How To Clean And Lube A Vintage Typewriter

presents

The Typewriter Revolution:
A Typist'due south Companion for the 21st Century

Available now

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For the best and latest presentation of my favorite techniques, see Chapter 4 of my book.

Meanwhile, hither's a drove of tips I've discovered myself and learned from friends. (Thanks specially to Rob Bowker, Gregory Fischer, Paul Dobias, Luis Galiano, Tim McCoy, Jared Mogensen, Jett Morton, Paul Musgrave, Lynn Myers, Robert Neuwirth, Paul Panella, Joseph Pierson, George Prytulak, Paul Ross, Matthieu Thursday�or�t, Lane Welch, and Peter Weil.) Everybody, if yous have more tips, send them in!

Before you do annihilation: Think about whether y'all're willing to live with the consequences if you lot mess up. Try to brand sure that your alterations are reversible, and don't practice annihilation to a truly rare machine other than gentle dusting and cleaning. The best way to get familiar with restoration techniques is to experiment on an ordinary typewriter starting time (how about a skillful sometime Underwood No. 5?). Whenever possible, test all these techniques on a hidden surface of the typewriter before y'all assault the main surfaces.

Online Typewriter Back up, past Will Davis, provides farther advice on operating, maintaining, and repairing a transmission typewriter.

For more than adept ideas well-nigh restoration, check out The Typewriter Restoration Site.

Names of some products below are linked to Google Shopping so you lot can compare prices online.

Initial cleanup and lubrication

Click here for a basic illustrated guide to cleaning and lubrication from a 1977 Reader'due south Digest book.

These are happy hours for me, equally I get to discover the diverse parts and features of my new typewriter and I start to uncover the beauty hidden under the filth. The paint on your typewriter may appear cracked and dull, but chances are that you lot are looking at decades' worth of tightly compacted dirt, grease, ink, sweat, and cigarette smoke. If you tin manage to remove that layer of crud, y'all may find that the underlying paint job is still shine and tin can be made to gleam. If you're unlucky, the crud will plow out to be a layer of varnish applied at the factory, which has grown wrinkly and dark-brown with age; that can be hard to remove. Of course, if you're lucky enough to notice a typewriter that has been kept in a case, this won't be an effect -- it will just need a little loving care. In any case, you'll find the following items useful:

• Soft, clean, white cotton rags. You'll go through a lot of these. The gentlest approach (recommended at first) is to wipe the typewriter with a wet rag, or a rag dipped in water with a few drops of dishwashing liquid.
• Brushes: you can try toothbrushes, boom brushes, brushes for cleaning firearms or dentures, and artist's paintbrushes. The bristles on brushes tin can be trimmed to brand them stiffer.
• Q-tips are dainty for cleaning hard-to-reach areas. (Constructed-tipped alternative: Tipton'southward shooters swabs. One collector has written to me: "Instead of using Q-Tips, you can as well curlicue your ain swabs using wooden applicator sticks (6" long x one/16" bore) and cotton batting. Bamboo skewers work merely also, and they last for days/weeks. One scroll of cotton batting will yield well-nigh a meg swabs. As shortly as a swab is dirty, you pull information technology off and replace it. The most of import matter is to utilise damp--non wet--swabs. You lot can accomplish this by rolling a moisture swab on a piece of blotting newspaper. By doing this, you lot avoid flooding the surface, and h2o won't seep into all the wrong places."
  
• For initial dust removal, the vacuum-cleaner hose attachment kits sold in computer and figurer supply stores and catalogs work very well. They are especially helpful in cleaning mechanical parts.
• For more precise blasts of compressed air, buy a canister intended for cleaning electronic equipment (these are bachelor at most role supply stores).
• Y'all can also sic your leaf blower on your dusty old typewriter, or take information technology down to the gas station and have reward of their compressed air. (Probably not a great idea for rare typewriters!)
• Meghan S. writes: "Hey, I found something a few months dorsum that helped wonders for the initial dust-off when I acquired a new automobile -- dryer sheets! They collect dust equally yous wipe, moving information technology all to ane spot, and generally the grit will stick to the sheet -- even dust you didn't know was there. Helps with sparse layers of grease that cotton rags volition but motility around, besides. And they're thin enough that you can get into hard-to-achieve spaces (just not the small pieces)."
  

The post-obit substances tin can help remove dirt and grease (often old typewriters accept been over-oiled at some point in the past, or even dipped in a vat of oil, which in the long term turns into a viscid mess that must be removed).

