The Typewriter Chronicles

The Lost Safari

Today I repaired a less than perfect Royal Safari typewriter. At first glance it didn't look like anything was seriously wrong, but once I opened it up for a closer look I realized the paper release lever was loose. The line advancement was also not working but that might have been because it didn't have a good grip of the paper due to the paper bail essentially being stuck open.  

 

Once I got it open I realized that these cams didn't make contact and I had to re-tighten the nut onto the mechanism to get it to essentially re-make contact with the lever, once I tightened the nut it worked again! It was a simple fix but finding what was wrong was a huge process considering I know very little about fixing typewriters. 

 I would not have been able to find this out without the help from the people on the Discord or the wonderful tear-down video that the Hotrod typewriter co. did regarding this model of typewriter which I greatly appreciated because it helped me greatly in disassembly and visualizing how everything worked. I will say that the typewriter community has been very nice and welcoming and helpful when it comes to any help ive needed diagnosing any issues Ive had with any machines i've purchased, especially since i'm not a technician by any means. I feel as if I've tinkered with enough machines now that i could at least be considered a bit of a tinkerer though haha.  

 

 

 

Honestly once I got it figured out and realized it actually fixed the problem felt amaze amaze amaze! I thoroughly enjoy fixing things and with typewriters having the advantage of being fully mechanical makes it much more satisfying because most of the issues will be fixes like that so anything is possible in the world of typewriters which is why I think I've grown to love it. 

 

Now for the fun part, a type sample, drum roll please!