Adjusting the paper feed mechanism - part 4

TEDIOUS COMPARISONS, MEASUREMENTS AND DISASSEMBLIES

I have not given up but remain puzzled by the reason that the 1053 I am reassembling won't properly touch the platen with the feed rollers. I have my working 1053 as a comparison machine, plus parts from the donor Selectric 1 from which I removed the paper feed parts that were missing on the restoration machine. 

Adjusting the paper feed mechanism - part 3

KEEN EYED READER PASSED ON POSSIBLE ISSUES BASED ON PRIOR POST

Someone viewing the pictures I posted of the gap in the front feed roller to the platen passed along some ideas for me to check out. It turned out to be distortion of the picture, but he thought that the front feed roller shaft might be bent based on the photograph. I spun the shaft and checked with a straight edge, however, and confirmed the shaft was good. I checked all his hints but sadly that didn't get me any closer to the goal. I was hopeful and definitely appreciate feedback from readers of the blog; sometimes it provides a better method or points out issues I missed. 

MORE STUDY OF THE TWO 1053 PRINTERS

My latest suspicion is that the brackets upon which I installed all the missing paper feed components might be different between a regular office Selectric 1 and the 1053, which superficially appear to have identical parts. The three brackets remained on the 1053 when all the other parts disappeared, thus I didn't bother to replace them with the donor versions. That may have been a mistake. 

It appeared from a first attempt at measurement that the distance from the mounting rod to the pivot point on the brackets is shorter on one than the other, thus the pivoting parts move further, pushing the rear feed rollers higher as the machine now sits. 

I cleaned up the donor parts and held them in position, which unfortunately confirmed that they are identical and thus not the problem.

ADJUSTING EVERYTHING AND COMPARING EVERYTHING

I continue to compare and measure every part of the two machines - mine and the 1053 I am restoring - hoping to figure out what is causing the issue. I have ten manuals about Selectric, IO Selectric and 1053 adjustments, which I have been poring over to spot any additional adjustments or hints of any type. 

Adjusting the paper feed mechanism - part 2

A FEW PICTURES HIGHLIGHTING THE ISSUE

Looking from the front, you can see the gap between the platen and the front feed rollers even though they are at their extreme upward position. 

Gap on the front of the restoration 1053

Compare this to the rollers which touch on the front of my working 1053 below:

Proper fit of the front in my 1053

From the rear, no such problem appears. Below are the views of both 1053 units with the rear feed rollers touching the platen. 

Rear view of restoration 1053

Rear view of good 1053

PLATEN POSITION ADJUSTED

This was the range of motion I could achieve with the paper feed frame relative to the typewriter body. As you can see, it doesn't seem to move the front rollers up at all. 

This is quite vexing. I still don't understand what is going wrong with the 1053. Every measurement I take of the parts, their separations and placements, and the motion of the parts is the same between the machines, yet the results are not. 

Adjusting the paper feed mechanism - part 1

ASSEMBLED PAPER FEED MECHANISM NOT WORKING CORRECTLY

The rollers should be pressed up against the platen across its width thus gripping the paper and holding it stationary. When the paper release lever is operated, it should lower the rear rollers more than the front rollers so that new paper can be easily fed into the typewriter. 

Instead, the rear rollers are against the platen but the front rollers barely touch near the center and have a large gap at the two ends, even with the mechanism moved as far as it possibly can go. The FE procedures don't provide any adjustments that will correct this. 

I therefore had to study the mechanism and figure out what is wrong. The first diagram shows how the platen should sit on the rollers and the primary lever pulled by a spring that pushes the front roller up against the platen.

The primary lever should push front roller up to platen

The rest of the mechanism is best understood by the second diagram below, with my annotations. 

As the primary lever arm is moved back by the spring, it pivots to push the front feed roller arm upwards. The rear feed roller arm pivots around a front stud attached to the paper feed mounting arm. Since it is also connected at its midpoint to the front feed roller arm, when the front arm moves up, it rotates the rear feed roll arm to push the rear feed upward. 

Because of the midpoint connection of the two feed arms, they scissor together so that the front and rear feed rollers move towards each other as the primary lever arm is moved upwards. They should be pinching the platen so that both rollers are against the platen surface. 

The Paper Release Lever moves the Feed Roll Release Arm which pivots the primary lever (Front Feed Roll Arm) forwards, moving the rollers down and scissored out away from the platen. 

However, the relative position of the rollers and the platen are not correct. The primary lever arm, moved all the way back so the front roller is all the way up, does not touch the platen surface at the two ends of the page width. The center did have the rollers touching. I have exaggerated this by changing the first diagram and placing it below.

Rollers not meeting Platen

FEED RELEASE ROD BOWED UPWARDS BY MISADJUSTED CENTER SUPPORT

The center fixed support holds the Feed Roll Release lever around which the primary lever arm moves, at its midpoint on the page width. This should be adjusted so that it just touches the Feed Roll Release Arm but it was pushing the rod upwards, putting a bow in the rod. That explains why the center of the page width was able to touch the platen; unfortunately that is not the proper way to fix whatever problem exists with the assembly.  

