New Life for Old Selectrics

#typewriter #ibmselectric #selectric
In Episode 377 of the Typewriter Video Series, Joe delves deeper into the 3D-printed Selectric I/II type ball elements available from David Hayden of Selectric Rescue.
Link: selectricrescue.org
I have no business affiliation with Selectric Rescue other than being a paying customer; my review is based on my own findings.

[@dadtype2339]

Having a bit of a bad day, and I find I'm always looking for a Joe video a kind of comfort in your voice and a genuine friendship and kindness comes across, helps to distract from the pain and I feel a bit comfortable, CRPS sucks, but, you help me Joe, and I thank you.

[@emmajudd]

I was delighted to discover these new elements through a previous video of yours. How cool is it to see this kind of revival in the 21st century?!

[@mythicalireland]

Hi Joe. Another great video, thanks! I now have TWO working Selectrics, both of which came to me absolutely free! The first is a non-correcting Selectric II which was quite dead when it arrived but which eventually kicked into life and is now working almost flawlessly. The other is a correcting Selectric III in superb condition which a friend picked up from a lady who was giving it away. They really are amazing machines, and as you say, suitable for the serious writer. Anthony

[@BokBarber]

It's hard to tell from the picture, but given the level of precision needed to make these, they're probably made with a resin printer and not a 3d printer. Resin prints sacrifice durability for being able to create extremely fine detail prints. Even considering that, I would think that if somebody came up with a way to plate these, they would be nearly as strong as the originals. The plating that IBM put on there isn't just for show, it does greatly enhance the surface strength of the typeball.

[@ZachCopley]

This is the coolest thing ever. Love these programmer typeface elements!

[@bletheringfool]

It's really fun that these machines have new elements being made. I went to see Kenneth Brannaghs latest Poirot A Haunting in Venice. Michelle Yeoh's character is a medium who uses an IBM electric typewriter instead of a ouiji board. I saw it on huge IMAX screen and the close ups were excellent. Not familiar with all the IBM models but the story is set in 1947. EDIT: I forgot to say it was I think what you call a type bar machine in the movie not a daisy wheel. Didn't recognise the machine but it looked gorgeous

[@Channelscruf]

Electric Selectric. Melectrically wonderful. I have a Correcting Selectric II I use for journaling and writing thank you notes, etc for work. You are correct, for long form work these machines are butter smooth. Butter smooth, I tell ya! 😉

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

Good video. Different lighting. nice.

[@ovisergiu]

Thank you, Joe, for this video. It's early here and I'm sleepy but I think I learned from your video that a Selectric 721 can use a carbon film even tho it comes with a fabric ribbon, right? I'm manifesting a Selectric 1 to just pop-up to my door 😅. Always a pleasure to watch your videos.

[@susankuver8378]

Ovi, you can spool a carbon ribbon onto a fabric ribbon cartridge. If you wish. Joe has done a previous video in which he respooled a bi-chrome ribbon onto the cartridge. 😊

[@susankuver8378]

Love this video! But two things: it is possible to respool a carbon ribbon into a fabric ribbon cartridge if you cant find a Burroughs carbon cartridge. Second, the first generation clip has a pincer that makes it very easy to clip onto the type element. But they are hard to find. And Dave is a great guy! I cant wait til his Etsy shop reopens!

[@Joe_VanCleave]

The fabric cartridge auto-reverses, hence why a multi-strike cartridge also works. You could load one-time-use film into the cartridge but after one pass, when it reverses, you’d start getting a bad imprint … unless you then switch the niche one to the middle or bottom setting. So you’d get three passes max with one-time-use film.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Very nice typewriter. It has a different color. Blue.

[@MountainHillsHoller]

i have 1939 royal arrow and 1959 royal hh both work perfectly after all these years... as a matter a fact i'm using a sears achiever daily to fill out my maintenance logs (fleet mechanic)

[@slow.poetry]

Gave up on getting a Selectric because (1) technicians only work with mechanical typewriters where I live in Europe. Assuming I can get one to work perfectly by myself, (2) the keyboard is different so I couldn't buy golf balls (which is the whole point for me). If it's possible to print non-english keyboard balls then personally I'd be much more inclined to give it a shot.

[@villeelomaa7836]

I have a correcting Selectric II or actually it is better an IBM 96C. That's the name it had here in Finland. You can perhaps guess of the name of the machine that my Selectric uses only 96 character typeface elements. The reason might be that many European languages like Finnish need more letters than English. These 3D printed font balls are interesting, i need to find out, whether this guy makes also 96 character balls. Finding a working Selectric is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. I really love this machine although i have had to fix some jamming a couple of times.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I understand he’s working on one.

[@markg890]

I would think daisy wheels should be achievable, too.

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

I believe one company still makes new wheels and could possibly make any typeface

[@bngr_bngr]

Before the pandemic, we moved into a new building. No one wanted to have these typewriters on their much smaller space. We ended up throwing away dozens of these machines plus all the accessories. I was so sad and regret not being able to save more of these machines.

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

New shirt?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I've had it for a while!

[@spacemissing]

In 1976 I took a summer-school typing class where the machines were Selectrics; I believe they were 2's rather than 1's. To say that I became frustrated beyond all measure by the equipment would be a gross understatement. Seeing down into the thing to check for errors is nearly impossible. If you like these pieces of junk, you are welcome to them.

[@Channelscruf]

Wow. Bad take. My mother was a secretary in the 70’s. She had just been hired on one stipulation from her: she’d take the job but only if they’d buy a Correcting Selectric II for her to work on. After she retired I bought a Selectric for her to use at home. I couldn’t believe how much faster it was to type on. I was so impressed I bought one myself. I use one daily for work and journaling. Do they require more maintain-ence? Yes. Are they pieces of junk? lol. Come on, Sparky. There is an engineer on KZbin that makes a compelling case that the Selectric is the greatest analog mechanical invention. Ever. It has a whiffle tree in there somewhere, for crying out loud! Don’t get me wrong, I like my Smith Corona Sterling manual. But it rarely gets used. The Selectric is Sublime.

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

That might have been a bad setup for height because I can see what I typed perfectly well on my Selectric with the sound cover on.

[@jerbear7952]

You were sitting too low.