To some of the great people from the Typosphere

It is really easy to think of people on the internet as just... text generators. You can't hear their voice, see their face, know their smiles or look into their eyes as you talk to them.

 Often on the internet I have seen horrendous things said and done to other people, which I only came to understand when I realized that the humanity of the people on the other side of the wire has been lost - and the antagonist has not been able to comprehend that they are talking to a living person, and not just a page full of text or a mindless drone character in a computer game.

However, the people I have come across so far in the typosphere have been very different. The humanity and personality of the bloggers I enthusiastically read daily is often soaked into their pages. These are real people who are not hiding behind a constructed online facade, and the typosphere has given them the capacity to be able to engage with each other with great passion and love.

I feel, that of all the online communities I have engaged with, the typosphere has been the most unique and rewarding.

So with that said, I have a few thank-yous that I want to give to some of people I've not yet met, and one that I have.

Many of us on the typosphere have been more than willing to go out of our way to help others repair their machines. I've sent parts out to people, and given whatever advice and ideas that I can. Meanwhile, others have done the same for me. And most of these people have done so with capricious generosity.

In the last couple of months I have received a few packages that have allowed me to get some great machines back to life. While I always like the challenge of improvising a repair, often the easiest and most graceful way to fix a machine is to simply find a part from a spare part.

So without further ado, I would like to thank these people:

Bill Maclane.
Bills blog can be found HERE.

Bill recently posted to a collective of parts which I have been able to use to complete and repair a Corona 3. I had originally purchased the Corona 3 as a non working machine off Joseph O'Neil over at the Typed on paper blog. The machine was incomplete, non-functioning but in quite beautiful condition.

Bill didn't ask for any money to post the parts to Australia, which was very generous of him. and I am very thankful for him doing so.

Here's the machine that Bill helped complete:

Corona 3

Barry Feilden
As far as I know, Barry doesn't have a blog, but I came across Barry on the Yahoo Portable Typewriters Forum.

After I came back from my last visit to John's workshop, I put out a call on the forum for a detent roller for an Olympia SM3/Monica etc. I honestly didn't expect anyone to have one to spare, and I started to plan an improvised substitute. But within hours of my posting the request, Barry contacted me to tell me that he had one that he could offer.

Like Bill, Barry didn't want any money for the postage. Within about two weeks a envelope arrived from the UK that contained the detent roller, and I had it bolted into the machine within minutes of me getting the parcel upstairs.

It is an Olympia Monica that is an ongoing project of mine, and I was super-excited to have this machine working. So thank you Barry!

Here is the machine that Barry helped complete:

Olympia Monica - based on the SM3.

Robert Messenger. 
The Australian Typewriter Museum.

The famous Robert Messenger has been very generous to me. So far, no money has exchanged hands, and I'm trying to think of ways that I can repay Robert's generosity. Robert has given me two of my all time favorite machines, and I am very appreciative.

Yesterday I had a package arrive from Robert that contained a trove of assorted parts.

At the Brisbane type-in, Robert left me with a generous array of machines. Two of these machines were ex Scienceworks museum pieces that were in a very poorly functioning state.

Both of these machines had parts missing off them when Robert left them with me. One of them, a Remington 7, he actually had forgotten to bring the paper-table that belonged to it along with him, and promised to post it up at a later stage.

In the meantime, Robert acquired a paper-table that belonged to a Smith-Premier 10 - a machine which he had also left me an example of.

Robert packed these parts, and an assortment of other pieces - including a denture brush which has been used to clean type slugs, into a box and sent it up to me without asking for any money to cover the parts or the cost of postage.

Both the Smith Premier 10A, and the Remington 7 that Robert left me are now complete. However, they are still an ongoing project. The Remington 7 is now in 100% functioning order, and even has new rubber rollers to keep things nicely in line. But there's still some cleaning and adjusting to be done. Also, no matter what I do, I seem to not be able to complete clear the machine of the hair from Robert's typewriter guard cat!

But the Remington is working enough for me to easily be able to write letters on, and use as a demonstration machine. Sorry Scienceworks, you can't have it back.

