Is this still the Selectric forum? Problem with a Selectric II

[Wolfi]

Hi, Guys!

I was given a Selectric II that had snoozed for the past 25 years.
Oil and grease had congealed into rigidity and the foam cladding had turned to tar. Finally got it cleaned out and relubed (Hallelujah for AeroKroil!) and now I have only one remaining problem: the right-hand dust shield - the one with the yellow warning label - has a tab at the front-left corner that looks as though it wants to fit into something. I can see where the rear three tabs fit, and I can line the shield up with the left-hand one,
but there's nothing to hold it in place. If I leave it as-is, it jumps around and eventually fouls the carriage.

Did something fall off? Am I not seeing something obvious? Or is there some magic that needs to be worked?

Is there a magician in the house?

Wolfi

[Bud9051]

I'll dig one of my old ones out tomorrow to see if I can refresh my memory

Bud

[Wolfi]

Thank you, Bud. Much appreciated.

Also, thought I could make a hand cycle wheel but that left-hand thread defeated me. Do you know where I could buy one?

- Wolfi

[Bud9051]

There should be a metal clip holding the velocity control cable that runs across the frame just above the dust covers and dips down through a notch about half way across that right hand cover. That metal clip secures the abutting corners of left and right covers towards the back of the machine.

At the front left there is another metal clip that holds both left and right covers, looks like two small clips separated about 1/2". At the front right corner there is another clip.

I have it out so can answer more specifically if needed.

As for hand cycle wheels, there are probably 100,000 of them out there, just need to find someone throwing one away. I searched briefly and did not see one. Coleman used to carry all of that, but even they only had a few parts.

Let me know,
Bud

[Wolfi]

Hi, Bud,

I see the clip holding the VC cable. There's nothing extending forwards from it, just the clip itself. If the shields are pushed towards the back they'll jam under the clip and hold in place. But there's nothing at the front that pushes against them.

There's a series of videos on YouTube - 'Selectric Training - 10-1A' from memory -
that shows the removal of the shields in some detail. No mention of clips at the front, just tells you to put a screwdriver in the notch and push backwards untill the shields are free. Did that, the shields came out easily, didn't even break any control tapes, thought I was fine until I went to put them back. Couldn't find anything to hold them at the front.

Took a look at a friend's III. I see a bright metal clip front right on the RH shield and
a sort of wavy something with a white covering holding both shields where they meet at the front. There's nothing like that on either of the IIs I'm working on. Do they fall off and just disappear? Are they replaceable?

The plastic tab at the front LH of the RH shield looks like it wants to go somewhere. There's nowhere for it to go. Or at least, nowhere I can see.

All very mysterious ...

Thank you for your help on this, Bud. It's great that there's someone out there who knows what he's doing!

Wolfi

[Bud9051]

There is supposed to be a clip in the front of the center frame held in with one screw that has a left and right side. Each side has a bit of a curl to hold those extended tabs on each dust cover in the center front. If the clip is missing, there should be a screw hole left. If broken, the screw would then be holding the remaining part of the clip, black spring metal.

I'll go look for the video to see if the part is shown there.

Bud

[Bud9051]

Boring, wow does that move slow. Slide #44 comes the closest, but they are filming from the seated position so the clips in question are hidden from view. Right where the tip of the screw driver is pointing is where the center clips are located. If you stand and look down under the carrier shaft you should be able to see them/it. I have never seen one missing so it should still be there.

Is there an extended tap on the front left corner of your dust cover? I have seen those break off. 3/8" wide and 1/4" long.

Bud

[Wolfi]

Yeah, it's a bit glacial. And not very helpful. With your encouragement I went back into the III. The 'wavy thing' turned out to be a fossilized rubber band that had crawled in there to die. With that out, I saw what looks like a two-pronged clip that's probably fixed to a horizontal flat part of the chassis. From above there isn't much to see, just two short tube-shaped thingies that grab the front edge of the shields. Does that sound right?

