Adjusting the character rotate selection on the 1053 - part 3

PRELIMINARY HOMING

The typeball rotary position is adjusted by loosening a small setscrew underneath the carrier, twisting the ball by hand, assessing where the detent enters the tooth at the home column of the ball, and then tightening up the setscrew to lock in that preliminary home position. 

Red is setscrew, green is wedge on rotate spring end

The diagram above from the parts manual is the only one I found that shows the underside of the carrier where the setscrew should be loosened and the rotate pulley turned. 

The manual warns that one may have to whack on the end of the shaft with a hammer to loosen it up to actually turn with the setscrew loosened. A different manual written by the office products repair group rather than the computer repair group indicates an alternative method where a screwdriver blocks the rotate pulley from turning while the type ball is twisted. It warns that twisting without holding the pulley can snap the metal rotate tape.

I chose to practices this operation on the donor Selectric typewriter that I use for parts and other purposes such as guinea pig. It took a while to find the right place to hold the rotate pulley in position while twisting the type ball, but I did work it out. 

It was obvious that the usual Bristol spline keys (wrenches) I have will not reach the setscrew. There is a major shaft directly under the location of the setscrew and restricted access. I could not see a way to reach from the top around under the carrier and get this done. The setscrew is at an angle which further complicates things. 

Setscrew up in limited access area

direct shot to setscrew is through the middle of the big shaft

Setscrew on the left is at an angle

I had no luck in local hardware stores and had to order a set from Amazon, which means I can't do this adjustment for a few days. In order to determine the correct Bristol wrench size so that when I start the work I will know for certain that the wrench should fit, I disassembled quite a bit of the donor Selectric. I removed the print cycle shaft and clutch, the pushrods that select the rotate and tilt settings and some other things to give me a nice clear opening in which to test with the small wrench I have on hand.

Setscrew to test the fit in the donor Selectric

Opened up cavity to get to donor machine setscrew

I did measure the home position of the ball and found that it was incorrect, off from the home position by one column. This definitely needs adjusting and all the subsequent adjustments rely upon the results of this one. The measurement is take by half-cycling an upper case tilt 2 rotate 0 character; I used the Hooverometer to stop the cycle clutch at the half point. 

Stopping at a half cycle

ball home position offset, needs adjustment