I have been fortunate to find quite a few tools that are designed for servicing Selectric mechanisms, most of which make tasks on the printer much easier to do. The first group came from a mislabeled eBay auction - it was a bunch of parts and tools labeled as vintage mainframe parts. The second was an offer by a retired service person who offered to sell some specialized tools he had.
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| Lot on ebay mislabeled as vintage mainframe parts |
The eBay lot was obviously IBM typewriter parts but had some tools included. When I looked closer, I saw that there was a degree wheel for hand cycling, a cclip holer, t handle and other tools that are ideal for certain assembly steps where it is nearly impossible to get fingers or standard tools in place. Because of the miscategorization, it sold for $9.95 with free shipping.
The retired service person has other tools that will be incredibly handy, particularly the spring hooks which I can use to attach the pesky spring for the cycle clutch latch. One of them will hold a spring at the end of a rod, allowing you to maneuver the end of the spring into its hole, but remains attached to the spring until you release it. This means I can grasp the closer end of the spring with a spring hook, pull it into its attachment location, before releasing the far end of the spring deep inside the machinery.
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| Spring hooks to attach teeny springs in nearly inaccessible locations |
Looks like these have had some hard use! They aren't supposed to be bent like that. The "regular spring hook", in the middle? (I still have mine, the last remaining item from my C.E. toolcase) As well as using the hook end to pull a spring loop toward you, you can use the end that looks like a bird's beak to push a spring loop away from you and guide it over a hook. So that might help attaching the far end of a spring back in the darkness, too.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to trying out the various tools with the 1053 - thanks for the explanation of the spring 'pusher' use of the bird's beak shaped end. I will know this weekend after I am home from my trip and able to spend some quality time with the machinery.
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