The seductive allure of my Valentine.

Pardon my miss-use of 'your' below :-

 

It may seem twee to be writing about my Valentine typewriter on Valentine's day, but then again my disdain for my Valentine has been rather well documented.  

So it may surprise a few people that I revisited the Valentine, which hiding at the back of my collection, and found myself being both frustrated, and then seduced by this machine. 

*  *  *

It all started late last year on Facebook. Or more accurately, with a friend from my past. 

This friend had been seeking me out on Facebook, but I wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with them. With a click of the block button they were gone - out of my life, and I expected them to be out of my mind forever.

But they weren't out of my mind. The situation bugged me for days, and after a little while I decided that it was time to write to them, and express my frustrations and hurt and ask them not try to contact me again.

So, I rolled out my Valentine. I had mixed feelings of anger and sadness, and the Valentine seemed to be the right keyboard to take it out on. Before long I had paper loaded into the machine, and I was bashing out a note to my now rather ex friend.

The Valentine however, didn't survive the length of the letter. Its scratchy carriage continued to grind and moan at every press of the key, and the escapement occasionally jammed and condensed letters together to form a blob of words. 

By the second page, the machine gave up the ghost. One of the bearings that I had painfully re-inserted 6 months ago shot out of the carriage unexpectedly mid travel. But I continued to type on the machine with the carriage wobbling around in a rickety motion until the letter was done.

I finished the letter and pushed it into an envelope. The next day I grabbed all of my outgoing mail, and headed to my nearest Australia Post mailbox. But before I did, I left the letter typed on the Valentine behind on my desk.

I was now left with a wounded Valentine. After I'd previously re-assembled the carriage I had never been happy with the action of the machine, and I just had a feeling that it wasn't trustworthy and that feeling proved to be right. 

I mulled over the mechanism and I couldn't quite figure out what had happened. It seemed physically impossible for the machine to dump a bearing mid movement, and I couldn't see any signs to tell me what had actually happened. The best I could figure out was that bearings may have been worn down, or that the retainer had jammed in the middle of the movement - forcing the bearings to jam and push out the side of the retainer and shoot out of the typewriter.

Obviously this was going to need the bearings to be once again re-inserted. But I just didn't have the heart to do it again, so I tucked the Valentine back into my cupboard until I had the patience and the mindset to do so. 

*  *  *

A somewhat casual auction. Much more relaxed than ebay.

 In January I flicked through a catalog  for an antiques auction over in Woolloongabba and spotted an interesting Art Deco table that had been poorly photographed, but showed some real potential. I popped down on the day of the auction, and discovered quite a beautiful table. 

While the auction progressed I picked through the bits in the store-room for a couple of hours until the table come up for auction. I bid - and won - a stunning 1930's dining table for a whopping $30. It would have been $20, but a dealer put in a half-arsed $5 bid against my first bid, just to see if he could score it cheap. I'd budgeted for significantly more than $30 for this table, which was pretty obvious to the dealer after I countered his bid within seconds, and he dropped out out of the running as he wasn't really interested.

Furniture wasn't really selling that day, and most of the dealers that were there were looking for little things that could be sold at markets or along with other items in their stock. Oddly several sets of antique bottle openers sold for more than the table did. Jewelery seemed to be the hot item, while my table was the only table to sell for the day.

While I was digging around the storage room, I discovered an Olivetti Dora buried in a job lot. The machine worked brilliantly, but was in a horrible state. The case was water-damaged, and some of the plastic had fused to the plastic of the Dora's Shell - staining it yellow and making it appear as though it had been burned. Also along with the typewriter in the job-lot was a marvelous label maker.

I bid, and before long I was the excited owner of a Dora and a label maker with about 20 fresh rolls of tape for a bank-breaking $10.

I grabbed that, and a few other trinkets that I'd bought, loaded up Ruby the Exxy and headed for home. 

*   *   *

 When I bought the Dora, I have other ideas than adding it to my collection. I could have spent hours fruitlessly trying to do something to the shell of the Dora to make it look nice again, or.... I could just use it as a parts machine. When I got it home and typed on it a little I was surprised by how well it worked. It was actually quite a nice typewriter. So I reconsidered my course of action for a moment, but then just through to myself - 'the world isn't going to miss one ugly Dora', and I promptly started to deconstruct the machine's shell. 