Here's the machines that Robert has given me, and helped me to complete:

Remington 7

Smith Premier 10A

The Smith-Premier is going to need some serious work. But fundamentally, the machine has a lot of promise. The keys are still filthy with 90 years of gunk in them, but I have cleaned a couple and they came up looking beautiful. For the most part this typewriter works, and with a bit of effort potentially can be brought back to life. It may look as though two keys are missing from the keyboard, but they are just collapsed. There's a few challenges ahead of me with this Smith-Premier, but it will be an interesting machine to restore.

*   *   *

So, thank you very much gentlemen. In time I'm sure I'll find a way to repay you, but right now I'm very grateful for your generosity. Like you, I send out parts from time to time - without asking for anything in return, and I think it is this kind of thing that makes the typosphere such a great community. 

Thanks!

And Robert, the denture brush makes an excellent brush for cleaning the wooden type struts on the Remington 7. Very useful!

Where the wild mechanics roam....

I'd loaded Ruby the Exxy (my car) up with a load of typewriters  and headed south to Beaudesert.  It was a nice day for a drive in the country, and John had suggested that I come out and have a bit of a typosphere hangout with him. On this occasion, I had the company of 'the impatient typewriter mechanic' - Steve Snow in the car with me who also had brought a handful of machines along for the ride.

Steve was great company for the drive, and the weather could not be more perfect for the trip. Last time I was down that way, the temperatures were exceeding 40 degrees C. This time, it was a modest 22. And soooo much more comfortable.

Which was just as well, as we spent at least 7 hours in John's workshop.

John had invited me to bring whatever machines needed the his experienced hand to look at. So I took the opportunity to bring some of my more interesting machines, which also had some faults that had to this stage proven a bit beyond my current skills.

I had three machines of a defective nature, and I had also brought two just to 'show and tell'. The 6th machine in my car was a machine I was giving John, in exchange for a surplus small air compressor that he had.

Steve also had some machines for John to look at. Chiefly, he had a Smith Premier 10A that had a few issues that he wanted to see if John could do something about.

Steve made some really interesting progress on his machine, and I think he'll be writing about it quite soon. So I'll let him tell you all about it.

Meanwhile, John took a crack at fixing the three machines of mine that I'd brought with me. We made good progress on my Olympia SG1, but it is still a bit munted in a couple of keys. We identified the problem with my beautiful pearl Olympia Monica, and a part is on its way to me already courteously of Barry Fielden in the UK - via Will Davis's Portable Typewriter Yahoo group.

John also blitzed adjusting my Remington 5's action, and after the machine's extensive repairs it is now a 100% working piece of beautiful machinery. But more on that machine soon.

However, the two machines that I had brought just to show - also got a round on John's workbench. I was happy with the operation of both machines, but now John has assessed some problems that I hadn't even thought about, and without even thinking he was making adjustments and suggestions on the two of them. It seems that John's repair man instincts seem to be forever in his blood. 

Both Steve and I had a great day. Not only did we get to get our hands on some real typewriter service tools, but we both learned an awful lot from John. I've learned how to use some of the professional's tools, and I picked up quite a few little techniques.

Watching John in action is great. He just rips through stuff that usually takes me a lot more time to achieve. And while he worked, he he was telling us magnificent stories about his working days that are very entertaining and interesting. John's been talking about getting his own blog going, which I am very excited about. Steve and I are going to give him a bit of a hand where we can.

Another great part about visiting John's place, is that we get to have a look through some of his machines. A lot of his 400+ machines are still packaged up and concealed in cardboard, bubble wrap, newspaper and old carpet. Every so often Steve and I would see a hint of something that looked sort of familiar, and we'd ask John if we could take a look. John was quite obliging, and we got to crack open the wrapping and have a look at some magnificent machines.

I was especially wrapped when I got to get my hands on a gorgeous Groma Kolibri in Burgundy. It typed better than I expected, and I now feel an urge to hunt one down for my own collection. They are such an amazing little machine!

It is easy to spend all day in John's workshop, and I always love hearing about what he's got on his workbench that is currently being worked on. Both Steve and John are great to hang with, and it is a real privilege  to been able to spend the day with them. 

Thanks Guys. Hope to catch up again soon.

All the news that's fit to type.

 

REMINDER: Brisbane type-in - 2pm this Sunday at the Museum room at the Breakfast Creek Hotel.

 

 

 

Reasing = reading. Urg! 

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.

The Apothecary's Typewriter

It's the sort of machine that I'd expect to find and read about over at the Dante's Wardrobe blog, but yet it has proved to be something of a complete mystery. Let me introduce you to a typewriter that I have not seen an awful lot of information about.