I fixed the center support position which put the rollers uniformly away from the Platen, which is progress. Now to get them in the right position. 

Center support with red arrow

SUSPICION IS THAT THE PLATEN POSITION IS OFF RELATIVE TO THE FEED ROLL ARMS

The Front Feed Roller Arm should be able to pivot up to have the rollers touching the Platen, actually pressing with about two and a half pounds of force with the spring pivoting the arm. It won't reach the platen, so something is seriously off. 

The Platen and the feed roller arm assembly are not in the proper relationship, so in a sense the platen is rotated up and away from the rollers. 

I THINK I CAN ADJUST THE PLATEN POSITION

The platen position is adjustable in two axes as shown in the picture below. I believe I might be able to move the platen down and in contact with the front feed rollers. I will try this tomorrow. 

Pivots at green, adjustment at yellow moves platen at red

Finished installing the missing paper feed parts and levers - part 5

INSTALLED REST OF MISSING PARTS ONTO 1053

Having secured an appropriate sized circlip from a donor machine, although used in a different spot in that machine, I completed the assembly of the main paper feed parts. Everything went together well and match my own 1053. 

The end of the release rod rides on a cammed lever control that the operator uses when inserting or repositioning paper. That was installed with the heavy duty circlips and works well. 

The last set of parts to connect were the control lever and related items that switch the index (line feed) function between single line spacing and double line spacing. That too was soon complete and I could now put the rollers, chromed plate and platen in place on the typewriter. 

I have some adjusting to complete in order to have the roller provide uniform contact across the page width and release well when needed. I began the process but will finish up on the next shop visit.

Installing the missing paper feed parts and levers - part 4

BOUGHT SNAP-RING (CIRCLIP) PLIERS WITH SMALL DIAMETER PIN TO REMOVE PARTS

I measured the holes in the circlips IBM uses on the Selectric - they were 0.050" diameter. My existing pliers are either .58" or .76" diameter thus they won't fit into the hole of the ring/clip. 

I looked for pliers that had a small enough pin to fit into the clips and open them. I found a set at a local home improvement store that include 0.039" pins and purchased them. They worked well and I removed all the clips and remaining parts for the paper feed mechanism. 

INSTALLED MISSING PARTS ONTO 1053

The rubber feed roller shafts install into the missing parts and push up against the bottom of the platen to hold the paper in position. A lever on the right will rotate part of the missing parts to pull the rollers away from the paper path. This is used to install a new sheet of paper or to adjust its position. Another lever selects the single/dual line feed position for how far the platen turns on an index (line feed) operation.

I threaded all the parts on the release rod first, inserting it from the side through each part and then secured with its circlip. These turn with the rod, moving the spring loaded levers down and away from the platen. The levers and springs were added as well, some with their own circlips, which were very challenging to reinstall because of their small size and the position in the machine.

I spent several hours fighting to get parts threaded together - such as 79 and 80 from the diagram above - and trying to put on the circlips like 78 which was a moderate size and 63 which was tinier. Several times the parts fell into the machine, requiring substantial time looking inside to locate and retrieve them for the next try. 

The tiny circlips were my undoing for today. They fell into the machine as I tried to position them and force them on. My luck ran out when one of them fell into the machine but didn't fall through. No amount of tilting and shaking of the 1053 would cause that clip to drop out. I have no spares of that clip. 

I had to stop work and measure the groove that the clip fits into, so that I can buy a replacement at a hardware store when I head back to the shop tomorrow. I was trying to hard to complete the main feed assembly before I left but the missing part made that impossible. 

Installing the missing paper feed parts and levers - part 3

DONOR MACHINE PROCURED - SECOND TRY

I found a 13" paper width machine that had the tie rod paper feed mechanism. The seller struggled to pack it - reporting that it is in a banana box, with padded envelopes around it, the platen removed to allow it to fit in that box. The banana box is inside an outer box of some kind. No report of any additional padding between the two boxes. 

 I bought it to remove the parts that were missing from the 1053. It is unlikely, no matter how smashed up the unit gets during shipment, that the paper feed parts themselves will be damaged. The levers for paper release and single/double line spacing might, but I have spares from the other Selectric I bought. 

The moment of truth was when the package arrived on Friday. The outer box was undented and held its shape well. The typewriter inside was undamaged and ready to open up. 

Tie-rod paper feed mechanism - just what we need

REMOVING PARTS FROM DONOR MACHINE

I removed almost every part that is missing from the 1053 but there are a few spots where IBM uses some heavy duty outside circlips that require a strong tool to remove. All the circlip pliers I own have pins that are too large a diameter to fit into the circlip holes. These are also quite strong making it very difficult to pry off with screwdrivers as I can with ordinary circlips. 

I will either buy some pliers that will work for this or grind down the pins of one of my pliers so that they fit into the clip holes. I need to get this off to remove the last parts necessary to swap over to the 1053 and restore it to full operation.