Triumph Tippa 1 - repairing damaged carriage rack frame
This little fellow had a problem which I didn’t notice at first: when typing really fast it was jumping a letter. It happened always in the same position, with whichever letter and only once in the whole line which directly pointed me away from escapement gear itself but more towards rack frame.
I removed it from the carriage and upon closer inspection I found a suspected spot just about in the position where skipping occurs - in the middle of the line.
A tiny bit at the lower end of one tooth is missing. I suspect it happened when the machine was carried in its case and dropped or bumped hard into something. Probably the previous owner did not use locking mechanism which decouples the escapement and by that secures this fragile bit from damage. Tippa has this mechanism very well engineered but, of course, it serves no purpose if not used.
To be sure that this is indeed the cause of the problem I temporarily rebuilt the tooth tip with steel epoxy.
I dispensed excessive amount onto the damaged area, waited 12 hours for it to fully cure and then shaped it with needle files to become a tooth again.
Mounted back in the machine it proved to work - but for about half a page. Then it failed - but this was to be expected.
This part resides on the bottom of carriage assembly and interfaces escapement mechanism which controls movement of the carriage as one types. Schematic from US War Department typewriter manual shows more details (it shows other machine but the principle is the same).
Having nailed down the problem I employed heavy machinery to fix it. I routed out the damaged area and cut a piece of steel matching the thickness of the cavity.
Some shaping to match the cavity followed.
Once happy with the fit I pressed new steel into the cavity.
Recreating teeth with needle files concluded the repair.
Assembled machine was taken for some more tests. All works fine now and no skipping occurs regardless of how quickly or badly one types!
Now - one can argue that fixing such machine is not worth it. It would be easier to get another one and use this one as a spare parts donor.
The point is: I like this particular machine and I do not intend to get more of these. It types so well, has my favourite Elite font, is lightweight and has rubber parts still in good shape. It would feel bad to dump it just because 0.89mm of hardened steel cracked in one spot!
Besides - it was fun to fix it.
So now I feel confident to hand it to someone who wants to actually use it.
Maybe Marek’s son will like it?