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sun_cardinal t1_j94bnpw wrote

Reply to comment by ramphas5 in I've fallen down the rabbit hole a bit browsing this sub. by ramenandsuch

Have you considered converting it into a keyboard, it is not a hard process, and the sound is sublime.

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Art10001 t1_j98azni wrote

Are typewriters still made? If not, then it would be an effective destruction of an increasingly rare artifact.

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sun_cardinal t1_j98hy3a wrote

The kit to convert it is non destructive. I wouldn't have hurt mine, it's mint and they go for 300+ pretty easy.

The kit is a little card looking pcb that you put on the inside near the letter plate or whatever it's called, the base is also totally open so no taking anything apart.

The biggest thing they tell you to do is unhook a spring so the carriage does not move when you type.

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Art10001 t1_j98jd2s wrote

How does the spring hook look like? I am curious.

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sun_cardinal t1_j98lex2 wrote

That varies between models and the site makes a good effort to outline the least possibly damaging way to do the mod for each model. For me, the spring is just sitting on a hook without a fastener, there is a mechanism that when the key is pressed the spring pulls the drum over by a tiny amount, the spring is under tension when the carriage is slid all the way to the new line mark and it reduces every time a key is pressed. In my original comment I posted the site with the instructions. I will say that there are some models that require bending a strip inside but mine did not require that step.

Edit: I had not looked at them in a while and some of the modded typewriters go for three to four times as much as their unmodded siblings. My Royal is 1200$ on some pages I'm seeing.

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