• Soft Scrub is a gentle liquid cleanser that is hands bachelor. To remove heavy dirt, try applying diluted Soft Scrub with a finger or rag, and removing information technology with a rag, over and over and over. Conscientious: some finishes will exist scratched even by this cleanser. But my Caligraph required vigorous scrubbing with undiluted Soft Scrub!
• Try Dentucreme: "yep, the toothpaste for dentures. It is very mildly annoying and extremely effective on surfaces that would show scratches. I use it on mother-of-pearl and other frail surfaces." --Lane Welch
• Steve Maloney reports that "Gojo," a hand cleaner, is excellent for cleaning original lacquer black.
• Scrubbing Bubbles is good for penetrating tiny crevices on wrinkle paint. Use a toothbrush to get it down into the wrinkles. It does have a tendency to remove some paint, and can harm decals, so be conscientious.
  
• "For typewriters that take textured finishes, I would not recommend using article of furniture polish. I have found that the all-time way to clean these surfaces without buffing downward the textured finish is to use a 'fingernail' brush and a solution of baking soda and mild dishwashing detergent. I am liberal with the blistering soda and conservative with the dishwashing detergent. The dishwashing detergent is mainly in that location for removing oils. Y'all might be surprised how much dirt gets accumulated in these textured finishes." -- Paul Dobias
• "A very good cleaner that works well with 'crackle lacquer' finishes is Dow Scrubbing Bubbling.  Information technology is a water based foaming cleaner that lifts out clay and other grunge from the nooks and crannies in the finish.  Information technology too works well on polish finishes, only is really proficient if you lot are trying to go down into the detail.  It also is first-class for such things as the oil cloth and simulated leather of portable cases.  The electric current product is fabricated by Johnson, and is non as good in my estimation every bit the original Dow product, just it is nevertheless very good. I have used information technology on auto interiors such equally headliners, and or musical instrument cases, as well every bit music amplifiers with Tolex covering.  Using a soft castor like an old molar brush works well.  It is and then skillful, after wiping off the concluding application, to use plain h2o to wipe downwardly the surface until clean." --Tim McCoy
• "Some other more aggressive product, but still water based, is �Krud Kutter�; this stuff volition make clean the grease off of an erstwhile engine, just non harm the paint.  Information technology, similar the Scrubbing Bubbles, should be finished with a clean h2o wipe down, until all traces of dirt are off.  There is another even more ambitious version called Krud Kutter Graffiti Remover.  I�ve not tried it, merely information technology might be useful in a watered downwardly class, but examination information technology on something before using information technology on some collectable." --Tim McCoy
• "For postwar machines, apply a cleaner designed for pots and pans, or even dish soap--information technology will cutting through the grime and brand whatever gray typewriter a little less gray/dull." --Nick Bodemer
  
• Oil will improve the functioning of some parts, notably when applied to the carriage runway. Apply very sparingly, with the terminate of a pin or paper clip. Employ a low-cal, high-course oil. three-in-i Oil is an easily available pick. Probably a ameliorate selection is gun oil, such as Hoppe's Gun Oil, or a penetrant such as PB Blaster.
  
• It'due south a bad idea to put oil in the segment (the slotted slice that holds the typebars); the oil can get muddy and gummy after a while.
• It's a bad idea to apply WD-40 on a typewriter. It is not a expert lubricant for fine machinery and afterwards a petty time, it will get sticky and make things worse than e'er.
  
• Gun cleaning solvents tin can be very useful. I have had good luck with Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber. Other products I have heard about are Chiliad-Pro gun cleaning spray, G-96, and Pause Gratis.
• Liquid Wrench Super Penetrant has worked very well for me in removing old oil and lubricating mechanisms.
  
• Atomic number 82 Equalizer can remove old grease and complimentary up parts. Information technology as well can restore polish to dark wrinkle pigment, every bit it seeps into tiny crevices.
  
• Stronger products (utilize outdoors, and examination inconspicuously on decals and paint) include naphtha (lighter fluid) and carburetor cleaner.
• "Also a adept cleaner is equal parts of acetone, automatic transmission fluid, kerosene, and mineral spirits. Be conscientious of the acetone, notwithstanding. This is a standard firearms cleaning mixture for cleaning bores, etc. For actually gunked up typewriters, it works pretty practiced." --Paul Ross
• Mineral spirits (due east.g., Varsol or Stoddard Solvent, bachelor at paint stores) have been recommended to me. "Castor the mineral spirits on, using a natural-fiber castor which is bonded onto the handle with metal, non plastic. The motorcar should then be GENTLY diddled out with an air compressor. And then apply a light lubrication to moving parts."
• "When performing cleaning and lubrication, I would recommend following up after degreasers and lighter oils with a heavier oil. Also, oils used around chipped and delaminating coatings may contribute to further delamination. For instance, for blowing out dusts, removing some grease buildup, and to leave backside a recall layer of lubricant, I would recommend using 'Television receiver Tuner Cleaner,' and so follow up with a light oil." -- Paul Dobias
• "At fifty cents each, Southern Bloomer cleaning rags may be expensive (subsequently all, they're going to get dirty quick), but they put out no lint, and they've been a large help." --Robert Neuwirth
  