 

Filthy, filthy keys. And these had already been scrubbed once.

Notice anything about them?

A few months ago a member in the Portable Typewriter Forum on Yahoo! mentioned that they had a 'Pharmaceutical typewriter' that they were willing to part with. Being that this was very closely related to my line of work, I quickly messaged the member and expressed an interest in this machine - that is if the person he'd originally offered it too turned it down.

It was an interesting Royal portable with a brown paint scheme, which before I knew it was shipped off to Singapore.

"Oh well", I sighed in an email back to the charming typewriter enthusiast; Robert Neuwirth, (who is a journalist and excellent writer) And that was that - or so I thought. 

Robert goes by the name of Squattercity on the Yahoo! Forum. This name comes from Roberts blog (as linked above), and an excellent book that Robert wrote called Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World. A book that I will be posting a review of on here sometime in the near future. 

Some weeks later an email notification flashed up onto the screen of my iPhone. It was Robert, and he had come across an interesting Corona 3 on ebay that he through might be right up my ally. 

He was right. After I clicked into the link, I have to say I couldn't have been more excited. A seller was offering up a typewriter that had the requisite 'Pharma' (as a lot of forum members had called them) keys.

But it was a mess. The machine looked as though it had been corroded to all buggery, and would probably prove to be quite a test to any would be restorer. The seller hadn't actually noticed the unusual characters on the keys, and as such didn't even mention them, or even photograph them closely for the sake of the sale. But he did make a bit of a noise about 'working briefly for Smith-Corona once'.

Not that this is a problem to me. I often look for basket cases that will challenge me to learn new skills. But it was also only for sale to people inside the United states, which kind of presented a problem to me, as I was on the wrong side of the Pacific Ocean.

I quickly crunched the numbers and made some calls, and I managed to tee-up a few people who would could re-post this machine to me. But I shouldn't have worried, as some polite emailing and negotiation seems to go a long away on ebay sometimes, and I managed to convince the seller to post to Australia. 

The auction ended without anyone else bidding against me. Either no one else noticed the unusual keys, or the condition of the machine was a real turn-off. Within a week I had on my desk a very crusty and rusty old Corona 3. 

Upon opening the package my heart sank. The typewriter case was damaged, and the machine was floating around inside the packing box. But the machine was complete, even if it looked like it had sat at the bottom of a swamp. I sat it next to my other Corona 3 - a machine that I had bought off Joseph over at the 'Typed on paper' blog, and from an aesthetic point of view Joseph's machine highlighted how poor a condition this machine was in. 

Even mechanically this machine had some real challenges. Which, I'm glad to say I was able to overcome. 

And here's the result: 

Not so shabby eh? Still a little more work to go, but it's typing happily, and looking pretty damn fine.

But cleaning and fixing this machine was one thing. The hours I spent sorting this machine out was equaled by the amount of time I spent finding pretty much nothing in relation to these 'Pharma' typewriters.

So let's call it what it is: an Apothecary typewriter. 

I can understand why it is often referred to as a 'Pharmaceutical typewriter', but this is neither accurate, or doing justice to the cultural significance of these machines. I've come across examples produced by Royal, Oliver and Corona so far. But I wouldn't be surprised if there were others to be found.

You might be wondering "What is an Apothecary"? Well - let me indulge this question. 

In the modern era various proponents of 'Alternative' or 'traditional' medicine practitioners often are critical of how western culture has become reliant on conventional medicine. As such practitioners of these things often market themselves with traditional medicines that are 'hidden secrets' of other exotic cultures. 

But it isn't true. Western culture has an extensive history of traditional medicine, and this medical tradition was endorsed, marketed and sold by people known as Apothecaries. 

Apothecaries, like modern pharmacists, had a language all of their own. They also had systems of measure that were mostly specific to their trade. Many of these symbols and measurements were carried through as a lot of apothecaries changed over to pharmacists.

As we turned from the 19th to the 20th century, the role of apothecaries in our community changed rapidly. The scientific method had proven that many of the remedies and cures sold were a sham. And at the same time more rigorous research methods began offering far more effective drugs. As society began to embrace this change, many apothecaries changed along with it and become pharmacists. As such a lot of apothecary tradition came along with them.

