Beauty in the bucket - Olivetti Valentine
Olivetti machines have reputation of great typers and design icons. Like Apple of those times.
I don’t like them.
I had my hands on famous Lettera 22, played a while with Studio and Dora. They are fine but somehow I cannot appreciate their lines. They are too…. boring! Like Facit machines - excellent typers but boring to look at!
It probably means that I have no taste as uneducated redneck who prefers Groma, Erika or old Remingtons.
There is one exception thou: Olivetti Valentine!
Now this fellow is right over the edge, even today. Uncommon form, juicy red color (there were also white which cost astronomical prices today) and it comes with its own bucket!
They tend to cost a bit more than usual but I got mine very cheap. It was working “out of the bucket” but had some problems. After test typing I decided that this machine is worth restoring to full splendor - typing felt well, although not as good as on Erika or Groma T but better than Brother for sure.
The machine had a few problems:
it was sprayed with WD40ish oil which accumulated dirt and dust, making it sticky and awful
bell was not ringing!
carriage locking mechanism was dead
ABS-plastic body shell was scratched and dented awfully
I tend to avoid plastic-body machines for exactly that - plastic ages ugly and scratches make it look bad, unlike patina on metal machines, regardless how neglected they became.
For this Olivetti plastic body is “the thing” so I decided to start with it.
Removing back cover - part which forms lid of the bucket - requires accessing 4 screws hidden behind plastic cups. Small hook and gentle prying around the plug releases them.
Removing main shell requires pressing down the top row of keys, all at once. No photo here - I needed all my 3 hands to do that. For those with only 2 hands: you can use a thin sheet of plastic which will keep keys pressed when you slide the shell towards the keyboard.
Dents and scratches on the ribbon cover are typical for these early machines: it is the bucket which damages the finish. In later-made machines Olivetti addressed it by adding two small bumps on the cover, which deflect the bucket’s walls when the machine is slid into it.
I grabbed 2400 and 4000 grid paper and wet-sanded the shell using camellia oil as lubricant. Tedious job, lot’s of elbow grease.
A few hours later I arrived at plain mat finish, with almost all deep dents gone.
I hit it with polishing wheel - very gently and with hardly any preassure, there is risk that the plastic will melt, ruining the whole enterprise in an instant.
Effect was promising but a few deep scratches revealed themselves. Back to sanding and oil slur.
Finally all were gone and final polish revealed as-new surface.
To finish this part I washed all plastic parts in mild detergent.
While they were drying I turned to the mechanism. First came thorough chemical bath to remove all dried oil and sticky dirt.
After half an hour and lots of compressed air the machine was de-greased and clean. Back to the bench.
The bell has to ring!
It turned out that all parts were in place but the actuator arm and bell-arm were bent. I formed them back into place, admiring how Olivetti made the construction - it uses two springs instead of one, to make sure that once the bell is hit the arm moves away thus allowing the sound to be clear and not dulled.
To accomplish that the actuator arm needs first to be compressed (first spring) and only then bent back for the strike (second spring).
So it’s not only me who is a typewriter-bell freak. They made a custom mechanism to make sure the sound is nice and clear!
Platen on this machine is in good shape, the rubber is still springy and nice. I sanded it lightly to remove deformations from years of use and to remove external, oxidized layer. Good as new now.
The last problem was carriage lock mechanism. It was not moving.
It turned out that some brain-dead person forced the carriage out of the lock, causing the part to bend and stalling the mechanism.
Luckily it is made of mild steel so I removed it for straightening in the vice. One needs to be careful when removing it because the same screws are holding ribbon-reverse mechanism on the other side of the frame. Better to secure it in place before it falls down in pieces.
After re-assembly the mechanism works as it should.
Time to put all things back together.
Same trick with plastic sheet to slide back the mechanism into the shell.
To prevent my hard labor going to hell upon stowing the machine in its bucket I added 2 silicone pins in places where Olivetti had its deflector pins in later machines.
And that’s it!
I installed a new ribbon - especially for this machine I got pink ribbon - and started typing. Very light and snappy indeed, quite pleasant. The only remark I would have is that the shell, having no sound-dampening material, is acting as resonance box and makes the sound clunky. But the action is fine and type alignment is perfect. Segment-shift makes typing very light and effortless.
To fully appreciate the design icon photo session followed.
And inside the famous bucket:
Many these machines have deteriorated rubber straps which hold the bucket/cover in place. Mine are still holding well but start to show their age. Luckily they only hold the cover - which is very light - so even in case of failure nothing really bad happens.
Yep! It is a must-have in any reputable typewriter collection for sure!