Barr Universal. Slightly different animal
Two of these landed on my bench: one in Pica, one in Elite. Both had several problems, apart from dust and dirt.
Common problem for both were smashed paper-feed rollers.
It usually is no issue to remove these but not on Barr.
Here, for some reason, they decided to thread both ends of each axis, leaving no place where one can grab it and try unscrewing. Entire length of all axis is covered by rollers or spacers (also rolling).
Moreover - even if you manage to get hold of the axis - you cannot unscrew them. Thread is too short to unscrew on one side and it gets screwed into the other side while you try.
In short: they did not plan to replace these, it seems. To remove them one needs to disassemble almost the entire carriage.
Well, after struggling to find a way to do it properly I finally gave up. No way I’m gonna remove rivets etc to dismount them from the carriage.
I decided to cut them out and make new, modified for future service.
Measurements of existing parts. In case of rollers I needed to guess their diameter - they were so deformed.
Cleaned old rubber on a lathe. It turns out that big rollers were mounted on brass pipes while small ones on steel.
I leave spacer rollers with their patina (brass). Freshly cleaned rollers will be covered with new rubber so shiny metal will not be seen.
Turning two sets of axles, for both machines. I use steel rods from old IKEA bookshelf.
It turns out that metric thread M2.5 is perfectly matching UNC thread which is originally on the machine (I suppose). I threaded my rods so one side of machine supports can be used with their threads. The other side got its thread removed and will accept new axles as THRU. They will be secured with nuts on both sides anyway.
New rollers were made from silicone tubing with heat-shrink cover, for period-correct color and to fine-tune required diameter. Mounted on the machine.
Next problem: snapped draw band.
Spring motor on Barr is located on left side, under the cover. I made a new string from strong twine, re-used original fastenings used with cotton band.
To add tension to the motor one does not need to wind it by hand while holding the drawband. No, on Barr this is civilized: firstly remove the locking screw.
Then just wind the spring until it is enough to draw a carriage all the way. Service manual gives exact value for tension: min 2lbs when carriage on position 40. I eyeballed it on my machine.
Next problem: carriage binding when trying to move with carriage release controls. For that I needed to remove the carriage, suspecting problem down there. It is easy on Barr - just two screws, one on each side. After detaching draw string the whole assembly is simply lifted straight up.
It turned out to be slightly bent bracket which is being pressed by carriage rail gliding above, when carriage release is used. Formed it back into shape.
One of my machines was having problems with typing in red. It was either totally crazy and unreliable or causing the ribbon vibrator to jam.
Jamming was especially dangerous when in shift - since Barr is a basket-shift machine it was causing the whole basket to jam below derailed ribbon vibrator.
To adjust it one needs to find a sweet spot in two places, adjusting each one of them separately and VERY SLIGHTLY at a time.
It costed me many hours and lots of cursing to find the spot for my machine. It can be done but requires lots of patience.
First we need to adjust position of the plate below, by easing the pointed screw. We aim at having ribbon vibrator erecting links to form a straight line when the key is pressed. I cannot show it on the picture but service manual describes it.
Once this is done we move to another spot, under the machine. By adjusting these two nuts we increase or decrease the throw for ribbon vibrator.
A word of caution: it requires very small adjustments, like 1/2 turn of a nut, to reach the proper position.
Well, with that fixed all the rest was easy.
Both machines had busted rubber feet. Luckily our local typewriter-supply shop could provide me with exactly matching rubber feet replacement. Originals, hard as plastic, look like that:
Modern, state-of-the-art replacement from Biltema looks like that:
They do the job perfectly and fit in carrying case alright. What not to like?
Ribbon spools on Barr are slightly narrower than modern Pelikan, plastic spools. I managed to find steel spools fitting perfectly.
Fresh, nylon ribbon from stock roll:
… and both machines are ready to fly!
Barr-typewriter is one of these underrated and looked-down machines which is utterly unfair.
They are different from all other but typing action, at least on both mine machines, is perfect. I would compare it to old Remingtons or Royal Portables: snappy, responsive, very satisfying.
Most of controls are housed on the carriage. Barr has additional handle on the right side, used if one wants to just move the carriage but not advance the line. Line advance lever is on the left, like on most other machines.
Feed-rollers pressure release lever has additional, pinch-action lock. It hooks on the back of the carriage and keeps rollers in disengaged state. No other machine has such feature, as far as I know.
Line advance selector is an arc of holes:
Speaking of line advance: I admire shape of the line advance arm! Reminds me sophisticated lines of Groma N!
Ribbon selector is located in usual place, on the right, above keyboard. There one can chose between top and bottom position. To chose Stencil mode we need to draw a separate lever on the right, bottom side of the machine:
Small lever marked with yellow is ribbon direction selector. Machine will reverse ribbon direction automatically as well, of course.
Carriage lock is implemented by means of pressing down line advance axis. It looks solid and bulletproof.
Margin and Tabulator rack is hanged on hinges, spring-loaded. One can lift it up, to see better while setting controls. Rack´s digits are etched up-side-down for that purpose.
Will Davis has an interesting article about this type of TAB solution.
Keyboard is more or less standard 4-bank layout. What stands out is that Shift.lock is on the right side only (but released by both Shift keys) and that Margin Release button is vertical.
In my writing it works equally well.
All in all - very sexy machine.
Typing feel is perfect, controls are straightforward even if a bit different than what we are used to.
Robust, no-nonsense machine for heavy writing. I totally agree with Robert Messenger on that.
