I don't much care about age, but if prefer something that isn't too much of a pain to keep running. I would rather type fast and easily. I'd rather have an electric mixer. Not sure what a band or hacksaw is.jacobolus wrote: What are your criteria? How old a typewriter do you want? Do you have aesthetic preferences?
Would you rather type fast and easily, or feel connected to the mechanism at the expense of making typing a pain in the ass? Would you rather have an electric mixer or a whisk? Would you rather have a band saw or a hacksaw? (Either choice is legitimate, but they’re very different experiences.)
Daisywheels are also swappable so you can change typefaces, just as you would with a Selectric. The down side is that I have yet to see a daisywheel with a window that shows you exactly where the type bar will hit the page, making it difficult to fill out forms (one of the most useful things I can think of for a typewriter these days). That doesn't mean they don't exist, I just haven't seen them. Also, they generally don't have a knob to manually advance or retreat the paper, either. If there is something out there that has both of these things, it would be a viable alternative to a Selectric, without the high maintenance overhead.bhtooefr wrote: The third option is daisywheel machines. These are a keyboard, a microcontroller, and a printer. One of the best of them is the IBM/Lexmark Wheelwriter. The keyboard is a Model M (it's not like a Model M, it is a Model M). You are not directly actuating the print mechanism, you're just telling a computer what to print, though. All sorts of switches have been found on daisywheel typewriters, for what it's worth, from buckling spring to rubber dome and everything in between. Many of these also have limited word processing capabilities (and some are just straight-up word processors sold as typewriters, I'm looking at you, Wheelwriter 3500). If you're a fast typist, these will actually lag behind your typing a fair bit especially if it has to rotate the wheel to the other side (the Selectric has a defined time for each character set by the shaft RPM, and it can swing the typeball fully around to the opposite side, strike, and return it for each character printed at full speed), but they'll catch up during slow typing.
I know how Jack feels. (I say that now, 90 pages into the third book of a series... but stuck for inspiration again.)
Well, that basically wraps this thread up.bhtooefr wrote: As I understand, the Selectric I and II (and Personal Selectric, which is AFAIK an 11", single pitch Correcting Selectric II that uses Selectric III ribbons) are the more reliable machines, although nowadays, condition probably matters more. (What I've read is that the Selectric III having 96 characters means that the print mechanism's tolerances are a lot tighter.)
Also, if you go Selectric I/II, you really want a dual pitch Correcting Selectric II (that's the most common config, though). Dual pitch means you can use all of the type balls. Good luck finding an 11" in that configuration (I'm not even sure it actually existed, but the Personal Selectric in 11" correcting in single-pitch did), though, most of them I've seen have been 13" or 15", mine included. (How you can tell how big a Selectric is in a photo: 11", the part of the cover opening closest to the keyboard is narrower than the keyboard; 13", it's about the same width; 15", it's wider.) My holy grail is still a 12 pitch (smaller font) correspondence coded (using office typeballs) Selectric 731 (73x = Selectric I I/O (although it looks like a II), xx1 = 11").
Another thing to watch for with Selectrics is the ribbon types:You may note that I'm leaving a few models off that list - things like the 73x, all the terminals based on the 73x, the Mag Tape and Mag Card machines, the Composers, the Memory Machines, the Electronic Typewriters, etc., etc. - and I've done that for two reasons. #1, they used ribbons from all over the place, and #2, you really don't want anything based on an I/O mechanism unless you really, really know what you're doing (and they're typically exceedingly rare anyway). And the Electronic Typewriters have a reputation for being incredibly unreliable, and are probably the reason why the Wheelwriter exists (IBM tried to adapt the Selectric design to do what the cheap Japanese daisywheel machines were doing, first with the Memory machines (which were just a computer strapped to a Selectric I/O mech), and then divorcing the keyboard from the printer with the Electronic Typewriters. It didn't work well at all.)
- 71x (original Selectric I) uses an old-school spooled ribbon (usually in carbon film). You can still get these.
- 72x (another Sel I configuration you could order) uses fabric ribbon cartridges. I want to say that these are the hardest to get, but you can still get them. Print quality is also worse with fabric ribbons.
