The Royal DeLuxe. Quiet a looker, I must say. The only thing I have found to be Royal about these machines, however, is the size of headache they give me. I spent two hours one night attempting a repair on the line lock mechanism on my Quiet DeLuxe, a simple matter of a spring. Well, let's just say it was the most ridiculous thing ever and it is still sitting in its case, disassembled. A real shame, that.
Nice looking Royal Deluxe. All typewriters can skip. I have a Skyriter driving me crazy with intermittent skips and sometimes and over strike. Sometimes all it takes to repair skips is a good cleaning of the escapement. Sometimes a bit of oil. My Noiseless 7 required a bit more tension on the mainspring.
ReplyDeleteFacit TP1 & 2s can be a real pain if you need to adjust margin stops and/or tabs. They are very touchy. Just observe and take your time doing little fine adjustments one at a time.
None of the Royals skip as badly as the Oliver No2. That thing is the king of skipping! It seems to be very prevalent with Royals, at least far more than any other brand...at least with mine. I realize it is a common problem, but it is just one more strike for them. Ha.
DeleteI will get back to the Facit soon and try to figure it out. I hope it isn't that spring...that thing is impossible to get to..
Ken - i do hope i become as effective a repair guy as you. So far ive only proven to be a good case cleaner hahaha.
ReplyDeletewhat was your learning curve like?
i have two Royals. A holland made Royal Engisn and a 1950s RQDL. The Ensign works decent but i havent typed on it extensively at all. The QDL is a mess - i dont even have a working ribbon in it but it looks like it was buried with jimmy hoffa, only the typewriter eventually was found.
also, what camera do you use for your photos? nice angles on those shots!
Just give it a shot! My first repair was minor, that being reattaching a mainspring drawband on an Lettera 32. I felt so accomplished afterwards, and later that week I completely repaired and restored an Underwood SX100. It just takes time, and tinkering. I read your post about the repairs you had done on the Corona Silent...wayyy too pricey for me. I'd rather do it myself, and feel accomplished afterwards.
DeleteI use Leila's Sony Cybershot, 10.1 MP, for the pictures. Not a great camera, and several years 'obsolete', but I recently found a different setting on it that is perfect for typewriter pictures.
yeah $370 was crazy to blow on repairs and cleaning. ill likely do them myself in the future. who can afford that shit?
Deleteyeah i def want to fix my own machines. just gotta find the time. this baby demands 100% attention for now. hes usually real good but he has his moments, like any other baby. and even when hes good, you gotta watch him bc hes kinda mobile now and insanely curious. hes a daredevil too - he wants to climb off the bed and dangle from the couch and he seriously just basically lunges for anything he wants, esp when youre carrying him so you have ot maintain a good grip on him at all times and have a real watchful eye bc if you waver a bit, suddenly hes across the room.
i have a lettera 32 too and luckily for me it just needs a cleaning and a new ribbon.
Deletei have a swissa that has some problems: some of the type slugs dont hit the platen... its just out of reach. dont know if it means i have bent typebars or something else... i gotta look into it. when i have time of course.
i mean ive been home nearly all day and night for the past 7 months but havent had the time for much of anything, esp time for myself. its cool tho - once u have a baby, you really just want to spend your time with him.
i have a groma that needs repair. but i think those might be too serious for me to attempt. ill save it for when i gain more experience and confidence, just like you did with your sx1000.
I just kinda dove headfirst into the SX100. It is a more common machine than the Groma, however. I am sure you will figure it all out with a little time and patience. Of course, I would love to see updates!
Deletebtw i noticed you have taken several pics outside on that table... do you ever write out there?
ReplyDeleteThat is actually one of three giant electrical wire spools that Leila had her father bring over. They sit on my concrete deck (roof of my garage), and Leila really wants to use them as tables. We never have company over, so I don't know what we needed three of them for...especially as they are about 5' in diameter.
DeleteI have yet to type out there, especially now, as it is so hot, but I could definitely see it happening. I think about it every time I go out to take pictures.
I enjoy the first and second generation Royal portables more than the later generations. The late 40s and early 50s QDLs feel alright to me, but they got awfully mushy in the 60s. My Futura 800 has an amazing cursive typeface, but I can hardly stand typing on it for any length of time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is my half German heritage, but my preference is for the insanely crisp and snappy action of a Torpedo 18 with Olympia SM3 not far behind. I also have a 1937 Triumph that doesn't have the same snap. It nevertheless has a light and precise action that agrees with me.
You are dead on with the German typers. You can really feel that quality in that 'snap'. I have yet to attain a Torpedo, but it is high on my 'want' list...of course, many typewriters are.
DeleteThe Royal portables are attractive as hell, but I could never see one becoming an every day machine.
Hey.... That's a nice machine! It's got plenty of awesome era style.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I have a Royal Arrow of the same vintage (and style), and it skips like a schoolgirl playing hopscotch. I actually blogged about how I found ALL my royals doing exactly the same thing, not too long ago.
I read that post when you blogged it, and it has cursed me! I never connected that it was mostly my Royals that skipped (that damn A key...). The Arrow barely skips, however (except the A), and is the best of all of my Royals, despite being a more economy model. I was so thankful it doesn't have tab once I took the back off...makes things so much less complicated to repair.
DeleteThose chrome strips really are nice looking on this model. Too bad it's not giving satisfaction as a writing machine.
ReplyDeleteIt looks great on a shelf, and even greater on a desk. Of course, it will never really see that desk top...
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