand it to go down to ca 1mm thickness.
if that proves to be still too soft I may wrap a single layer of heat-shrink above the cork, stiffening the surface a bit.

So not all hope is lost. The story continues.

Carriage removal/installation on Oliver typewriter

February 26, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It may not be obvious to everyone that Oliver and Blickensderfer (and Adler Mod 7) can have their carriages very easily removed. Oliver is the easiest of all these - no tools required, no prior experience needed.

To remove the carriage just press both Tab and Right button at the same time. The carriage will move to the left and stop. Press them again.

Now with your other hand - while keeping these keys pressed - simply slide the carriage out of the machine, to the left. Job done!

No need to secure spring-loaded line. The machine takes care of that:

When the carriage is installed back onto its rails this clip is grabbed automatically - and it will sit as pictured below.

Neat, ain’t it?

So - with the machine facing you - press Tab and Right button and remove the carriage, to the left.

To put it back - if you had it removed during shipment or for cleaning - simply align 3 rollers on their respective rails and slide it onto the machine. From the left again.

Everything will jump onto place by itself.

Do not force it - if there is resistance then something is not aligned. Back the carriage and start again, this time straight.

That’s all to it, really.

The fun continues - Blickensderfer type elements & 3D printer

February 26, 2023 by Lukasz Kumanowski

This 3D printing business got me!

Ability to make my own typeface elements to otherwise obsolete Blickensderfer typewriter is refreshing. I even started to use this machine for writing letters!

I’ve tried several fonts which are available for Windows/Mac free of charge. Some of them required several iteration of CAD design to get them look right on paper.

What I have learned - which should be obvious to anyone - is that the epoxy resin is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. Keeping these factors controlled makes the process much more predictable. In my case the workshop is heated to 20 degrees and stays like that during the whole print. Working in temperature lower than that - 10 or 15 degrees - yielded smaller openings, thus forcing me to file axle and steering pin openings to match my Blick.

As my arsenal of type elements is quite rich now I added type face name on the top of the typing element. Even covered with ink it is still visible, making it easier to pick from a can of these.

Curing the epoxy is crucial if these are to last. For prototypes I was just exposing them briefly to UV light from a small torch or leaving them outside in daylight for several hours.
To make myself independent of weather I made a simple curing chamber, out of old steel plate with mirror finish (drier plate form old photographic drier).

The plate is rolled to form a cylinder, held in shape with bolts and tape. Bottom and top locks should be mirrors but my wife was skeptical to give me her mirrors so I just took old DVD discs. They do the job equally well.

UV light source is the same torch, mounted onto the top lock. By trial & error I established curing time to be 30-45 minutes with this torch.

Choosing the font to implement is another thing. Apart from runes all other fonts need to be properly spaced so that words look like words - not like a bunch of letters. I am by no means educated book-press specialist so I rely on gut-filling.

My recent implementations are Fraktur and Bernard typefaces. In case of Fraktur I needed to change a shape of some letters to make them readable. They were too strange, especially with less than perfect Blick imprint.
Bernard took me 3 iterations before I can say I am satisfied. It prints clear and bold now so I think I will call it a day.

Recent fail was Bodoni typeface. It turned out to be too dense, resulting letters to be too far spaced in words. Not sure I will continue with that font, same as French Script which is too delicate for this technology of printing. Harrington looks promising but requires more work.

All in all - the results are promising and I am ready to buy and implement my two beloved type faces: Doves and Mason.

Stay tuned.