- 84x/88x Selectric IIs used the same fabric ribbon as the 72x
- 83x/87x Selectric IIs and 85x/89x Correcting Selectric IIs (except for the 851 Personal Selectric, see Selectric III for taht) used Selective Ribbon System, and you want Selective Ribbon System, you can still buy SRS ribbons in any office store today even
- There was a 96-character Selectric Typewriter in the 9xx line, 94x/92x use the 72x fabric ribbon, 96x/91x and 95x/99x (Correcting) use SRS I believe - I think this was an exceedingly rare Selectric III in the Selectric II style, basically, and now I know what a picture I saw was. I'm going to go ahead and say that you're not going to find one in the US, and it was probably made for a very short time to provide a solution for international characters before the Selectric III was ready.
- The Selectric III could come in the 72x's fabric ribbon system (6701), the Selectric II's Selective Ribbon System (but I think that's exceedingly rare), or its own Cartridge Ribbon system. I believe production date determines that, not model number (except for the fabric ribbon system, which had its own model number). The Personal Selectric 851 used Cartridge Ribbon system.
Mine, while we're at it:
(It was originally beige, but when I sent it to this guy for an overhaul, he included painting for free, so I figured I might as well.)
If you want to go daisywheel, I'd say to at least go for something with good switches. Brother loves their rubber domes. AFAIK, everything daisywheel that IBM/Lexmark made was membrane buckling spring (and based on release dates, the original Model Ms were likely the original Wheelwriter 3, Wheelwriter 5, and Quietwriter 7 (Quietwriters were, IIRC, thermal transfer printers instead of daisywheel), several months before the first known standalone Model Ms). That means Wheelwriter and Actionwriter (the Actionwriter began as a TA Adler-Royal machine, but IBM customized it to an extreme extent). There's plenty of other mechanical (albeit typically linear) switches found in other manufacturers' typewriters, though.
As an aside, know how the Model M2 was sold as the "Selectric Touch Keyboard", and how we all think that's bullshit, it must have been some marketer that had never actually used a Selectric that came up with that? Well, IBM was trying to ride the Selectric name with the Series I Wheelwriters and Quietwriters, and sold them as "SELECTRIC System/2000". So, there were Selectrics that felt like membrane buckling spring keyboards, because they were membrane buckling spring keyboards!
$50 on the low-end (but often a $50 one will need maintenance), $300 on the high-end for perfect condition and just been overhauled, IMO (considering the cost of an overhaul).
Maybe you should consider this: http://www.usbtypewriter.com/Ace wrote: Hello all. I've been looking for a type writer that can be practically used a in a modern environment. The goal is to have some place to type things such as essays and random thoughts without being distracted. Plus, being a keyboard enthusiast, I'll enjoy a wonderful typing experience. Plus they're just "kinda cool".
Any suggestions as to something I could buy that wouldn't be too difficult to maintain? Obviously some maintenance will be necessary. I'm expecting that. But I don't wanna have to focus too much on that. I'd also prefer the price to be somewhat reasonable. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the tip. That site, while actually being a complete hinderance to my end goal, is amazing! I'm checking it out right now.............prdlm2009 wrote:Maybe you should consider this: http://www.usbtypewriter.com/Ace wrote: Hello all. I've been looking for a type writer that can be practically used a in a modern environment. The goal is to have some place to type things such as essays and random thoughts without being distracted. Plus, being a keyboard enthusiast, I'll enjoy a wonderful typing experience. Plus they're just "kinda cool".
Any suggestions as to something I could buy that wouldn't be too difficult to maintain? Obviously some maintenance will be necessary. I'm expecting that. But I don't wanna have to focus too much on that. I'd also prefer the price to be somewhat reasonable. Any suggestions?
I got into typewriters for the same reason as you, looking to type without being distracted and all that jazz. They also are a very tactile typing experience.
I discovered, however, that the problem is not the device, it's my ability to focus and concentrate. Typewriters certainly have less distractions than the modern computer, but the belief that the machine would solve my issues with concentration was a false belief. I only keep a couple around for typing letters and the occasional poem.
In terms of ease of maintenance, I recommend a manual typewriter. No electronics or motors to deal with. In working condition, prices are better than Selectrics.
Both. They do exactly what you expect, every time (unless they're broken), but all of the force used to operate anything comes directly from you. You have to bottom out every key (except Space), and fairly hard. You have to move the carriage back to the start of each line. You also have to get used to letting go of the keys once you do bottom them out, lest the type bar hold the ribbon to the paper as the carriage advances, leaving a streak. This established the habit of stabbing keys, and with quite a lot of force, which it took me years to completely get rid of.
