.Davis Typewriter Works

.Davis Typewriter Works

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Adler J5 / ribbon vibrator

The Adler J5 you see here in pieces was displaying an odd problem; operation of the keys caused the ribbon selector switch to move wildly throughout its travel, and the ribbon selector switch had no 'notches' or detentes in its travel. Clearly something had gone wrong, and a look at the bottom of the machine revealed that a spring steel piece that provided resistance to an appropriately shaped tang on an extension of the ribbon selector and vibrator assembly had become bent to the point that it could not be re-bent without first having been removed from the machine.

The carriage is easy enough to take off on this late-1970's Adler portable. Removal of the drawband from the carriage is easy even without pliers, and there's a slot to insert the retainer on the end of the drawband into the carriage rail assembly. Once that's done, two screws are all you need undo to release the whole carriage and escapement assembly from the machine - it lifts right out vertically. Then, with ribbon cover off, you will note four screws total holding the plastic exterior body shell ('mask') to the frame, which lifts off with a bit of wiggling to clear the ribbon selector lever on the left and the tab set/clear lever on the right. These operations left the machine in the condition seen in the photo.

Here we see the machine, lifted up, and we're looking up under the left side. Right by my thumb you can see the offending bent piece. Once you find the screw holding it down, you'll need a very thin long standard screwdriver to get the piece off. It was easy enough for Dave and I to get it bent back to the proper profile and test operation of the lever without the screw inserted; once the screw was back in (perhaps the trickiest part, and made much easier due to lack of clearance by using a magnetic screwdriver) the reassembly and test went without a hitch. Yet another archive machine returned to fully operative status!

4 comments:

  1. I'm curious why you mention the drawband. My J5 carriage simply comes off with the two screws that hold it down, one on the left, one on the right. It couldn't be simpler. I found no need at all to address the drawband as it's part and parcel with the whole carriage assembly and can be ignored, at least on my J5. Brad

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  2. Wow, this is a slow thread, 3rd post in 10 years :) I can confirm Will's post, I wanted to take my J5 shell off for thorough cleaning and found the exact same thing: 4 screws from the top come off and that loosens the shell, but you can't remove it until you take the carriage off. That's a bummer, but super easy and well designed! As stated, you then just carefully transfer the drawstring from the frame to the carriage (obvious place to secure it), THEN unscrew the remaining two screws on to and the carriage just lifts free, totall self contained and easy. Then the shell comes off. Thanks for this tip or I would not have figure it out myself, too new at all this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, this is a slow thread, 3rd post in 10 years :) I can confirm Will's post, I wanted to take my J5 shell off for thorough cleaning and found the exact same thing: 4 screws from the top come off and that loosens the shell, but you can't remove it until you take the carriage off. That's a bummer, but super easy and well designed! As stated, you then just carefully transfer the drawstring from the frame to the carriage (obvious place to secure it), THEN unscrew the remaining two screws on to and the carriage just lifts free, totall self contained and easy. Then the shell comes off. Thanks for this tip or I would not have figure it out myself, too new at all this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, this is a slow thread, 3rd post in 10 years :) I can confirm Will's post, I wanted to take my J5 shell off for thorough cleaning and found the exact same thing: 4 screws from the top come off and that loosens the shell, but you can't remove it until you take the carriage off. That's a bummer, but super easy and well designed! As stated, you then just carefully transfer the drawstring from the frame to the carriage (obvious place to secure it), THEN unscrew the remaining two screws on to and the carriage just lifts free, totally self contained and easy. Then the shell comes off. Thanks for this tip or I would not have figure it out myself, too new at all this!

    ReplyDelete