Typewriter SOS:: The DIY Guide to Fixing Common Problems with Typewriters Paperback – February 23, 2025

2nd Edition with additional content and pages.Is your Olivetti’s Carriage Jammed? Your Royal Portable not printing when you type? This essential typewriter repair book has been made to help the sea of people who bought a typewriter from a charity shop and for some reason it has stopped working and the only people who know how to fix it are either retired, dead, or live really far away. If this is you, don’t worry help is here.Condensed into 84 pages, this concise hardback book describes and guides you on how to fix the 15 most common problems with manual typewriters, detailed below. Most problems are simpler to fix than you might have thought, and with these industry tips and instructions guiding you through step by step, you’ll be back up and running in no time. Written and illustrated by Claire La Secrétaire Typewriter Studio, we have been reconditioning typewriters since 2010 and have had hundreds of typewriters through our doors all with varying problems. We have put this concise guide book together from our experience in diagnosing and fixing most of the problems we come across, most are easy, all of them are fixable.The problems covered in this book:If your typewriter works fine, but it only types in one line like this:HELPIf your carriage is loose and there is a piece of string flapping about underneath itCarriage is not completely loose, still works but has little tension and pulls slowlyThe type bars are hitting the paper, but the ribbon isn’t coming up to meet itThe ribbon covers up the words as you type instead of falling back neatly into placeThe type bars don’t reach the paper and they are very tenseIf the upper and lowercase letters aren’t alignedTurning the letters inside glass keys the right way roundIf the ribbon is faint even though it is not oldIf your typewriter only types the tops/bottoms of the lettersThe type bars aren’t returning to their position in the type basketThe paper will not go down it just slip and slides everywhere like a wet salmonBell doesn't soundTypewriter won’t go back in its boxThere is no number 1, 0, or exclamation mark, but I need to let people know that I am exclaimedCleaning and oilingReplacing the ribbonParts and namesSpecific issues with particular typewriters such as Olivetti, Remington and Smith, Byron / Oliver Courier / Swissa Piccola / JapyHow to ink your own typewriter ribbon, and create rainbow effect coloured ribbons (only in the hardback edition)Contains detailed full-colour photos and illustrations of step-by-step instructions and tools needed on how to fix these typewriter problems, and to have you up and running in no time.Extras include information on specific models that have specific problems such as Olivetti and Byron, what some of the buttons and levers are for, and where to get replacement ribbons, as well as links to our YouTube videos to help with specific problems.This paperback 2nd edition version also features 10 full-page images of the painted typewriters we have produced, larger page layout, more images and a step by step guide on how to ink your own typewriter ribbon and create rainbow effect coloured ribbons Read more