Wonderful 11” Platen IBM Selectric I

While I had many problems with the previous Selectric III, this Selectric is the one I have been waiting for.  Near perfect shape.  Black.  The personal size with 11” platen.

Where the previous typewriter started out with many problems, this example worked fine upon arrive except for some stickiness.  After cleaning, it handles wonderfully.  The only other quickly corrected issue was that the carriage hit on the right margin lever.  Apparently the red indicator had somehow lowered to the point where the carriage could not pass over the margin lever.  An adjustment of the indicator at the front of the carriage and all is well.

Though still heavy, this smaller model takes up less desk space then the larger Selectric's.  Even has an Italic type ball.  Wish I could determine when it was manufactured however.  Would be nice to know.

A nice change after the nightmare of the Selectric III.  More to come……….

Definitions:
IBM Selectric I: Produced by IBM between c. 1961 and 1971.
11” Platen: Selectric typewriters came in several widths to accommodate paper size.  This size just fits an 8 ½ x 11” piece of paper sideways.

IBM Selectric III Repairs (Part 3 Final)

I have given up on this Selectric III.  Too many issues that I could not reasonably expect to overcome.  It really has served its purpose however, and I will keep it around to experiment on.  After all it was donated to me for free.

The final blow came when the machine began to print the wrong characters.  I found the left end of the Tilt tape had come undone from the Tilt Bellcrank.  While attempting to follow the instructions on re-connecting the tape I determined that the tip of the Bellcrank that hold the spring in place had broken off.  This is apparently not correctable without a new Bellcrank and the work required on the carrier to replace.  At that point I made the somber decision to not proceed further in attempts to revive this typewriter.  It just turned out to have too many problems in total.

The good news is that I now know much more about the workings of the interposer, the carrier mechanism, and the margin bar/pitch lever.  Plus now have experience with installation of interposer return springs, key lever pawl spring combs, and tilt tapes.  I think I will also take the Operational Shaft out as time permits to have the experience in case the knowledge is required on some other typewriter.

The experience has already provided valuable knowledge which helped me with the cleaning and tweaking of the other Selectric III that I posses.  That machine is now successfully completed.

I believe the most valuable lesson learned was to not try any repairs until your Selectric is thoroughly cleaned.  Then cleaned again.  Only then can you reasonably expect to know what the Selectric needs to have fixed and what was fixed through the cleaning and lubrication.

My other older typewriters in need of refurbishing are just sitting while I have devoted my time to this Selectric.  Before I get back to them though, I still have a beautiful 11” platen Selectric I that I am in the process of cleaning up.  Hope to have that one to show in a post shortly.

More to come............

Definitions:
IBM Selectric III: Flagship model produced by IBM between c.1980 and 1986.

IBM Selectric III Repairs (Part 2)

It has taken me some time to get back to this project.  I waited on delivery of a Bristol wrench set and a half cycle wheel.  Then other summer activities intervened.  I also had input from Clark (professorc30).  Thanks Clark!  He suggested that I do a cleaning on the typewriter before attempting to troubleshoot further as that might solve the problems.

I finally got around to cleaning the Selectric III.  After now completing this task I am amazed at how quiet the typewriter is.  Can hardly even tell it is running, so all is well in regards to the previous noise.  The other issues however were not resolved.

When I obtained this Selectric III for free, not all the keys functioned.  A few stuck down and would only slowly return.  Also, the Shift keys would stick down.  Once you struck the Shift key several times it would then seem to loosen up and work fine.  I assumed these issues would be resolved with the cleaning.

After initial cleaning the very quiet running Selectric still did the following:

• Several letters do not print when the keys are pushed (Some seem to stay down & others immediately return but do not print)

• Only the dash key will strike multiple times when held down.  No other key will do this.

• The Shift keys still stick.

• Both the left and right margins will not stop the carrier no matter what position the margin stops are in.  This was not a problem before cleaning.  (I feel that I may have reengaged the print shaft a tooth or so off as compared to where it originally was located.  Was not sure if this may be a cause of the margin issue?)

Posting to the GolfBallTypwriterShop Yahoo group, I received additional feedback.  Suggestions that the margin issue was not returning horizontal.  To more thoroughly re-clean the Selectric and let a good penetrating oil set to loosen up the sticky keys.  Also that the dash/underscore key is the only key on Selectrics designed to strike multiple times while depressing the key.  Did not know that…..  All good advice.

I did discover that I had forgotten a step in my cleaning process.  I went back and re-cleaned everything.  This re-cleaning cleared up the margin problem.  However the sticking / unable to print keys were not changed.

Something told me to take another look into the cardboard box I had carried this Selectric III home in.  Low and behold I found this in the bottom of the box.

 Now I am showing my lack of knowledge on Selectrics.  This was a key lever pawl spring comb from the left side of the machine that should be installed on the Selectric, not sitting at the bottom of a cardboard box.  The below image shows the spring comb installed on the right side and where the missing spring comb should be placed on the left.

 I may be out of my depth now.  I have spent a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to re-insert the spring comb.  It looks to be somewhat bent and my tries to have each tooth ride on the lever pawl under tension has been unsuccessful.  We shall see what the groups suggests about this problem.

More to come............

Definitions:
IBM Selectric III: Flagship model produced by IBM between c.1980 and 1986.
Bristol Wrench: Wrench similar to an Allen wrench but with a slightly different pattern on the face.