{"id":3286,"date":"2014-09-30T17:29:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T16:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=3286"},"modified":"2014-09-30T17:30:51","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T16:30:51","slug":"project-underwood-typewriter-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=3286","title":{"rendered":"Project Underwood: Typewriter Restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

One evening about a year ago, my (younger) daughter and I were checking out typewriters on eBay. \u00a0We share an interest in “retro” machines (this is how my camera craze started, and her last Christmas present was a record player), and inexplicably, we both wanted –\u00a0needed<\/em> – a typewriter. \u00a0So we both picked one out and waited. \u00a0Got great deals. \u00a0Hers worked. \u00a0Mine didn’t. \u00a0Doesn’t. \u00a0Here’s what it looked like close-up after having removed some parts.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

So I got it in my head somehow I was going to restore this thing. \u00a0Take it apart, clean it piece by piece, and put it together, a smoothly oiled and operating machine. \u00a0I carefully researched it and determined that to this day, I’m still not sure what it is. \u00a0According to its serial number<\/a> (4808494-11), it should be a #6 made in 1938. \u00a0But then there is this website with pictures<\/a> that lists it as a “late 1940s” model. \u00a0(For $1,295!! \u00a0Mine cost like 30 bucks plus shipping).<\/p>\n

So I started to take the thing apart. \u00a0The carriage was all crooked and wouldn’t slide properly, the shift function didn’t work, the ribbon wouldn’t lift up when a key was struck, basically the thing didn’t work at all. \u00a0I removed about 15-20 major components and took pictures along the way to help remember the sequence. \u00a0Then I was faced with the prospect of disassembling all of the small pieces and levers inside. \u00a0I consulted somebody on Instructables.com about next steps, and he cautioned against it – saying the typical typewriter like this consists of 2-3,000 individual pieces! \u00a0So I took his advice.<\/p>\n

I discovered that the metal frame of the typewriter had a crack in it. \u00a0I bought some industrial strength epoxy and glued the thing back together. \u00a0As for the rest of the problems, the typewriters of this era are amazing pieces of machinery. \u00a0Designing them must have been an endless trial-and-error exercise, but the end product is a triumph in human ingenuity!<\/a> \u00a0Anything that’s wrong with it, you can basically look at it and fiddle around with the different levers and springs and connections, and figure out how it’s supposed to work. \u00a0So piece by piece I was able to restore most of its basic functions.<\/p>\n

Next I used a vacuum, toothbrushes, rags and q-tips to clean it as thoroughly as possible. \u00a0Doing that helped it work even better. \u00a0As I cleaned it, I put it back together, somehow, using the pictures I had taken. \u00a0The end result is a typewriter that\u00a0almost<\/em> works, and simultaneously adds like 100 pounds to our weight allowance. \u00a0I could not figure out how the little bell rings. \u00a0And there just isn’t quite enough clearance for the carriage to go back and forth smoothly. \u00a0And a piece of trim is missing, as well as the carriage knob on the right side. \u00a0But it looks pretty nice:<\/p>\n

\"DSC02582\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DSC02583\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DSC02584\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So now I have a partly working typewriter.<\/p>\n

I’ve just bid on another exemplar of the same model on eBay….I just know<\/em>, if I have two, I can make one\u00a0working copy….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One evening about a year ago, my (younger) daughter and I were checking out typewriters on eBay. \u00a0We share an interest in “retro” machines (this is how my camera craze started, and her last Christmas present was a record player), and inexplicably, we both wanted –\u00a0needed – a typewriter. \u00a0So we both picked one out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[97,1456,1455,1454,805],"class_list":["post-3286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-musings","tag-repair","tag-restoration","tag-typewriter","tag-underwood","tag-vintage"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3286"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3292,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286\/revisions\/3292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}