Musings on Writing

Post-Script: I had to do a bit of tinkering with the Underwood Portable, as it seems the ribbon advance was a bit wonky. It liked to prematurely reverse direction midway through the lefthand spool. I found the margin release linkage was interfering with the left spool auto-reverse mechanism, which required "reforming;" and I also adjusted the heights of the spool drive shafts, so they would turn freer. To test out my work, I began typing nonsense on a scrap of paper, but then decided to take advantage of this opportunity and not be as wasteful of ink, so moved the operation out to the Man Cave Shed and began some more premeditated writing, ribbon covers removed. Thus far, my work seems to have been useful, but I haven't gotten entirely to the end of the ribbon to test the reverse from the left spool.

I also added one more turn of tension to the spring motor, and the carriage return feels entirely normal. Not that I was experiencing any issues with lighter tension, but I didn't want to induce any problem in the future.

I also typed a piece of remembrance concerning my dad, whose birthday would have been on August 8. I'll use this for Typing Assignment No.6; which reminds me, I forgot to post the blog article accompanying the video, so I'll get that out today also.

TWVS Update - Episodes 11 & 12

Typewriter Video Series, Episode 11

Typewriter Video Series, Episode 12


Post-Script: This blog post was typed out in one pass, without any first-drafting, as I do some of my articles. This little Brother-made Webster XL-747 typewriter makes for a great "lap typer," a category of typewriter that perhaps deserves its own future episode of the video series. It does require noticeably more finger force to get a dark imprint, as compared to those Swiss-made Hermes machines that I bragged about in the last article; but then I noticed that sitting in my low-slung patio chair, in a slightly reclined position with this small machine on my lap, offered me a better wrist position with which to attach the keys, making it suddenly easier to get the force required for a dark imprint. So perhaps the "low-rider" is a sub-category of lap typers.

My Panasonic Lumix G5, which I use on all these videos, is starting to have some issues with its flip-out LCD screen. This is a great feature to have on a camera intended to be used for self-made videos, since the flip-out screen enables you to see yourself while in front of the lens. But the screen hinge has been getting loose, and now there's some flaky issue happening with the picture in the LCD itself. Perhaps I see a replacement Lumix micro-4/3 camera in my future? My personal finance manager doesn't seem to be as thrilled about that idea as myself, however.