The IIs _may_ have similar clips but they're sitting too low to grab the shield. Maybe bent down by over-enthusiastic screwdrivering. I'll go back inside in a few days when I've got my strength back and see if the clips can be resurrected - assuming they exist.

The shield tab is there on both machines. It sticks out into empty space, not doing anything. Could it be some kind of practical joke? (I know - IBM was never notorious for its sense of humor but this might have been an exception.)

Really appreciate your help, Bud - you're the best!

Wolfi

,

Boring, wow does that move slow. Slide #44 comes the closest, but they are filming from the seated position so the clips in question are hidden from view. Right where the tip of the screw driver is pointing is where the center clips are located. If you stand and look down under the carrier shaft you should be able to see them/it. I have never seen one missing so it should still be there.

Is there an extended tap on the front left corner of your dust cover? I have seen those break off. 3/8" wide and 1/4" long.

Bud

[Bud9051]

Sounds like you found it. And yes they have a sick sense of humor. One of their later hybrid versions, half electronic and half mechanical had edge connectors that after you removed them you realizes it was a 21 pin connector plugged into a 22 pin socket with absolutely no indication as to which side to slide it. One worked the other toasted the circuit board. Someone was laughing, but not us.

Bud

[Wolfi]

That sounds like one of the 347 versions of the Wheelwriter. I hear they didn't get as many service calls as the Selectrics so IBM had to make its money some other way. Selling lots and lots of circuit boards maybe?

I've got another problem with a dual-pitch correcting II. It was completely gunked up and I Kroiled and lubed it back to life. Now works beautifully except for one quirk -- on double space, the carriage return works flawlessly, every time. On single space, it either racks up one line and travels an inch or two to the left, or racks up several lines and travels a little farther, sometimes all the way to the left margin. All other functions work fine.

If I take some of the load off the roller, either by easing off the pressure rollers or releasing the (clicky thing that engages the toothed wheel at the right of the platen roller???), the carriage return works on single spacing as well.

I can live with this, either by double-spacing everything or using a combination of index and express return, but it's presenting a challenge and I'd like to beat it it. Have you ever come across anything like this before? Did you fix it? And, the big question -- how?

Hate to be a pain in the ass, Bud, but I don't know anyone else with your level of expertise.

Many thanks --

Wolfi

[Bud9051]

We have another IBM tech that may stop in, I'm sure he is better than I.

What you describe sounds like the carriage return clutch. Express pushes hard so they will make it all the way to the left. But under a normal C/R they can slip and if they slip too much then you get the jump to the right. When you clean and lube without pulling the operational shaft, not for a novice, you don't get inside those clutches. Plus, that little clutch spring that the express pad pushes on needs to be dry, no lube. It floats in place until activated and then it locks, so float or lock there is no friction, thus no lube.

The trouble maker I spoke of was the 65 to 85 series. What a bunch of dogs.

Let me see if I can find our other selectric help, they may not be watching this topic.

Bud

[Wolfi]

Hi, Bud,

Sorry for the long silence - had a domestic issue that needed to be worked on. She's gone now, so that's okay.

The clutch spring you mentioned got its fair share of Kroil along with everything else, so it's probably fairly well lubed. How do you de-oil it? There's got to be some way since I imagine IBM sees a ton of these doodads that idiot Mr. Fixits like me have lubricated to death. I'm thinking maybe WD-40 since it penetrates without lubing (or so they say). But there's probably something better.

Suggestions gratefully received.

Peter

[Bud9051]

Definitely not wd40 . There are some long stories about what happens to a selectric with that lube.
I have used a little alcohol and low pressure air. Be careful with the air as that spring can jump a loop and lock up. Just enough to blow the alcohol our and take some of the excess lube with it. Once the alcohol evaporates you should see immediately if there has been any progress.

Bud

[Wolfi]

Thank you, Bud. Alcohol cures most other problems so I'll let you know how it works with this one.

All the best --

Peter