• "Automatic transmission fluid, thinned 50% with kerosene, is an excellent rust preventive and general lubricant. Lots of anti-oxidant material in it, so it doesn't 'mucilage up' with time. Every bit usual, in oiling, apply sparingly." --Paul Ross
• Instead of lubricating with oil, which can eventually collect dust and make the mechanism stick once again, you can try dry, powdered graphite. (This is not recommended for use on anything that has aluminum, since graphite has a high galvanic difference to aluminum and will pit and corrode it.)
• "Tipton'due south Metal Magic rust and lead Removing Cloths practice a skillful job rubbing crud, rust, and discoloration off typebars and other naked metallic pieces. Leaves a bit of a greasy experience, and so you accept to rub down with a plain cloth after you're done". --Robert Neuwirth
• "Iosso Gunbrite is good at taking off serious surface rust without destroying chromed surfaces, though you take to rub like crazy." --Robert Neuwirth
  
• Platen cleaning: afterwards an initial wiping with water and Soft Scrub, several brands of condom/plastic restorer can remove more dirt. For more on platens, come across the next department. "Rubber rejuvenators" will make clean platens, merely not really rejuvenate the safety. In my experience, the stuff is also good for dissolving old grease, such as grease stuck in the slots of a segment.
• Fedron Rubber Cleaner Conditioner is a heavy-duty solvent that cleans blazon and platens. If you can find a dauber (like the type used for liquid shoe polish) spread a thin coating on the blazon and let it piece of work for almost a minute or two, then wipe off with a rag. For the platen, if the platen can exist removed, put some Fedron on a rag and wipe the rubber off. It instantly removes clay, ink, and rust marks. Fedron is harsh: be sure to keep information technology away from pigment, decals, and all delicate parts and materials (such as string and plastic). Employ in a well-ventilated expanse: it stinks!

How do you remove mold from a typewriter?

• "That moldy smell" is a mutual problem, peculiarly with portables--and if you're allergic to mold, information technology can be a existent health adventure. Yes, the scent is caused primarily past mold, combined with decades of dust and cigarette fume. Mold won't abound on metallic, but it will grow on typewriter ribbons and on fabric-covered cases. Take your typewriter out of its instance and accident the lint and dust out of it (a compressed air canister for cleaning computer and stereo equipment is handy hither). Throw away the ribbon. Expect carefully for whatever surfaces that may take mold on them (the typebars usually remainder on fabric or felt; some typewriters likewise have felt elsewhere, to deaden the noise). Clean and polish the motorcar using the materials I listing on this page. The cases tin be cleaned with harsher materials, such as Scrubbing Bubbles, Concrobium mold control, Lysol, window cleaner, or ammonia. Mr. Clean's Eraser Pads have also been recommended to me for this purpose. Then allow everything dry thoroughly, preferably in sunlight. Store typewriters and cases in dry environments with moderate temperatures. You may have to make clean the cases again every half-dozen months or so.
• Paul Panella writes: "I've establish that the musty smell from the old leatherette cases can exist removed by first wiping down with a light disinfectant wipe. I utilise Clorox disinfecting wipes. Then I generously utilise Erstwhile English lemon oil furniture smooth inside and out. The leatherette just soaks it up and information technology seems to accept care of the strong odor with no residue. These old cases are so dry that the lemon oil disappears almost immediately."
• Paul Musgrave writes: "Sometimes, the odour of an old typewriter is quite pleasant and should be left as is for the sake of actuality.  Other times, an onetime typewriter has been left in a basement where a nasty, eye-scorching fungus has staked its merits on the dormant sometime machine.  This is especially truthful of college-stop portables (ones with felt soundproofing) that have been left in their woods-shell cases in a damp environment.  Some examples are the Smith Corona Silent and Olympia SMs.

  "My outset experience with a nasty, moldy typewriter was with a Smith Corona Super.  I went and so far as to remove the felt, simply unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to go the soundproofing to really work after that.  I switched tactics later that experience.  My next machine was with a Smith Corona Silent (Speedline).  It is a cute machine, but the musty olfactory property was strong enough to fill the room.  This fourth dimension, I used Concrobium Mold Control.  Information technology is sold in spray bottles at Home Depot (among other retailers).  I took the shell off the Silent, carefully sprayed the Concrobium on the felt (it leaves a foggy glaze on most parts, so I highly recommend being precise in spraying...even pressing the nozzle directly against the felt and slowly injecting the fluid into the felt).  After letting it soak into the felt for a few minutes, I sopped up the excess in a newspaper towel and let the pieces air dry out.  Sure plenty, the Concrobium killed whatsoever mold and spores lived in the felt and took the edge off the odor.  I've tried the same technique with a SC Skyriter with success.  From what I understand, Concrobium leaves an anti-fungal and anti-microbial film wherever information technology is applied to kill whatever fungi is on it and preclude it from returning.  Since the felt in a typewriter is almost always subconscious and used solely for sound tiresome, I can't imagine the motion picture would exist a problem.  It's been nearly a yr since I treated my Silent, and I've not had whatsoever ill effects whatsoever.

