I have a Remington with a platen that has had every single letter space indented. I assume the prior owner(s) were hitting the keys hard. I have tried to mitigate the hardness and the extra pressure needed to put ink on the page by adding extra sheets of paper behind my first.
3 Comments
zloubida@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 1y
That's IMO the principal problem with typewriter restoration. But to restore the platen seems possible without exotic tools, if you have time and patience.
There's a tutorial on YouTube, and it looks almost easy when he does it… but I doubt it is that easy in real life. The seasoned collector from the YouTube channel Just My Typewriter had troubles with feed rollers in one of her videos: if she had troubles, I fear to try, but I'm not very competent.
The other option is to send the platen to a professional. But that will cost you quite a lot, I think. I heard that JJ Short was good.
Me, I generally just accept the hardness. The trick you described to use two sheets of paper seems enough.
Micans@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 1y
This is really helpful! Thank you!
I definitely want to try out the heat shrink wrap. I think that best preserves the original machine. Plus, if I muck it up, I should still be able to cut it off.
zloubida@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
You're welcome :-)
If you try, come tell us how it turned out!