I just posted a message on Used Ottawa that the hitherto inoperable IBM Selectric put up for sale for $25 is no longer available. "You snooze, you looze," I reminded people.
So here is an IBM Selectric on half of its clam shell. To get to the guts, there was some prying required at the back and then two leavers in front, one on each side. The platten or rubber roller around which the paper winds when typing, it came off first. There are two tabs, one on each end and it comes up easily.
As it turns out, it wasn't the cord as I thought but rather the motor. These motors are work horses and rarely burn out. What was wrong with this one is since the machine had not been run in, who knows, could be decades, it was stuck, as if there were a flat spot. With a gentle push, the armature started to spin and it fired right up.
There was a big hum but this went away when the cowl was replaced and a the body was given a few "love taps."
There is an insignificant problem with the margin release as when Return is hit, it does not go all the way to the left. This may be remedied by clearing all the margins and starting afresh.
See, it works! And there is lots of carbon ribbon left although I will have to find a supplier of ribbons for all of the machines I have. There is a way of inking cloth ribbons using a stamp pad and this may be a fall-back position.
What is doubly interesting in the repair of this
fifty-year-old machine is the way my fingers knew what to do, how to remove the platen