  "In about cases, the wooden carrying case often absorbs the musty odor.  This was true in the case of my Silent.  I was able to clean the case (inside and out) using the techniques I learned on your webpage, which helped somewhat.  To kill the rest of the smell, I took some fresh pipe tobacco (inexpensive stuff from the drug store volition work, equally long as it smells pleasant), wrapped most a silver dollar's worth up in a coffee filter, tied it into a packet using a trash bag tie, and prepare it in the typewriter instance.  Subsequently a few weeks, the slight remains of the old typewriter smell blends with the smell of the fresh pipe tobacco and the typewriter smells quite divine.  I normally wouldn't recommend tobacco use to anybody, only in this case information technology was put to a really proficient apply!"

Improving paint, metal, rubber, and other parts

The typical deep-black color of an early typewriter consists of lacquer, which is quite difficult to restore. Enamel pigment was introduced in the 1920s. Typewriters also take many metal parts which are susceptible to rust and discoloration. The shiny metal parts of older typewriters are nickel-plated; some newer machines accept chrome-plated parts.

Rust

• Rust removal should exist attempted past the gentlest method first. In order from gentlest to roughest, I recommend: Mother'south Mag & Aluminum Shine (bachelor at automobile supply stores); superfine steel wool (try to avoid getting the steel filings into the mechanism); superfine sandpaper; rougher steel wool; a synthetic scrubbing pad; a rotary tool (such as a Dremel) with a wire brush attachment (I recommend the cup-shaped brush; clothing eye protection, as $.25 of wire will fly off); a rotary tool with a cratex zipper (rubber impregnated with a tough textile). The cratex attachments do a bully chore of removing rust, merely they will leave a marker; utilise them for initial heavy rust removal, and then finish with a wire brush to polish out the end.
• Evapo-Rust is an excellent production if yous demand to remove rust from the whole trunk of a motorcar, or if you desire to de-rust individual parts without using the methods above. You immerse things in this production and only the rust disappears. It is nontoxic and reusable. In club to immerse a whole typewriter, you will demand 5 gallons (it tin exist diluted a chip with water if necessary). Remove the body panels and platen. If there are whatever remaining paint and decals, protect them with a good coat of wax, as the Evapo-Rust tin harm them. Subsequently soaking in Evapo-Rust for up to 24 hours, things can be rinsed off in water. Then dry them immediately with a pilus dryer or other ways. (With some parts y'all may not mind having a residual of Evapo-Rust on them, which will protect against futurity rust, so there is no need to rinse.) The Evapo-Rust may go out a dull or night residue on surfaces, which can easily be polished make clean. You may likewise become acceptable effects by spraying Evapo-Rust repeatedly for well-nigh an hour, instead of immersing the automobile. Some products chemically identical to Evapo-Rust are also available. They and the original can be found on eBay with a search for "Evapo-Rust."
  
• "For minor rust removal, try using an electric eraser (besides known every bit an 'architect'south eraser'). Koh-I-Noor and Staedtler both brand fairly cheap models with a variety of eraser refills. The grey, ink erasers are the virtually aggressive. The soft, white refills are especially good for removing light surface dirt and oxide layers (exercise on a tarnished penny!)."

Paint

• Hither's a actually easy way to touch up small spots of black paint (which is past far the most common color on early typewriters): use a permanent blackness marker. This is like shooting fish in a barrel to apply, lies apartment on the surface, and tin can make a large deviation. Despite the term "permanent," it is also easier to remove than paint.
• What if you want or need to use real pigment? Touch-up pigment for cars, which is sold in tiny bottles in motorcar shops, tin can be handy here. Information technology dries to a glossy finish and is not thick or clumpy, as long as it'south shaken enough in advance. Just have a good look at your typewriter in the sunlight after this paint has dried -- you may find that it's not actually as blackness as the original paint.
• "The paint pen to apply is Uni-Paint medium line PX-20 (or fine line if you lot prefer) Opaque Oil Base marker. Y'all tin order them at Staples in just about any color of the rainbow.They only take a day or two to go." -- Robert Nelson
• "For coatings touch up, ensure that surfaces are gratis of oils, vitrify exposed substrate materials with an abrasive pad, and recoat with nail smoothen. The 'anchor molar' from abrading will ensure adhesion, but your requirements probably won't exist higher than a simple visually detected surface contour. Boom polishes come in many shades, so you lot should be able to get your verbal match. Besides, they accept a tendency to gear up up a little thicker than some of the automotive paints, which adds to the depth and luster of the color to better simulate the multiple layer effect of lacquers." -- Paul Dobias
• "Goo Gone" tin can remove unwanted paint that has been added past a previous owner, revealing the original pigment and decals below. It also removes Wite-Out.
• To restore faded pigment on keys and scales, effort Lacquer-Stik Fill-in Pigment.
  