From a mechanical point of view, this Dora was pretty good. However, it had been filled with silt and muck - most likely from being stored in someone's leaky shed, and was most going to need a lot of cleaning. Frankly, I couldn't be bothered scrubbing the whole thing out. I flipped the machine over, and after dropping out no more than 8 bolts and two springs, I pushed some levers aside and I had the part I needed. 

 There can be only one! (swings sword).

I speak of course, of the entire carriage. Not just the rails, not just the platen, not just the paper table etc. But the entire array.

I spoke to John on the phone about what I was doing. Speaking from his experienced Olivetti typewriter mechanic point of view, his comment was blunt: "Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread".

John was right, of course. I had no idea of the complexities involved with relocating an entire carriage into a new machine. But I sure didn't have any intention of putting myself through the grief of relocating the bearings again - particularly as there was clearly something very wrong with them.

But the job turned out to be quite simple. I ripped the Valentine's carriage out, and plonked the Dora's back into place quite quickly. I even gave everything a scrub along with a grease and oil change while I was at it, so all the important bits were well looked after and running very smoothly. it all seemed to be such a simple repair. I flipped it over, and before shoving the shell back on, I gave it a test run.

Of course, nothing worked. 

Okay... so... where do I start fixing this.

So, I flipped the machine over gain and loosened the bolts, screws and bits and pieces. Progressively things sort of worked as I fiddled with them, but adjusting things in one direction seemed to put something else out. So soon it got to the point where it occurred to me that the entire carriage array must need some kind complicated adjustment procedure performed to ensure that everything lined up correctly.

After a little bit of thinking, I thought I had come up with an idea on how to do this complicated adjustment procedure. I flipped over the machine and loosened off the 6 bolts retaining the carriage array to the side, then pressed down hard on the carriage while re-tightening the bolts with retaining this compressed state.

Aaaaaaaaaaand......

The Valentine worked perfectly.

Well, except for a couple of things that I had 'adjusted' earlier, which I had to screw back to where they originally had been.

I quickly bolted everything back together, chucked in the new ribbon that I had been using previously in the machine (I use a mostly dry ribbon while testing repairs) and give it a bit of a burl.

And you know what? After being serviced, cleaned and adjusted to death, this carriage would have to be the smoothest moving carriage I have ever found on an Olivetti. And I mean... this was SMOOTH. The plastic shell of the case which reverberated bumps and grinds previously, was now astonishingly quiet. Only my Hermes 3000 machines are smoother and quieter.

This was an outcome that was completely unexpected. So I quickly pushed in a few fresh pages of letterhead paper, and turned out a couple of long overdue letters to a couple of members of the typosphere.


And you know what? I actually quite enjoyed my time with my Valentine. There's some aspects to this machine that are a bit unrefined, but largely I found this typewriter to be a very competent typewriter. It isn't the pinnacle of typewriter engineering, but it was a surprisingly comfortable, quiet and stylish machine to use.

I'm not in love. Oh no.

But this is one Valentine that I'd be happy to go a round with twice a day, and three times on Sunday. (my overseas readers may not quite catch onto what I'm saying there).

*   *   *

The letter that I typed before I repaired the machine still hasn't been posted. It sits in a box - maybe for life. I may find a moment to burn it and let go of the memories of a long passed toxic friendship. In the meantime, I've gained an appreciation for a beautiful Valentine.

P.S. I used the shift keys from the Dora - which were the more modern Lettera 32 square style, to replace the missing shift key. I also replaced the non missing shift key as well, so everything matched up.

Polytetrafluoroethlene n' that.

Greetings! And welcome to Filthy Labs.

Polytetrafluoroethlene is a compound that my spell-check seriously dislikes. So let's just abbreviate it to its more common name: Teflon.

You may recall a few weeks ago, I started using a 'dry' Teflon based lubricant on my Oliver 5 machine to see how well it worked. Meanwhile, I had on hand another Teflon based lubricant - a 'wet' lube that was packaged in a spray pack can.

The idea was that the TF2 Spray would be an effective substitute for the god-foresaken WD40 rubbish that some home typewriter renovators use to 'get their machines working again'.

When I say substitute, I mean - a product that potentially can directly replace the WD40 that already has been sprayed onto the typewriter. It also could potentially be a go-to can of product for the people that have may have been thinking about using this spray in the past.

Let me explain: In use, many of the Teflon lubricants - including this one, contain a compound that cleans out existing hardened oils. In testing, often the previous broken down oils and dirt have been seen being pushed out of the lubricated space.

