Fair price and ways to find a teletype

[william degnan]

Rodents are the enemy of Teletypes.  Be sure to check under the hood before
you buy!

I have a page with some info you can download that covers how to check out
a Teletype before you buy it.

On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 2:48 PM, Brad <unclefalter at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> How heavy are these things?  They look like solid steel in pictures.
> That's one of the things that presents a big problem for me up here in
> Canada... shipping from the US has gotten outrageously expensive.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of tony
> duell
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 5:40 AM
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: RE: Fair price and ways to find a teletype
>
>
> [ASR33]
>
> > This is a very delicate mechanical device.  In spite of the fabulous
> > shipping crate, the bolts  installed to secure the printer, the
> > shipping guys let us down. The thing had very rough  handling, sheared
> > off the shipping bolts, the printer was totally shook up and Wayne and I
> are working on it to bring it back.
>
> A general point. The 'Typing Unit' -- that is the main chassis with the
> motor, carriage, platen, punch, in fact everything apart from the keyboard,
> tape reader and electronic unit is not normally bolted down. It rests on
> rubber mounts. If you are shipping an Model 33, you must either put in a
> shipping screw, or preferably remove the typing unit (it's just some
> electrical connections and the H-plate link to the keyboard trip linkage)
> and pack it separately.
> Otherwise you will have damage.
>
> If it;s a real Teletype as opposed to, say a Data Dynamics 390 (which is
> Teletype mechanicals in a Data Dynamics case) then note that the plastic
> cover is likely to have gone very brittle with age. Take care.
>
>
> > You need to understand, and be prepared for handling a mechanical
> > marvel, that there are  virtually no replacement parts.  You will have
> > to be pretty good with your hands, have tools and a shop.  This is a
> > totally mechanical device, and the innovation in it, how it works is so
> clever you will not get it without some help.
>
> All I can say is YMMV (and mine certainly did). I rebuilt my first Model 33
> when I was still at what you would call high school. Back then there was no
> WWW, no places to get manuals, no lists like this one. And I didn't have
> the
> paper manuals. I took the whole thing apart down to the last nut and bolt.
> And got it running. You need a good hand tool kit, but not that much more
> unless you need to make parts.
>
> Perhaps because I had a mis-spent childhood but I had no problems figuring
> out how it all works. It's not that complicated, it follows very logical
> principles.
>
> > Lots of patience, and when things go wrong (they will) you will need
> > the perseverance to stick with it.
>
> That I will agree with. My first one, working without manuals, took about 6
> weeks of tinkering in the evenings after school and at weekends to get
> going. And it certainly didn't work first time (it almost did, I had
> misunderstood the print suppression linkage).
>
> -tony
> =
> -----
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>


-- 
Bill