Feet and feed rollers

• Bob Aubert offers new replacement feet made of blackness Buna Northward synthetic rubber, which is far more than durable than the original composite material. The anxiety are sold in sets for the following typewriters: Columbia/Barlock Models 1- 20; Hammond one - 12, and the non-folding Multiplex; Harris/Rex Visible 4; LC Smith one - 8; Oliver 1 - 11; Smith Premier ane - 10; Remington Standard 10; Royal Flatbed one - 5; early on Royal ten; Underwood 1 - 5; Wellington 2 & 3; Williams i - 6, Yost ane - 4, and some portables.  Prices vary from $vii.l to $35.00 per set (postpaid) depending on size and whether or non the mounting hardware is included.  He does not have whatever tapered square of rectangular feet. In that location are two different sizes of stepped bumpers available.  They will work any typewriter with 1/2" or five/8" mounting holes.  If yous crave a unlike stem diameter, these feet can be modified to fit. For more info, Bob'southward e-mail address is rite2aubert@juno.com or call him at (856) 461-7080.
• You can also visit your local hardware shop in search of rubber parts that will work as anxiety. Sometimes a rubber stopper will exist ideal (tip: squeeze the big cease in commencement, non the modest cease). Andy McWilliams writes that this detail worked perfectly to replace the feet on a Remington portable #5 (and they will probably work on similar Remington portables): 27/32 x 9/32 inch slip joint washers, Home Depot stock number 38809b, fabricated by Danco Co., Concordville, PA 19331. Ryan Long had luck plumbing fixtures his own Remington portable #5 with "Replacement Aqua-Seal Washers for 'American Standard,'" size: fits 2k-2h and 2c, made by Danco for faucet repair. They fit into place and lock with an O-Ring.
• Ane collector writes: "I am writing to you to add a tip regarding typewriter feet. I establish this stuff to be well-nigh ingenious indeed and very reasonably priced compared to having feet manufactured professionally or even purchasing new one-time stock. Information technology runs about $9.00 to $12.00 for a bundle. The product  is chosen Sugru. It is an air-curing molding glue putty that dries overnight into a soft silicone/ condom and it comes in a variety of colors that can be mixed into custom colors too. Blackness, white and grey are too available. Y'all can shape it, mold information technology or encompass things with it and it adheres to the surface you apply it to! It can even be ordered in a magnetized form."
  
• Slices of wine corks can make easy replacements for anxiety, if you don't feel you need rubber.
  
• Another possibility is refurbishing the one-time rubber feet. Carl Strange recommends "a product chosen Plasti Dip, which is unremarkably thought of every bit a coating for hand tools; it gives new life (and restored bulk, to say nothing of a rubbery grip) to emaciated typewriter feet. A can costs near $8. I used information technology on a 1941 Underwood Champion and my love erstwhile Underwood 11 with very satisfactory results."
• Feed rollers are often hardened or have developed "flats" from being pressed confronting the platen for decades. Matthieu Th�or�t reports that removing the quondam safety and replacing it with shrink tubing tin can be the solution. "For the back rollers, I used nearly 8 layers of tubing, shrunk and cut to attain a great wait. The front rollers took only 4 layers. I used a smaller diameter tube that I loosened with my pliers, so that the shrunk result would be really tight."
• Bob Aubert suggests using rubber hose for cars to recover your feed rollers. "I've done it this way at least a hundred times and it works! Simply take your old rollers to a car place, enquire to encounter their hose stock, pick something that is close and it volition be just fine. Shop for a brand that is smooth on the outside! Cut it roughly to size, slip it on, put the shaft into an electric drill, and trim the excess off with a razor while it's turning. It will look like it was done in the Remington mill!"
• You lot may also be able to recover feed rollers with latex tubing, sold by length in some hardware stores.
  
• Another solution worth trying is pencil grips.
  
• Black electrical tape may besides work, and for this method yous don't need to remove the feed rollers from their housing (which is sometimes difficult). But cut and scrape off the old rubber and utilise the record, stretching fairly tightly and making it as long as it needs to be to reproduce the original diameter. Put information technology on in such a way that the normal direction of rotation volition tend to keep flattening down the end of the record.
• One terminal suggestion for feed rollers: when heated with a hair dryer they may get pliable and you may be able to reshape them. Heat may also aid you lot unstick feed rollers from a platen.

Platens

The platen is the press surface of a typewriter -- normally, a rubber-covered cylinder. The rubber on an old platen may go hard and slick, and so that it doesn't grip newspaper properly and the blazon hits information technology with a harsh, loud impact. What to do?

