Repairing an Electric Typewriter?

Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts

August 16, 20180 found this helpful

This is an old word processor. It is going to be difficult to find someone to fix it. It may not be possible to get the parts. I would get another typewriter

djmauck25

August 17, 20180 found this helpful

Thanks for the reply. I do have another typewriter but as this one is battery powered I was hoping to use it away from home. My other is a ginormous Smith Corona that sounds like a machine gun lol

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Pghgirl40
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August 17, 20180 found this helpful

There are still typewriter repair places out there. There was a post from 2015 that listed some on this website:

www.justanswer.com/.../96abr-repair-services-old-canon-portable...

Perhaps you could contact one and see what they say.

djmauck25

August 17, 20180 found this helpful

Thanks, Ill try that. I would love to have it working.

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poehere
Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts

August 17, 20180 found this helpful

It sounds like the processor chip or a circuit board in the typewriter is damaged and either need cleaning or replaced. I would see if you can find any type of manual on this typewriter and find out how hard it would be to open it up. A lot of time a circuit board can get dust on it from paper and stop working.

djmauck25

August 18, 20180 found this helpful

I couldnt find a manual but it doesnt look to hard to open up, thanks for the reply.

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cybergrannie
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August 19, 20180 found this helpful

If you check Google for vintage typewriter repair shops (with your zip code and if no luck without your zip code) you may find some listings of shops not too far away and just might have a circuit board that would fit.

• Probably the first thing you should check is finding whatever items you are going to need to operate it should you get it repaired as most of the items are very expensive and I did not see anything available for a 12. I am wondering if some items are generic to most of the machines and will cross fit on a 12? If not, you may not find anything you will need to use this machine.
• Most of typewriter repair shops keep all of the old typewriters that they can find just to have parts to work on repairs later.
• Be sure if you open up your machine that you do not touch the circuit board (except on the edge) as it may still be good but they are just like the memory/ram in computers and can be easily damaged.
• I do not know if it is safe to use the canned air on the inside of your typewriter so do not use it unless you know for sure that it is safe.
• The machine probably needs a good cleaning (you did make sure the battery compartment is clean?) so finding a shop might be a good thing.
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• Here is a manual for an older machine but it may have something you can use. To read and print you will have to download and enlarge and set properly before it is readable.
• myxavier-my.sharepoint.com/.../onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fpolt...
• You might want to put a wanted ad in some of your local selling sites (Craigslist, Freecycle, etc) to see if anyone has one available either for free or for sale. You might get lucky.

cybergrannie
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August 19, 20180 found this helpful

Sorry, I read that as a 12 instead of a 10 so you may still be able to find what you need for future use but it is still going to be expensive.

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I believe I found where the problem is now. I opened it up and, without touching the board, unplugged some of the ribbon cables so I could separate the shell all the way. There were five cables, two for the keyboard, two for the carriage, and one for the lcd. After unplugging the carriage cables I turned it on and LA1 KB1 appeared on the screen, so I turned it off and plugged the keyboard back in and was able to type.

djmauck25

August 27, 20180 found this helpful

I believe I found where the problem is now. I opened it up and, without touching the board, unplugged some of the ribbon cables so I could separate the shell all the way. There were five cables, two for the keyboard, two for the carriage, and one for the lcd. After unplugging the carriage cables I turned it on and LA1 KB1 appeared on the screen, so I turned it off and plugged the keyboard back in and was able to type. I plugged the carriage in again and it went back to those weird shapes when turned on. I then tested it with the smaller of the carriage cables unplugged and it worked, then I plugged it back in and unplugged the bigger of the two and turned it on; once again I got the weird shapes.

Pghgirl40
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks

August 27, 20180 found this helpful

I hope you have it resolved! If I may suggest, do up a YouTube video with your fix! People like me are becoming more and more dependent on the site to troubleshoot mechanical issues!

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