Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Repair Trick: Easy and Reversible Solution for War-time Olympia Paper Supports

Annoyingly my paper support on my Robust used to lay flat, and I would find myself repeatedly propping it back up while typing. 
The key to the repair lies in the relationship between the machine and the support, I needed to limit the movement.


The green arrow shows a perfect gap I could stop up, and have the support perfectly at the desired angle.  At the coffee shop I used some string, because that is what I had, but it looked awful and was obvious (see the white speck in the photo on the blogpost before this one!)
After getting home I cut a small rubber grommet in half to make it skinny enough and threaded it onto the support (which pulls right out from the machine) and slid it to where the sweet spot is.


Perfect!  I only have one of these Olympias, so there may be a bead or something there originally; I am not sure.  But this is easily undo-able and with no harm whatsoever to the machine.  If the grommet gradually wears or gets crushed it will be easy to try something else in the same place.

Poem: Dear Reader

 

The massive case draws more looks than the typewriter.  My choice this day was my 1943 Olympia Robust.

Monday, July 1, 2019

Poem: Cafe 10 and Sycamore Deli

I have been chewing on this one since May.  My favorite place to right, Cafe 10 in Richmond, has closed and I did not know until it was gone. Around the same time Sycamore Deli in Blacksburg, VA which used to be one of my favorite places to write also closed.