• Vigorous scrubbing with Soft Scrub will remove the dirty and slick exterior layer of the rubber, and ameliorate the grip.
  
• You can also effort roughening the platen by scrubbing information technology with sandpaper, but I like the results of Soft Scrub amend.
  
• Restriction fluid (DOT 3) reacts chemically with safe and breaks it downward. It volition soften prophylactic unacceptably when exposed to it for the long term. A little exposure, notwithstanding, tin can add a little flexibility and grip to the outermost layer of a platen. Y'all can wipe a thin layer of brake fluid on with a paper towel, go out it on for about an hour, and so wipe off any residue. Avoid skin and eye contact. Allow several hours of drying after this procedure, because at showtime the platen exterior volition be too soft and should non be handled or used.
• Use one or ii sheets of backing paper for cushioning if your platen is hard.
• Upward until Apr 2012, the Ames Supply Co. of Illinois provided a platen recovering service. In May 2012 they appear they were going out of business afterward 110 years.
  
• In Germany, platens volition be recovered by Eveline Theobald B�romaschinen.
• In Italy, contact Domenico Scarzello or Alessio Vescovo.
  
• In the Netherlands, AKB Longs will recover platens.
• In Switzerland, Typ Gummi TGW will do the job.
• In the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, contact Mr. & Mrs. Vintage Typewriters or try Longs.
  
• In the The states, J.J. Short recovers platens. Write to Peter at pjshort@jjshort.com to go a quote, providing the following information: the inside diameter of the safe tube or the outside diameter of the wooden or metallic cadre without the condom; the current outside bore of the platen; and the length of the rubber.  "For multiple platens in the same size range we will offer discounted pricing for qtys of 2-5 and vi+."
• West Coast Platen, http://www.platen.com/, had some spare platens in stock as of June 2012. Y'all may due east-mail george@platen.com.
• Rino Breebart has illustrated on his blog how he recovered a Hermes platen using a bike inner tube. For a diameter and smoothness matching the original specifications, yous probably want to get a professionally installed new platen, simply this is an interesting possibility.
• I have used colored shrink tubing to give a platen a new surface and a new color (purple!). Similar using a bicycle tube, this is non the about professional and precise solution, only it is at least fun. You need tubing that is big plenty to fit easily over the platen. You can heat information technology over a gas stove burner, turning frequently and rolling the platen on a counter every so often to smooth out the wrinkles. After v-10 minutes the tubing will fit tightly onto the platen.

Detailing

• Many early typewriters are decorated with pinstripes -- often these are thin parallel lines of blue and yellowish. Beugler offers a kit for precision pinstriping with pigment. Other pinstriping supplies are bachelor from Finesse Pinstriping. You can likewise observe pinstriping decals at many hobby shops, or lodge them from The Antique Phonograph Supply Co., Route 23, Box 123, Davenport Center, NY 13751-0123, phone 607-278-6218.
• Bits of gold may be missing from the decals or lettering. One non-expert solution is to touch on them up with a fine-point metallic golden marker. This is easily scratched off, but for the beginner that'south probably a virtue. The metallic marker really can ameliorate the neatness of your typewriter if it's used wisely.
• Replacement decals for many antique typewriters are offered by Paul Robert. Visit his Etsy shop here. A longer list of his decals is here.
  
• Information technology's possible to get nickel parts replated. You may want to consult a professional (such as Rayco Metal Finishing), just a home replating kit is made by Vigor-Bestfit, 320 Thornton Route, Lithia Springs, GA 30057. Phone 770-944-2733, fax 770-944-2765. The kit is available at Zak Jewelry Tools, 55 West 47th Street, New York, NY, phone 212-768-8122.
• Replacement leather handle straps (for cases) can be cut from used leather belts. Overnice replacement leather handles are also available at some music stores, as they are used on musical instrument cases.
• If the fundamental legends (the letters, numbers, etc.) on your keys are stained or faded, you tin supersede them. Information technology helps a lot to accept special tools for removing and replacing the metal key rings. I have prepared a PDF of fundamental legends that you tin can download hither. Print information technology on a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation printer at actual size (non "shrink to fit"). The PDF is high-resolution (1200dpi), merely the quality of your printout will depend on your printer, the print settings, and the paper used. You may also prefer this blackness-and-white (bitmap) version.
  

Polishing

Here's the sensuous phase. Loving applications and re-applications of polishing agents volition go out your typewriter looking sleeky, fresh and grateful. Yous'll be amazed at the difference!

