Threw $200 down the drain on a beat-up Royal typewriter from an online auction

I bought it thinking I'd restore it for writing prompts, but the carriage return spring was snapped and the keys stick on every third letter. Anyone else get burned trying to salvage old gear for creative projects?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren30729d ago

Kevin's right about the mineral spirits trick. Pulled the keys off mine and let them soak overnight, cleared up most of the sticking. The spring was a pain though, ended up just bending a paperclip into a makeshift one until I found a replacement on eBay for eight bucks. Takes patience but beats throwing it out.

kevin_sullivan29d ago

My old Underwood No. 5 sat in my garage for six months before I even bothered to look at it. What finally worked for me was watching a video from a guy in Ohio who fixes these things with basic tools and a lot of patience. I ended up spending like 15 bucks on a new spring from a seller on Etsy, not exactly an original part but good enough to get the carriage moving right. For the sticky keys, I pulled each one off and gave the typebars a good soak in mineral spirits, then blew them out with compressed air. It took a few weekends but now it types better than some modern keyboards I've used, totally worth the hassle in the end.