This seems to be fine when talking about door hinges and other simple mechanical components that it has been tested on, but what about finer and tighter tolerance objects? As it stands - Teflon as a lubricant is designed for very tight tolerances. That, and that it is also designed to be used in very high impact areas. Hence its use in aircraft landing gear. Teflon's surface protection capacity and slipperiness, as well as its high resilience has been perfect for such applications.

 

Teflon molecule model. 

Is it good for typewriters? Well.... For the most part typewriters have been happy with most highly viscous oil.  My Oliver 5 seemed to like it, and dirty perished oil was observed being pushed out of all kinds of corners while in use. Another advantage of Teflon that is is lest prone to dust capture. 

But what about as a wet lubricant?

The Candidate: My Adler Gabriele 25

 

When I acquired this machine the then owner demonstrated it to me on a table on her back patio. As she pressed every key, the typebars became jammed into place about a centimeter or so above the rubber pad of the basket. "Oh, I'll just give it another spray of WD40" she said. I Groaned a "Oh, I'll sort that out, it's okay" but she was still pretty determined to grab the can. "NO"! I insisted "No it is okay".

I forked over a little too much money for such a sorry machine, and soon I was on my way.

I used degreaser to try and move the muck out of the segment, and I was about 85% successful. The machine was largely quite usable after that, but I put the machine into storage, and the residual WD40 quickly latched onto the type bars again. 6 months later it was again a slow and sticky machine. Not as bad as it was originally, but still far from ideal.

Hypothesis:
The Teflon lubricant will clear out the existing muck, and subsequently replace it with a much more effective lubricant for tight tolerance mechanical operation. Usability will improve, as will longevity of the machine.

Method. 

Part 1: Spray strategically, operate, observe. Clean surfaces of over spray. Operate and observe. 

Part 2: Store typewriter as typcial post procedure, wait set periods, observe. Operate and observe. 

Potential Variables:

Differing weather conditions could affect the outcomes. Higher humidity in summer, as well as increased heat could potentially cause some level of a false positive. Estimate of potential level of variation is yet to be established. 

Observations:

 

I still didn't simply like the idea of spraying this machine full of lubricant in the same way that I have heard and seen other would-be 'repairers' flood their machines with WD40. Instead I decided to use short, light and quick moving squirts across specific components and stuck locations. 

As this machine was already a victim of 'segment lubrication syndrome', (hereby known as SLS) I wasn't too worried about the normal warnings of 'don't oil the segment', and felt this was an ideal candidate to both test the lubricant, and its muck removal qualities. 

I didn't just spray randomly into the segment however. I only sprayed half of the segment - which left the other half as the control group. 

 TF2+ Dry, and the TF2 spray.

However, the control group contained a particularly sticky key. Q to be exact. And I decided to target the Q key with a tiny drop of the other Teflon lubricant I had been testing, the TF2+ Dry. The drop was administered with the usual syringe that I had been using for the substance. This immediately corrupted the control group,  but I continued with what was left of the control as a point of reference.

The spray was administered through the supplied thin red tube, to ensure that it could be focused closely on a specific area. 

With the typebars now lubricated, I started to manually work every key free from their 'SLS' bonds. I do this by manually grabbing each key, and rapidly shift it to the platen and back repeatedly and as quickly as possible. This method tends to clean out segments that had become jammed with dust or dirt quite effectively, and I was using for the same effect here - to 'push' the debris out of the segment with constant speedy and repeated movement. You can often feel the muck coming out of the segment as you do this. 

Before long the typewriter was up and flying again - in as much as one can say 'flying' with a Gabby.

The control group of the segment took a little work to get lose and moving again, but I managed to get it going. With exception of the Q key, I was able to eventually work all of them lose from their presently lazy operational state. 

The experimental group started to move almost immediately with little or no need to shift the keys around. All keys operated smoothly with individual operation. 

After half an hour of working the keys, both the control and subject groups operated relatively well. I then attempted 'typical' operation - i.e. quickly typing a document, and in typical typing operation both groups worked quickly and mostly smoothly. Some occasional laziness was observed in the control set, but it wasn't consistent and the typewriter was again highly usable. 

The Q key, which had been treated with Teflon dry operated flawlessly. 

Some over spray was wiped from the segment and type-bars, and as soon as I lifted the typewriter - I observed that underneath the machine pools of dirtied oil had formed. 

