A productive evening (uploads.deacon.social)

submitted 5 months ago by emmanuelwald@deacon.social to c/typewriters@lemmy.cafe

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A productive evening

My Adler Contessa de Luxe now works! It has a lovely font. I cleaned it, changed (respooled) the ribbon, and made a few little adjustments. It still has two problems: one of the sticky keys is still sticky (the others aren't anymore), and the bell doesn't work most of the time. But I'm happy, it's the first machine I actually repaired.

@typewriters

#typewriter #typewriters

all 9 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Libb@piefed.social 4 points 5 months ago

Congrats! I failed so badly when I tried to fix my first machine!

Oh, an azerty Layout? The Frenchie in me wholeheartedly agree with that ;)

[-] emmanuelwald@deacon.social 4 points 5 months ago

@Libb That's why I said “actually repaired”; the first one I tried to repair is still unusable 😅. I had to give it to a seasoned collector who proposed to repair it for me.

And yes, I'm French too 🙂.

@typewriters

[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago

I just looked what white spirit is and just found out it is the same thing I tried to clean the first machine I had, hahahahaha. On my second attempt I got much better results with gasoline, remove everything plastic or rubber just in case.

[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Nice!

I'll share what I do, first I remove the casing, the platen and as many plastic and rubber parts as I can, keys included, I don't remove the wheels driving the spools if they are plastic.

Then I soak it with degreaser, let it do its thing for a minute and rinse it with a pressure washer or an engine cleaning gun with water, not too hard just to rinse. This I do two or three times.

To dry it fast and avoid corrosion, first remove the excess water and then put the typewriter in the oven at 45-50°C for about 45-60 minutes.

After that, I oil everything and put it back together.

[-] emmanuelwald@deacon.social 3 points 5 months ago

@quediuspayu @typewriters Thanks for sharing this! I'd love to be able to clean that deeply. I don't have a lot of tools, even not an air compressor… I used a bottle of compressed air, emptied it completely and there's still dust.

Which oil do you use, and where?

[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 months ago

I use the same oil I use for sewing machines, it is very thin, low viscosity. I apply it using syringe with the bevelled tip of the hypodermic needle cut off.

I put oil everywhere there's metal moving against metal, it doesn't need much, just a thin coat. Too much oil can collect more dust or even drip inside the case.

this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025

37 points (100.0% liked)

Typewriters

212 readers

5 users here now

A community dedicated to everything related to manual, electric and electronic typewriters, their history, use, collection, service, maintenance, …

Things published with a typewriter but about something else should be published in !typecasts@sh.itjust.works

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

purposetypist@lemmy.cafe

zloubida@sh.itjust.works