In business, maintenance is one of the most important factors contributing to a company’s success. When resources aren’t properly maintained, production processes can suffer.
Equipment not available for use costs money to keep running and requires the cost of paying workers while it sits idle. The best way to minimize these costs is through preventive maintenance.
Detailing
Manual typewriters have many moving parts that are fully exposed to the elements. This means lint, paper dust, and other debris accumulate over time and gum up the work. Regular cleaning with a lint-free cloth can prevent this from happening.
Taking apart a typewriter to clean it requires patience and careful investigation. Thus, looking for certified typewriter repair shops is essential since they are experts in properly handling it. Using magnetic screwdrivers to hold any screws that drop out is also a good idea. Tweezers can help pick up smaller screws or other pieces of debris that are out of reach. Needle-nose pliers are useful for bending metal pieces back into their original shape.
Paint can also be difficult to find when repairing typewriters. Touch-up paint for cars often sold in auto shops can work well on black machines. For other colors, you can sometimes get away with using Wite-Out, which works better than regular nail polish on a typewriter and dries without making the surface sticky.
Ink Cartridges
The ink cartridge is one of the more important parts of a typewriter. Its gold contacts, and connection points are crucial to a printer’s accuracy when reading ink levels. These points will work poorly when covered in dust or ink residue.
Inspecting a new cartridge before installing it into the printer is a good idea. Gently shaking or tapping a new cartridge on a hard surface a few times will prime the ink, which helps ensure that it’s ready to go once you pull the protective tape off.
Steel is an essential ingredient for the manufacturing of ink cartridges. It’s also necessary for extracting the crude oil byproducts that make up the majority of plastic-making materials. The plastic in ink cartridges is usually high-density polyethylene or a mix of different types. This material is recyclable, but only about 15% of it gets recycled yearly.
Keys
The keys are the most important thing when it comes to a typewriter. It’s often because of a buildup of lint or other debris when they get sticky or slow. This can be from spilling something on them or simply lint from a ribbon, paper, or even dust from the machine’s case.
To address this issue, use a toothbrush or cotton tips (or the kind of swabs you get in your makeup kit) to clean the key mechanisms. Rubbing alcohol or WD-40 will also clean up light rust and other grime in metal-to-metal contact areas.
Dental picks are very useful as they can help you reach and manipulate some parts that are out of reach, but be careful! Using them too hard can bend things out of shape.
Electronics
When it comes to the mechanics of your typewriter, you want to use a ribbon that’s the correct size for your machine. This helps prevent overstretching the paper and tearing or jamming the machine. Ribbon spools must also be the right size for your model; those made for Underwoods or Smith-Coronas won’t fit an Olivetti.
You’ll want to use a lint-free cloth to regularly wipe your machine’s exterior parts, especially the carriage rails. You’ll also want to store your typewriter somewhere dry and temperate, as extreme temperatures can ruin the rubber inside.