This wasn't exactly an unusual thing for apothecaries to do. Whereas these days we see the word 'apothecary' as an old world term,  apothecaries actually used a combination of tradition and cutting edge technology to market themselves. Around the world there's still some shops that call themselves apothecaries, but they are more of a novelty shop trying to capture the traditional feel, while eschewing much of the technology.

Apothecaries used complicated and advanced glass products to both sell their wares (Google: apothecary jar) and produce them. They made far more sophisticated packaging than was commonplace at the time, and they used electricity at a time that it was still considered a novelty product. 

They produced sophisticated means of advertising and labeling their products, and were voracious users of printed material. Really it comes as no surprise that these people had typewriters produced for them specifically for their purposes. 

Just had to add "$" there. it felt kinda right in a snake-oil salesman kind of way.

As you can see there's an interesting mix of more modern measurements that you may recognise, along with a couple of odd but familiar characters and some otherwise foreign ones. 

I've used some odd unicode below to give you an idea of what these symbols are, but unfortunately the unicode symbols haven't always been exactly... 100% accurate. However they are close enough. 

℞   

This is an easily recognised symbol that is still in use today. But it has a long and complicated history. It is used to symbolise 'take' in latin - as in 'recipe', Hence they 'R' of the symbol. However its origins go further back than that - as the crossed extension of the R is a nod to the roman god 'Jupiter' as a prayer to the patron of medicine. These days we often just refer to it as 'prescription'.

 ♏

The 'Minim' by comparison to many of these other symbols, is a much more modern addition. This much more of a pharmacological symbol than it is an apothecary, but it was originally specified for use alongside existing apothecary measurements. Its usage changed in modern context to define 1/480th of a fluid ounce. But it originally indicated 1/60th of of a fluidram. 

*note: this symbol should have a cross over at the bottom of the end, not an arrow as depicted here in the unicode. 

ℨ

And speaking of drams and fluidrams, here's the symbol for a 'dram'. Fluid drams are indicated by putting an f, or an fl in front of this symbol. This as an apothecary measure takes its name from the ancient greet coin of the same name. A fluid dram is about the size of a traditional (but not the current size) teaspoon. While dry material dram is a little more complicated.
Oh, and a variation of the dram is still in use with the production of Scotch Whiskey.

℥

Hot on the heels of the dram, we have the 'ounce'. The symbol is very similar, but of course has that extra 'z' on top. Like the dram it is qualified as a liquid once with an f. Both drams and ounces are halved by adding 'ss' to the end. Other portions are indicated by fractions. 

∍

Rounding out the list of major measurement symbols used by apothecaries, we have the 'scruple'. This is a tiny measure that works out to about 1.3 grams. But is defined as '20 grains'.

fl

The fl symbol has a much more recent addition to the system, and is probably a product of the apothecary transfer across to modern pharmacology. fl oz is a far more common symbol today, but previously fluid ounces would have been symbolized by an f3.  The fl would have been used in combination with the previous symbols, along with an 'a' fraction key, to denote quantities in fluids. 

All of these units of measure were very complicated, and needed a considerable level of knowledge for the user to be able to interpret. I'll note that 'apothecary' wasn't just a term for people who sold the remedies, but was an encompassing term for the people that sold and distributed materials involved with the product as well as administering it. As such, doctors and nurses are also apothecaries. Once upon a time most of these people would have had to have been trained in the interpretation of these symbols. But today these are antiquated and clumsy units of measure that are actually more of a danger to use in a modern context.

But pharmacists do still largely acknowledge the history and tradition of the apothecaries - even if our own world has mostly progressed past the days of selling snake oil alongside Aspirin.

'The Mystery Part', or.... 'The Six Million Dollar Typewriter'.

Okay.... I had a bit of time last night and today, so I have decided to put this part into use, get a few photos, and tell you all about what it is and why I think it is special, before I went away to Charleville.

We have the technology. We can rebuild him. 

About a month and a half ago a Remington Noiseless arrived at my place in a pretty awful state. While the typebars moved nicely, the spacebar was frozen. The drive band was cut in half (yes, cut - not snapped) and a key was missing. Worse, the carriage lever was but a mere stub - a fraction of its useful self, with a piece of electrical tape surrounding the end of the stub; a futile attempt to try and hold the thing together. 

