Hermes Baby - typeface transplantation
I had this project in mind since long time: to make a metal-body Hermes Baby with script typeface. As far as I know there was never such machine in production - script typeface was only available after Hermes changed the design and started using plastic body panels.
My “naked typewriter” is one of them, plastic-body Baby. Since I found it I was hunting for another Baby (or Rocket) with similar construction but with old-style, aluminum body panels.
The hunt was finally over and I bought such machine, with same spacing and standard typeface.
It was almost the same, with some differences in body anchoring points and frame shape. So simple switching “skins” was not an option. Instead I hit the bullet and decided to transplant typearms from my “naked” typer to this metal fellow with mint-green keys.
While the segment is free from typearms it is a good idea to clean everything before installation.
While testing the mechanism before proceeding I found that ribbon lift is not working properly - it was getting stuck in erected position. Nothing in ribbon lift mechanism was bent or dirty so I dig deeper and eventually found that the whole frame was lightly bent!
Now - these machines seem to be rather simple and non complicated at first sight. Unfortunately they are built with very tight tolerances - like Swiss watches almost - and if anything gets slightly out of shape they stop working. In my experience this applies to all Hermes machines, not only to tiny ultraportables. That gives them bad reputation among mechanics who get frustrated trying to troubleshoot them.
Anyway - I managed to true the frame with some moderate force.
There was too much friction on a junction between the frame and vibrator’s pivoting axle.
I diagnosed this by loosening these screws on both sides.
I did not want to overdo frame bending so I shimmed these last 2mm around center reinforcing beam, to remove compression from pivot points.
The vibrator started to work properly again.
I transplanted all type arms and tested alignment. Far from perfect.
I aligned the cylinder to get equal imprint for lower letters.
Better but still not perfect. The imprint was weak, even though I was using fresh ribbon.
Well, the reason was that the crown on this machine was slightly higher than on the “donor” typewriter!
It was not much - probably 0.2mm difference. The normal gap between typeslug and platen, when typearm is in maxed position, should be around 0.1mm, so that this last bit is done by metal springing (snapping) onto paper due to inertia. On my machine it was too far to make proper, distinct imprint.
I took them out again and removed this difference with file. It took exactly 4 strikes of file on each typearm.
Polished, to remove any burrs.
The difference was directly noticeable - here the same letter typed before and after modifications.
I assembled the segment and tested typing again. All good!
Moved on to final assembly. Some standard replacements were needed, as on all these machines: new rubber feet.
Adjusted Shift position. Very narrow to put tools but can be done.
Ribbon advance was not working but it turned out to be an easy fix: holding finger, side by tension spring, was bent. I formed it back into shape and that solved the problem.
I test-typed a few sentences but noticed another issue - there was a strange resistance at the beginning of key action. It turned out to be a rest collar - where typearms lie in resting position. It needed to be shifted back a bit, so that arms don’t grab it when they fly towards the platen.
That made the trick.
Lastly I decided to re-coat the platen. Original was hard and dented so I removed top layer and replaced it with thick heat-shrink 3:1 tubing.
Turned into original diameter and sanded smooth.
All put back together and I can finally test this new machine.
It turned out rather nice!
One other cool feature of this machine is that it has three positions for ribbon: upper, lower and middle. So no STENCILS but instead complete utilization of the ribbon - like on its bigger brother Hermes 3000.
Do I like this machine? After all these hours of rebuilding it?
Well, I wrote a few letters with it and it works fine - like any other Hermes Baby of that era. However, I found older Hermes Baby much more snappy and pleasant to use.
I had a few of these: later Hermes Baby machines, and all of them are mushy and wobbly compared to old Baby (one with round, plastic keys). This one is no different.