• For a condom, effective end used by museums, I recommend Renaissance brand microcrystalline wax. It can be found on eBay and at various online suppliers. Utilise and vitrify the wax with clean cotton fabric.
• A practiced alternative is a commercial blend of microcrystalline waxes, in paste form, such every bit Johnson's "Klear" or "AeroWax."
• Mother'southward Carnauba Cleaner Wax (available in car supply stores) works nicely. Other car finishes, such as Turtle Wax, can also piece of work well.
• Wax can be removed with a material dampened in mineral spirits (such as Varsol and Stoddard Solvent). Use in a well-ventilated surface area.
• Pledge is an easily available polish that I take often used every bit a cleaning and polishing amanuensis. Spray it on a clean rag, wipe the function you lot're polishing thoroughly with the rag, repeat until the rag doesn't await brownish at all. However, I have been warned that overuse of Pledge can go out a sticky residual. It as well contains silicone, which may be impossible to remove after; do not spray information technology on the mechanism, and do not use Pledge on a rare machine. Endust claims that information technology contains no silicone. Nick Bodemer reports, "For prewar typewriters, I utilize Erstwhile English Lemon Furniture Polish--it works very well, and does not remove decals (even on a 1930s Imperial)."
  
• I've also heard that Fantastick works well as a polish and cleaner.
• Other effective polishes include Armor All and Klasse All-in-One Shine.
  
• Elaine Golladay suggests Klasse All in 1 Acrylic Protectant. Notation that this car polish volition leave a strong and shiny acrylic layer on the typewriter.
  
• Female parent'due south Mag & Aluminum Polish (bachelor at automobile supply stores) is an splendid cleaner and smooth for metallic parts both large and small. On machines with a lot of aluminum (such as the Blick 6 or Hammond Folding) this stuff tin can work a miraculous transformation.
• Other metal polishes include Flyt (available at gun shops) and Simichrome (which has been highly recommended to me for aluminum -- ask at auto supply shops).

Mechanical repairs

Click here for a basic illustrated guide to simple repairs from a 1977 Reader'southward Digest book.

Click hither for a Web version of Clarence LeRoy Jones' Typewriter Mechanical Training Transmission, published by the U.S. War Section in 1944.

More service manuals can be institute on my manuals page.

Manual typewriters operate on relatively simple principles, and you tin can unremarkably fix a trouble using patient investigation and some screwdrivers. Simply don't underestimate the need to go on track of all the parts you remove! You lot can easily find yourself with a pile of parts that you tin can't fit together once again. Check Online Typewriter Back up, by Will Davis, for further advice on operating, maintaining, and repairing a manual typewriter. As for typewriter repair shops, visit my list of them here.

• Chapman Mfg. Co. has put together a nice screwdriver kit with bits designed especially for typewriter repair.
  
• You may desire to invest in a set of gunsmith's screwdriversouthward. They are available in boxed sets with up to 58 interchangeable bits, as well every bit ultrathin sets. This allows you to find a perfect fit for every slotted screwhead, and so damage is less likely to occur. (Note that older screws tend to take much narrower slots than modern ones.) "The best source for these screwdrivers is Brownell's, Inc., 200 South Front Street, Montezuma, Iowa 50171; tel. 515-623-5401; fax 515-623-3896. Check out their 'Magna-Tip Super-Sets.' You'll wonder how you managed without them. About $82.00, simply they'll last a lifetime."
• Magnetic screwdrivers are helpful for belongings on to screws.
  
• Sears sells very useful sets of Craftsman tools meant for repairing computers and other electronic equipment. The tools are hard steel, many have fine tips, and an ample diverseness of screwdrivers is included.
• Dental picks are helpful as a ways of reaching and manipulating interior areas.
• A common problem is a broken carriage drawband (cord or strap). The basic principle is simple: attach a new drawband to the butt (containing the mainspring) and one end of the carriage. The mainspring normally does not accept to exist wound upward while you are doing this; it tin can be tightened subsequently. Just this is all easier said than done, and this repair can be frustrating. The method volition vary based on the model of typewriter. You may want to use or create a long, sparse wire with a hook at the cease which tin be pushed nether the wagon and used to pull the cord through.
  
• Kite string or strong f ishing line can be a helpful replacement for cleaved drawbands. Rob Bowker writes, "In the absence of fine waxed string I have at one time used baler twine, but more poetically I have used 'cat-gut' - a overnice organic replacement. A 1950s, warped and unplayable lawn tennis racket was the donor."
• Flat shoelaces tin can replace carriage pull straps.
  
• Sometimes the mainspring itself is cleaved. Commonly one end of it has snapped off. Open up the barrel to take a wait. You tin can usually make a new hole in the end of the spring using a Dremel wheel, and reattach the spring to the barrel.
• Rob Blickensderfer (blickr@comcast.net) makes parts for various antique typewriters, such as Hammond ribbon spool covers, Blickensderfer newspaper supports and release bails, and cranks for the Smith Premier brush cleaner. Very reasonably priced.
• Jim Donahue (770-714-0556, jcd30281@yahoo.com) runs "Oliverservices," with many parts for Olivers as well every bit several products to service them: ribbons, touch on-upwards paint, stainless render cable, replated parts, etc. Visit his eBay store hither.
• David Randall shows u.s. how to brand new ribbon covers for a Remington noiseless portable on his blog as well as how to make new tab stops.
  