The broken part of the carriage return lever was no-where to be seen. As was the missing 'Margin release' button. 

This machine has potential. I weighed up the possibility of the Noiseless becoming just a shelf based poser, and decided that I didn't want to start a trend. Especially as at the time, I wasn't confident that I could repair the Valentine that I was also sitting next to my desk. 

I thought about welding a metal piece to the stub, and grinding it down so it looked nice. I also considered just getting some local engineer friend to knock one up. But I decided against that, as I should have been able to do that myself - if I had the tools. 

Late last year I read an article about 3D printing, and how a company called 'Shapeways' were even offering to make stainless steel prints. I recalled this when I was thinking about rebuilding this lever, and thought about designing something that I could slip over the end of the stub, and adhere it into place. 

Again, I wasn't happy about the possible durability of such a design, so I boldly decided to design the component from scratch. I checked over the materials data, and felt the most confident with the more expensive, but closer to specification, stainless steel - instead of the hard wearing ADF. 

Design: 

I actually have formal training in CADD, and have used such tools in my younger - lets make my own hardware - years. But I really couldn't be stuffed going into a complicated and expensive CADD tool to design something which largely was a free flowing shape that only attached at a crucial 'head point'. 

So I delved into a simpler to use tool that is free to access on the internet - called 'Google Sketchup'. 

I brought out the micrometer and measured the heck out the the stub and head point, and then analysed the functionality of the design. I measured up sections and did a bit of thinking about it, and laid out some preliminary designs in Sketchup. 

One of the things I love about the Noiseless, is its very Art Deco inspired design. I have decorated my place with a lot of Deco furnishings, and I loved the idea of a Noiseless, and beautifully Deco typewriter. So I decided I would give this lever the bold deco stylings the I believed that the typewriter needed. I also started making plans about how to repaint and re-finish the whole - somewhat damaged, machine into a beautiful deco piece of writing machinery. 

Printing:

By version V3 of my design (technically version 4), I had most of the style cues in place, and the design largely structured how I wanted. But I had messed up some dimensions, and as such everything was - well, giant sized and out of proportion. 

I rushed a V4 design at the last minute and loaded it up into the printer's software. The printer doesn't guarantee tight tolerance observation, advertising that they work to tolerances of 0.2mm. They also require structural thicknesses of a certain size, so it doesn't collapse after printing. 

The material technically isn't stainless steel. But it is pretty close to it. When it is produced by the printer, it comes out in a very fragile form, and needs to be 'cured'; heated to a high temperature so it fuses togeather. As such, I was quite worried as to the strength of the outputted component - so this was really only going to be a prototype. 

Implementation:

I shouldn't have worried. The piece arrived yesterday in a bubble wrapped bag inside a rigid cardboard envelope. The piece weighed surprising heavy, and in my hand felt substantial. 

I tried connecting the pieces together to make the carriage return, but nothing would slide into the centre hole of the piece. The whole design was about 0.1mm smaller than size, but the centre hole was about 0.15 off dimensions. But I expected this. 

The post that slots into the centre of the head was exactly 4mm wide, and so I was happy to use a 4mm drill to bring it back up to size. I had a 4mm bit on hand already, as I had expected to have to revise the size of the hole anyway. 

It was then that I discovered how hard and tough this steel was. I managed to drill about 2mm into it before my cheap 4mm drill was blunted. The vice couldn't crack the piece, and at one point I sent the bit sailing across the room at high speed, while I tried to ream the inside of the hole out. I have no doubt what so ever that this unit is tough. 

I slotted the piece into the typewriter after that, and it worked perfectly. I need to make a couple of small changes to the design for future use, but largely I am very happy with the result. 

The detail on this design is finer than what already exists on this typewriter. I think the whole writer needs more work. 

Implications: 

Shapeways provide you with the facility to create an online shop on their site. As such, I have listed this component up in my own (still work in development) shop. This part really isn't ready for use yet, as I learned a couple of things last night when I tried to use it, that will all me to refine it down, but it does offer a glimpse as to what is possible.

I also designed up some rubber feet to replace my Adler Gabriele's feet. They are on sale there now too.  Shapeways have just started producing a rubber like material to use. 

At this point I realised, a lot is possible. I'm currently designing a replacement platen knob for the Hermes 3000, based on the two different model 3000's that I have. The end result will still need to have a drill and tap set taken to it to put a thread in the hole, but essentially you will be able to print out your own H3000 knob. 

