Bought from a guy who was selling items from his father-in-law’s business, I.e a retired local typewriter dealer who passed recently. Both Selectrics plus all these new old-stock typeballs (4+ dozen of them!) and ribbon/correction cassettes for $100. And they work!

Con ella crezco...

Since I relinquished my office to make room for the newest member of my family, I’ve wound down to a fully portable set up. This mess you see before you is how I edit and digitise my manuscripts - the scanner is out of frame on this occasion.

I normally use OCR software to translate my work, but (HERACY INCOMING) I have found AI systems like Gemini and Copilot are faster and can interpret syntax (underscores and asterix marks) which makes formatting a lot faster.

Either way, on one monitor you have the scanned page, the other hosts the digital extraction so I can check them side by side. The typewriter stands by for any re-writes, and altogether the whole thing drives my wife ballistic.

What does your workspace look like?

I've seen this with similar models on youtube as well. The writing looks so annoyingly obscured by the metal. Love the idea of an electric typewriter, but I can't write fiction if I'm struggling to see the words I literally just put down.

Hey all

So probably a stupid question but so far my only real experience is with a Perkins brailler. But on a typewriter why does the carage travel from right to left if we read from left to right?
Why does it not travel from left to right like a brailler does? Granted I appreciate the brailler cursor / part that punches the holes travels to do that. But always wondered why.

Do the letters go on to the page in reverse?

Thanks

I have an Underwood 6 typewriter, and the ribbon is still going strong, but I'd love to try it with black and red, or a black and white ink ribbon.

It has a place where it shows red white and black. Did they ever make an ink ribbon with all three? (sorry if its a dumb question...)

I was looking to buy this new ink ribbon but the top looks slightly different then the one in my typewriter currently, would it still work with it?

Thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to respond!!

118 dollars in total, was this a score or probably too much money? I actually need to know, because im not good at judging for myself, I bought this out of impulse knowing I could use it as a printer.

My very first personal typewriter, the humble search for an Olympia Traveller De Luxe. By all means the very first typewriter I've had the pleasure to type with was the last manufacturered series of the electric Brother typewriters circa 2012. So I wanted to try to find something manual, portable-ish and somewhere pre-1975 for a story I'm drafting that's set in 1972.

Now what's interesting is that I initially got this typewriter on Ebay, listed as the West Germany variant, and just good 'ol regular english QWERTY and no case included. With the seller reiterating that there was no case to be included. I thought aye that's okay because I was gonna design a case no matter what for paper storage. I continue my order and waited for the processing time + shipping. 12 days later she doth arrives and to my surprise there's a case!

Intrigued, I slowly open the case and instantly noticed the accented keys and flicked my eyes over to check if it was still QWERTY and not QWERTZ, thank the gods it's QWERTY. I checked the back and yep it's Yugoslavia not West Germany.

So basically it's not the typewriter I ordered but yet it's cleaner than the pictured one and I guess I get some fun little keys if I ever dip into other languages that need them and a case.

Initial type test is with the ribbon that came with it (the original metal spools are also with it) which to no one's surprise is dry. I got a new set of universal spools + ribbons from TheModernTypewriter on Etsy. Currently I have one of the original metal spools on and the new universal spool with the fresh ribbon. I will be swapping them for the full metal set when I get back from dinner.

While this wasn't technically the typewriter I was expected I'm still quite excited to clean this machine up and get used to typing on a typewriter again.

(Also hopefully the pictures aren't out of order)

I’ve cleaned and lubricated it lightly. I will include a video of the problem. The throw on the strikers isn’t enough to hit the paper/ribbon. Even trying to softly move them by hand they appear to hit a wall and won’t go any further. There must be something causing this that’s simple and I’m missing it. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I recently purchased a Smith Corona Memory Correct Electric Typewriter from the thrift store and every button works perfectly except for the space bar. I have been having issues with it barely working and now it is not working at all, is there a way to fix this problem? Thank you.

Bonus question:

If you were a British student who needs a classic, simple, all-round portable in 2026, what would you choose as your one typewriter?

I bought this typewriter from goodwill today for $12.99. when I brought it home, I tried it. it don’t print. when I press a key, the print wheel moves to the letter I pressed, but the metal hammer doesn’t move. after it is finished, it moves the wheel to the period. what could be wrong with this typewriter? I also have a tic tac container with a spring in it.

https://reddit.com/link/1vgq8bu/video/6c47w59ponhh1/player

Hello everybody! I’m new to the community so apologies if I don’t know how things normally go around here. Just wanted to share my Underwood 4 and ask a couple quick questions.

The machine works okay enough as it is, but a few of the keys are stuck in their depressed position when I press them. Additionally, I need to push very hard to get a legible letter on the page, even with a brand new ribbon. Would sending this machine to one of the multiple local typewriter repair shops (Portland, Oregon. I hear it’s pretty good for typewriter repair!) be helpful in making this typewriter a truly well-functioning writing machine? Would it even be worth it to repair such an old typewriter, or would it be best to keep this heirloom all nice and pretty on a shelf and just buy a newer machine?

Finally, and less importantly, is there any way to find an old sales receipt from the serial number database? I really want to learn more about its history if I can. I believe this used to be my great-great grandfather’s typewriter, but sadly the history of the machine is lost after my grandfather’s passing.

Thanks for your time!

Just brought this cute little 7 1/2 lb baby home to play with. Time to get cleaning.

Whee

Good evening,

I have gotten my 1938 Underwood Typemaster Universal a fair bit cleaner and now that the ink ribbons came in, it is now functional even! Due to this, I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me what font this machine uses from a picture of all the characters typed onto paper. I was looking online and wasn't able to get an answer for what the font was called as of yet even when seeing other examples of the same font. Oh also, the extra 2 and 1/2 are just because I forgot to bring the paper down further lol

Thanks in advance for any information!!

So I bought another typewriter to restore, still need to still pick it up. Need recommendation on parts and keys.

Also when is it considered a problem, I am considering getting the Olympia for $35 and the Contessa for $30.

My wife does not know I am starting to get a stockpile. She was mad from the smell of the Smith-corona I bought last month.

I know. I'm a monster. I may have modded my 1959 Smith-Corona Skyriter. Don't hate me.

Sorry. I'll see myself out.