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Voss A24 Portable Typewriter – Shipping Damage

May 22, 2019 By Paul

This Voss A24 portable typewriter from the year 1957 was brought in for repair. The customer bought the machine using the internet and it arrived damaged. Damn, I see so many of these. Well, it is a Voss so worth getting it fixed.

The carriage was rubbing, back space not working, the card guide a bit wonky and the carriage return arm bent too low to clear the typewriter. The upper and lowercase alignment was way off. I initially couldn’t tell if the problem was shipping damage or just incorrectly positioned. Turns out it was just mis-aligned and took little time to get it right. All that and it needed a really good cleaning and tune up.

The carriage return arm worried me. I’ve reformed a few and broken many. I knew if I broke this one trying to get it to clear I’d be faced with drilling, tapping and installing a new pivot shaft.

I was having trouble getting a good grip on the arm so I went ahead and dismantled the assembly. Glad I did as the shaft was bent in a few places.

After getting it all straight, back onto the machine it goes. You need to tension the return spring and the only way to get enough leverage is to remove the set screws and use tommy bars to wind it up then put the screws back. Of course, one of the set screws  was so banged up I couldn’t reuse it. Thankfully I have a retinue – O screws just hanging around waiting to be chosen. I check clearances, finished tightening the set screws and viola, it works!

The card guide needed a few adjustments so the ribbon vibrator would move freely then new ribbon and some cosmetic cleaning.

Types like a dream.

Filed Under: Typewriter

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About Paul Lundy and Mr. Montgomery

Bob Montgomery, recently passed away at 96, had been repairing typewriters for decades. Paul Lundy purchased the business and may be the last left in … More...

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