I imagine that it is possible that we could be able to create large libraries of difficult to replace components for our typers. Further more, I'd be confident enough to say that the strength of the metal components produced, would allow us to produce things like - replacement type stubs. 

Want to put Vogue/Moderne Pica typeface on your Hermes 3000? It is plausible. 

As well as the sintering technology that has been used here, there are also other rapid prototype production methods out there that can produce metal, plastic, stone, ceramic and rubber parts with finer tolerances, that machine them out of specific raw materials. 

Building up a library of models, designs and components can guarantee that we can continue to use and repair these typewriters - long after the current computer technology has been broken up and recycled. It just depends on how people wish to use this technology. Make computers work for your typewriter? Absolutely. This kind of technology will only get better in the future. 

The online shop allows andyone to produce the printed piece at your own cost, and it pays a tariff to the person who designed it. As it stands, I've put a $3.50 tariff on the lever, and a 0.50c one on the Adler rubber feet. I thought this was fair, as I spent some hours revising these designs. Both of these designs are immediately usable, but give me a little while longer to revise this lever. I believe this lever may be usable on a variety of older Remington portable models. 

My Mistakes:

Some of these mistakes have been a bit of amateur impatience. But:

Know your software: When laying out the design I entered in diameters as radiuses. Sketchup uses this as default, and doesn't really move on from that. I almost printed this with an 8mm wide hole. 

Think about finish: I fiddled with the settings on the Shapeways site when I put the design in, and left the 'Antique bronze' finish still switched on. As such, I got that finish, and got charged for it. Instead, I should have had them grind the finish down smooth. They ground a section of it - probably to remove a working tag - and it looks smooth and polished, while the surface of the lever for the most part has its default pitted - post print surface. But you can grind and sand the finish afterwards anyway, so don't worry too much about this. 

Consider shrinkage: Shrinking is consistent feature of something that is cured, and has predictable results. look at the forums on Shapeways. 

Think about your materials: There's other options than stainless steel. I should have prototyped in a much cheaper ADF, but I wanted to evaluate hardness and toughness of the metals produced, so I went for the expensive stainless steel. Incidentally, there's more expensive materials - like sterling silver. 

*  *  *

This is only the start of what I'm going to do to this Noiseless, and it still needs a heck of a lot of work yet. It'll end up costing me, but I'm learning a lot in the process, so I think it is invaluable. 

Stay tuned to see the end result. 

EDIT:

Un-shrunken image (click to view) so you can see the partially polished section. 

Rushed post - Coming attractions!

My shirt was filthy. It was my 'working on my car' shirt after all. There were dots of sweat all over it, and prints of my hands where I had wiped my palms on my hips.

"You'll be looking for Scott" I said to the man walking down the driveway in a friendly and welcoming tone. He didn't even look up at me, while he read the name on the package in his hand.
"I'm looking for a Scott" he replied to me, clearly having ignored what I said. This was a man that was very no-bullshit, who just wanted to get a package delivered.

I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses, before I pushed those glasses up into my unkempt mop of sweat soaked hair. "That'd be me" I replied to him, using the same dry pitch that he'd just spoken to me.

He scanned the barcode and got my signature on the screen of his machine, before turning away and heading back to his van.

I knew what the package was. The back of my car was open, and the delivery man just left the package  sitting just inside the tailgate of my car before he walked away. I saw the name of the company emblazoned across the top of the package, and I suddenly started to get excited. So I snapped a shot of the driver heading back to his van for the sake of illustration in my blog, and then finished what I had been doing under my car. 

*  *   *

About a month ago I was trying to find a solution to a problem that I had with a typer I had just bought.  I wrote down a few ideas, and then set about researching a couple of them. From that research this was born:

Any ideas on what this is? And.... for what typewriter?

I was too excited when this arrived. It is a prototype, and I'm hoping that it represents a tiny tip of what might be possible in the future with our ageing typewriters. I don't want to spoil it just yet, but there's a tale to be told. The typewriter insurgency might just be about to discover that the future isn't as grim for their machines as they first thought.

I'm currently doing some inspections on my car before I hurtle myself across the Great Divide and into the desert. When I'm back, hopefully I'll be able to get to work on using this piece, and tell you why I think it is so special.