Does anyone have a method for sustainable supply of Selectric II ribbons?
The Selectric II ribbons that I saw weren't like the inked-cloth used by most typewriters and dot-matrix printers -- which could be reused a few times, or even re-inked with a special tool. The Selectric II ribbons were more like a plastic film with a black coating that was crisply and completely transferred to the paper where the typeball struck it. (Not great for OPSEC, incidentally.)
The carbon film you're referring to is likely part #1299095 (black correctable). Believe generics of these are still made. I also buy NOS sometimes. So far the 30-40yo cartridges seem to work fine once you get to the spooled film vs the few inches that may have been exposed to the elements. Not sure if the chemistry of them is just that stable (vs ink ribbons) or I've simply had good luck (i.e. I'm not speaking from 40 years of experience or anything).
The tougher one to source is the "bicycle" style of cartridge used on some Selectric IIIs (other IIIs were built/swapped to work with the old II-style carts).
Thanks, Ribbons Unlimited looks like a great resource. A bit like the guy who sells much of the remaining new-old-stock of floppies.
A small wholesaler and retailer I worked for as a kid in the late-1980s did a lot of business in replacement printer ribbons, and there was one third-party brand that offered compatibles for most every printer. Today, I wonder how the manufacturing worked: whether they just sourced from factories that already had the tooling and know-how to make those particular compatibles, or they had to arrange the reverse-engineering and tooling. And whether the same parties still make the ribbons today.
Piggy-backing on this thread: does anyone know of any open-hardware computer printer you can DIY at home? (Ideally not using any pre-made ink/etc. cartridges; can be a dot-matrix or even Selectric/daisy-wheel printer.)
Here's a ridiculous idea: photographic contact printing using a transparent LCD screen! A good result would probably require commercially made photo paper, but maybe this could work with a totally DIY anthotype process? And the LCD could be salvaged from an old computer monitor...
Does anyone know a reliable source for purchasing Selectric II typewriters that are in good working condition? I worked on a Selectric II while working on a novel, and I am nostalgic for it and want it to write letters to friends.
Many larger cities still have one or two typewriter repair shops, or business machine shops that handle electric typewriters! You can also ask on the GolfballTypewriterShop group on Facebook.
If anyone’s wondering: the letters on the piece of paper are from the Cherokee script [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_syllabary]. I have no idea if it shows coherent writing or just random letters, though.
Nice. Theoretically, I could switch the letter placement in order to make the Selectric have the Dvorak layout. Would be a cool ornament for my keyboard display case.
Keys are mapped to specific locations on the typeball. When you rearrange the letters on the typeball you remap the mapping between keys and the actual letters that get printed. So you get a different effective keyboard layout.
We had a Brother (I think) typewriter with a daisy wheel, it had a 16 character LCD panel so you could preview what you were typing and catch mistakes before it printed, but also had built in correction tape to erase mistakes. We had a couple wheels in different typefaces.
But I still preferred the Selectrics at school, that kerchunk with each character typed gave it a good feel and I could type much more accurately than the brother where the printing was disconnected from the typing.
They were produced by the million by Smith Corona for electronic typewriters and “wordprocessors” in the late 80s/early 90s. Those things had the worst fucking keyboards imaginable https://youtu.be/R2rhOUk-dsM
Yep, I had one, might still have it somewhere. Most of my friends had the Triumph Adler Gabriele which had a RS232 serial port and could be used as printer, but mine definitely did not and was a pure electronic typewriter without display and any interfaces.
I believe there were many daisy wheel typewriters, but I (correctly or incorrectly) tend to associate them with true electronic typewriters as opposed to electric ones. IBM Wheelwriters and such.
There were a lot of early typewriters that experimented with interchangeable type wheels, shuttles, and sleeves. Hammond and Blickensderfer are two of the better-known brands among collectors, but here's a whole list: https://www.officemuseum.com/typewriters_single_element.htm
Amazing! Isn't there also a single element one that uses an inverted cylinder with the type on the inside?
In general, I'm discovering what a deep rabbit hole I've dug myself into. Last weekend I was trying to decide between a Corona Silent, a similar-vintage Remington I haven't yet identified, and an SCM Corsair. Looking for a nice portable contrast to a Selectric that isn't fatiguing to use.
If you're looking for a typewriter with a light touch, the Olivetti Lettera 32 and Underwood Universal are some of my favorites. I love my Remingtons, but all of mine (all of which are 1940s models) are pretty heavy.
I wonder how many actuations per character it can take.
The precision of the Selectric II must help with longevity, but the crazy-powerful feel when using one makes me wonder how much force is hitting the ribbon, page, and platen.
To deepen the wonder, I'd be interested to see the longevity per material (PLA/Nylon/metal/...). I'd expect a lot of trial and error to deal with shrinkage and the probably high precision needed by the Selectric.
Before opening the link I thought it was going to be something to generate statically typed code based on a DB schema or something. Fun name either way.
The more accurate way of looking at it is using the "Office and accounting equipment” deflator, which puts it at $1291 in 2022 dollars, about the price of a decent laptop, which makes sense to me.
Me too, I think my parents still have their Selectric at the ready in their study. My mom used to fill out carbon-copy forms a lot on this thing and my dad wrote a book on it. It's a rock-solid machine.
The Selectric II ribbons that I saw weren't like the inked-cloth used by most typewriters and dot-matrix printers -- which could be reused a few times, or even re-inked with a special tool. The Selectric II ribbons were more like a plastic film with a black coating that was crisply and completely transferred to the paper where the typeball struck it. (Not great for OPSEC, incidentally.)