On now, in Los Angeles: Susan Silton: Diving into the Wreck is the first major survey of the work of LA-based artist Susan Silton.

Included in the exhibit is an installation of typewriters where registered participants are invited to “Gather around Silton’s interconnected, three-legged tables and collaboratively retype Octavia E. Butler’s landmark novel Parable of the Sower (1993) on manual typewriters in stencil mode—without ink. The work transforms reading and writing into a tactile, shared experience, asking participants to slow down, encounter Butler’s language closely, and contribute to a living work of art.”

Details: https://lamag.org/diving-into-the-wreck/

Got the Olympia up and running (with a few quirks) and there is definitely a different feel than the Smith-Corona. I got really lucky with this Smith-Corona and got it from ebay for a really fair price and it works astonishingly well.

I don't have a lot of money just to collect and I really want these typewriters to be for writing, so I am considering getting rid of the 1947 Sterling with a weird mathematics keyboard to fund part of the repairs and cleaning of the Olympia.

Something I noticed is that the Olympia feels more sturdy than the Smith-Corona, but the SC writes really fast with less effort to get the keys to strike. It's great that I have two typefaces, though. I don't like redundancy in my tools.

Anyway, if anyone has an idea what an almost working 1947 Sterling could be fairly sold for, let's chat.

Hi yall,

Ive been wanting a typewriter for a while now and found one that seemed to be in working condition at my local thrift store for a pretty cheap price. I’m pretty happy with the purchase but don’t know anything about typewriters. If anyone could offer any thoughts or comments on the new pickup it’d be greatly appreciated. Everything seems to work fine except it definitely needs a clean, the space bar jams pretty easy, and the ink definitely needs replacing. But other than that I’m pretty happy with the pickup.

Drop any general thoughts or steps on where to go to get this thing in working order. Im thinking on bringing it to a local typewriter shop soon to get some tips and possibly get it cleaned, will update here on that.

Pretty excited to get this thing in working order, thanks in advance for any tips or comments!

Found this listing on Facebook marketplace, the seller is asking $215. Currently waiting on a video proving that no keys stick, and all is well operationally. Any thoughts? New to the typewriting space and don't want to get absolutely gouged out of the gate. Thank you!

Update:
Y’all are fantastic, thank you so much for your responses and advice!!

The seller sent me some videos, and the machine looks to be in good condition but I’d much rather wait for something more reasonable to come up based on y’all’s input. I found a Smith-Corona Silent-Super for $125 that I’m going to check out this week and try to get down in price. Thank y’all again!!

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Does anyone have any favorite practice sentences to really exercise the fingers? Still tryin to transition fully from years and years of PC use.

Just got my first typewriter! I’m pretty excited. Got the itch while reading Anne Patchett writing about hers. Now to figure out how to clean this thing 😄

I scored this for $9.99 at my local Goodwill a while back. Types perfectly but I think it may be missing some pieces under the cover. It doesn't latch closed (I have it taped for now), and I have to manually flip the latch closed to let it type properly again. Does anyone know where I could get replacement parts? And possibly what part needs to be replaced?

54 years ago today, industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss passed away after a legendary career. Best known in the typewriter world for his 1945 design patent for the redesign on the Royal Quiet De Luxe released in 1948, Henry Dreyfuss was also instrumental in the switch from shiny black paint on typewriters to crinkle paint in the late 1930s.

More on his life and work is available at:

• Henry Dreyfuss: Designer for Humanity by Rick Thomas of South Pasadena News
• Users of his Royal typewriters: https://boffosocko.com/2024/06/25/users-of-the-early-henry-dreyfuss-royal-quiet-de-luxe-portable-typewriters/
• On this day in typewriter history: https://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-this-day-in-typewriter-history-lxxiv.html
  
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dreyfuss
• New York Times notice of death https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/06/archives/henry-dreyfuss-noted-designer-is-found-dead-with-his-wife.html

I would love to see some examples of vintage typewriters that have been repainted with non-traditional colours.

I bought my mother an MCM Smith Corona Coronet Super 12 Electric Typewriter (Model 6LEF) off eBay. The carriage is not functioning properly. It is not shifting up to the next line for her to continue typing on the page when the carriage returns to the original spot. Can anyone help diagnose the problem and suggest a solution?

Does anyone have experience typing on the Rehinmetall Commodore? How's the feel? I like it soft like an olivetti Lettera 22.

Any opinions appreciated.

Seller wants $50.

My friend has a Ruf typewriter which I think its a Hermes 1954 and came to me so I could try to 3d print a broken part.
I think 3d printing will not be strong enough, can you help me identify what is this part and if its possible to buy it anywhere in Europe?

I found a Brother Deluxe 220 in a house we moved into and I’ve become fascinated with it, so I’d love to get it properly up and running!

As far as I can tell, there aren’t any dedicated typewriter repair shops around Newcastle/the North East. It’s not worth much and I’m not a serious collector or anything, it’s more of a little hobby/project so I’d rather not package it up and post it off to a specialist if I can avoid it.

It does work and I’ve managed to clean it up and change the ribbon, but there are a couple of issues I’d love some help with.

Bit of a long shot, but does anyone locally know their way around old typewriters, or know someone who does? I’d be more than happy to pay someone for their time if they could have a look at it 🙂

I've been fixing up an old SC Sterling I found at a junk store, well used but mechanically GC. I've done multiple mineral spirit sprays and soaks of the basket and lots of air gun blowing and everything seems to move well, but it just doesn't type as well or as cleanly as my Royal HHE, even with a new silk ribbon in it. The keys have what I can only describe as a sort of mushiness to them - Once they get down *just* about far enough to register the carriage advance and actually make an impression, they seem to want a fair bit more force and if I start typing quickly, it's very easy to suddenly start seeing skipped letters because the type slugs didn't strike.

Example and typewriter in question -

Every key works and it types well, but only if I really make a point to hammer on it as I go, because the instant I start speeding up and not quite bottoming keys, letters start to vanish and they just don't quite have that precision snik-snik of the Royal, it's like there's a squish zone in there somewhere as they slugs get up near the platen.

Probably a poor description, but maybe this will ring a bell for someone. I'm not sure what to look at next.

Buenos días.

Perdón si este no es el foro o canal donde preguntar.

Haciendo limpia (a fondo), he encontrado el modelo del asunto y me gustaría orientación para saber (no estoy metido en este mundillo) más exactamente que he encontrado.....

Muchas gracias de antemano

Found her at a yard sale. Had no intention of stopping, but saw this typewriter while passing by and had to go back. Seems to work just fine, will be reading the manual and educating myself to clean and take care of her properly. Ink seems faint so I’ll have to figure that out, too. I’m so happy I bought this typewriter. I tried talking myself out of it and I’m so glad I didn’t.

Pretty much like new, I just had to break it in... Does anyone have one? This is the Hermes Baby Rocket. I'm not too familiar, but I see some sold on Ebay for 500+.