The smear on the left had formed after I had sat the typewriter back down post spraying along the 'comb' The drizzle of dirty dots to the right formed under the segment - beneath the experimental group. Other drops came from other lubricated locations.

 

 I had lubricated the carriage rails and the bearings with TF2+ Dry while I was servicing the machine. I'll experiment with the spray on the rails on another machine soon. I have a pre-dunk machine in mind I want to try it with.

3 weeks later.

The Gabby 25 was packed back up and stored in a dry, but relatively cool room for about three weeks. It was positioned horizontally (flat, not on its tail). The room was closed off from air conditiong for most of this time, and the room on some occasions reached a temperature in the low thirties (centigrade - around 86 to 95F).

Observations:

The experimental group moved smoothly and immediately upon depression of the keys, while many of the keys in the control group felt as though they were locked down. An lightly audible 'snap' could be heard as the keys freed up, and soon they returned to operation smoothly despite their initial stiff function. During this initial phase, these stiff keys made a noticeably lighter impression on the page.

The Q key observed no locking, and operated perfectly. 

4 of the control group typebars positioned closest to the experimental group moved perfectly without fail. This could potentially indicate over spray, but it could also indicate substance travel - i.e. the lubrication moved along the segment through bearings or across surfaces. 

Keys surrounding the Q key also observed no locking and stiffness. As the Q key was supplied with smaller and more controlled application of lubrication that dried quickly, this suggests substance travel. 

The '9' key was part of the original experimental group. However, it appeared to be lazy during operation. A tiny dab of TF2+ dry was added to the underside of the type bar around where the bearing was located while the type bar was pressed against the platen. When the key was released, the '9' key snapped back to rest, without any laziness observable. 

It is possible that the 9 key hadn't been 'worked in' as much. But there is no observation that supports this - other than its probable lack of inclusion while conducting the 'quick brown fox' test.

The segment did not appear to be wet with oil. 

After a few minutes of typing, the typewriter operated beautifully in most regards. The experimental segment worked near perfectly, with the only flaw being the 9 key.

The TF2+ Dry had done a wonderful job on the rails, and it operated observably smoother and quieter. It had even improved over the initial 'working in' of the lubricant, where the carriage at the time had also showed a marked improvement in operation. The TF2+ dry seems to work better post drying.

The typewriter has now been closed up and returned to storage - pending a 3 month review. Previously the type bars had returned to their locked and stiffened state after a 3 month period of no use. Observations will be made to see if the new lubricant has improved this.

Effective application of TF2 spray and TF2+ Dry lubricants.

Both lubricants need to be applied carefully. This is my advice for applying them:

TF2 spray.
Always use the supplied red tube. Spray pointedly and as lightly as possible, while moving across the surface of where you wish to spray. This lubricant is 'wet', so it potentially will catch dust despite teflon based lubricants being more inclined not to. After spraying operate your typewriter immediately and give it a good workout. Afterwards, wipe over the sprayed areas with a paper towel to collect up the heaviest surface over-spray.

The spray is quite effective as a lubricant, and has shown that it can clean out muck from all kinds of spaces. But don't expect it to get into everything. A spray approach often will allow you to miss areas completely. It's like planting a garden. Just because it is outside, don't always assume your plants are in a good spot to catch the sun.

TF2+ Dry.
Use a syringe and needle for application. Application can also be done with a brush or a toothpick, but these are less controlled. I've been using an 18G drawing up needle, but a finer 19g or 21g sharp needle might be the best way to go if you need a lot of control. In wet form this lubricant moves into gaps and spaces, but don't assume that it will clean out the muck - make sure you clean up most locations properly before trying to use this, otherwise it may not flow to where it is needed.

It dries quite quickly, so give the machinery a bit of an operation to make sure the lubricant travels into spaces effectively. The lubricant properly takes a bit of time to truly dry, so don't be surprised to find operation improves further over time.

As the "Dry" version doesn't stay sticky, it is far less prone to be taken up by dust and form a glue. So this could well be the better substance to use on segments - if you find your segment is not responding well after being more effectively cleaned. Personally, I feel the 'Dry' version is the better substance to use to deal with SLS, but it requires a more pinpoint focus, while the spray seems to be highly effective with less effort.


And yes. That photo up top is me.

Ep1. The apocalypse of the typosphere: A machine at the end of the world.

Click to enlarge scans.