Typing

So at present yous're set up to do some bodily typing with your machine! Even if yous're not going to use it for everyday correspondence, it's nice to know that it'southward operation and "alive" once again. You need to deal with a few problems such every bit inking, make clean type, and alignment.

• Ribbons for most typewriters can sometimes however exist found as close as your nearest function supply store. The standard width is half an inch, and you'll find that this will work on almost all typewriters fabricated afterward 1920 or so. If your typewriter can type in ii colors (and nearly can), buy a black-and-red ribbon: it looks dainty! For suggestions on ribbon sources, encounter my FAQ.
• Ribbon spools must be appropriate to your machine. The most common are the kind that fit Underwoods, Smith-Coronas, and Regal portables; High german typewriters commonly use a type called DIN 2103 which has a larger fundamental hole. Olivetti spools need to be held down with a particular kind of nut (type DIN 466 M3); you can discover new ones online.
  
• Odd-size ribbons: endeavour ribbons made for computer printers, printing calculators, time clocks, and greenbacks registers.
• How to re-ink a ribbon: "Once a ribbon has run out of ink, and the typewriter has wound information technology all upwards onto one spool, remove the ribbon from the typewriter. Get a bottle of Postage-PAD INK, the same colour as the ribbon (this works best with single-colour ribbons). Keeping the ribbon wound upwardly onto one spool, glaze the outermost part of the ribbon with stamp-pad ink, and let it to saturate through to the interior layers of ribbon, wound effectually the spool. You lot should actually only take to do this rather sparingly. No more than than two-three drops here and there. Let the ink soak into the ribbon, and then rethread the whole affair back into the typewriter. Information technology'll run similar new :) A canteen of postage-pad ink is like $5, and one piddling bottle will last you for many re-inkings. Stamp-pad ink is ideal, because like typewriter ink, it doesn't readily dry out out in open air, so that means the ribbon won't dry out out overnight, but volition stay moist...well...until it runs out of ink again!" --Shahan Cheong
• It may be worthwhile to treat a ribbon that withal has ink, but has stale out, by spraying it with WD-xl. Lay it out g by yard / meter by meter and spray lightly and chop-chop. (Reminder: do not use WD-forty to lubricate the typewriter itself.)
  
• Ink rollers for Blickensderfers and other ink-roller machines: ane solution is to get rollers made for printing calculators, which can be procured at a skillful office supply shop. You'll take to cut them out of their plastic housing, and the price is a little steep ($3 or $4 for one roller -- the original Blickensderfer toll was 25 cents a dozen!). Your fingers will get filthy. Some other solution, more durable and much less expensive, but not always easy to find, is gun cleaning felts fabricated by a company such as VFG; get them in 7mm or 7.5mm size. They can be inked with  stamp ink from manufacturers such as ExcelMark or Trodat.
• Ink pads for machines similar the Williams: don't supersede an ink pad unless y'all actually want to use the machine, every bit in the long run the chemicals in the ink might corrode the type. A piece of black felt cut to the correct size volition look very nice. If yous practice want to try inking, you can try using stamp ink (see but to a higher place) but I don't know what kind of textile will best agree the ink without drying out.
  
• Hammonds originally came with a rubberized cloth impression strip that came between the hammer and the newspaper. Information technology is usually missing or broken, merely it is necessary in order to get skillful typing. Paul Robert recommends: "If there is a bicycle store in your surface area, go there and buy one of those narrow rubber protection strips that become around the cycle to protect the inner tube from existence punctured by the spokes. Cut off a piece one half inch shorter than the full length of the carriage, punch two holes on each side and yous accept the perfect impression strip."
• To make sure your types will print clearly, you'll probably need to clean out the crevices of messages like "e" and "s." Utilize the tip of a pin. Be gentle, and so you won't damage the type.
• For heavy-duty type cleaning, attempt Fedron (run across higher up nether "Initial Cleanup") or denatured booze (don't become information technology on paint).
  
• Old products such as Star Type Cleaner were intended to fit into the type and lift out some ink. For a modern replacement, Matthieu Th�or�t reports: "the Staedtler fine art eraser is malleable enough and lifts the old caked ink like a amuse." Elaine Hadden Golladay recommends Dap BlueStik (a reusable agglutinative putty).
  
• Alignment may be a big problem in an old typewriter. The typebars may stick at the printing point, because they're too far to the right or left. The Oliver may produce especially wacky-looking work because of the nature of its typebars. The only solution is to bend the typebars dorsum into position, using guesswork and experimentation and intendance. If you're lucky, you tin can find some specialized tools for gently bending typebars; otherwise, try needle-nosed pliers.

Happy typing!

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Source: https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-restoration.html

Posted by: allenanothe.blogspot.com

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