TT: Typecleaner

 Typewriter Test: Type cleaner!

I've recently acquired a new gizmo to my typewriter Den. It's called typecleaner and it cleans the typeface/hammers from "ink".

This is some kind of modeline clay at least at the look and feel. The difference lay in the material: this one is sticky and firmly stays in shape.

 

 

Working with it is very simple, you simply press it firmly to the hammers/typeface many times over :) It might sound bad, but actually is quite fast. The clay stics to at least few hammers at the same time and "consumes" the ink wastes. Afer dozen seconds it looks like that:

 

 

 And here are the effects on a nearly mint typewriter that I used the very day (typeface was clean before the use):

 

Before

After

As You can see the effect is quite positive :) It's clean work, without use of any chem or brush, only our hands and magic clay ;) 

After the first test I used it on my Olympia SM3, that is used more frequently and wasn't cleaned for some time. The typeface was not only more dirty but also the ink had time to dry on the hammers.
So this is how it worked:

Before without flash.

Before, photo with flash.

After, photo with flash.

Typecleaner after the tests.

As you can see the effects wasn't so spectacular as with the clean typewriter, but the clay took a load of ink anyway. The small spaces in the narrows of typeface wasn't cleaned properly, but It's hard to blame the gizmo. It would be a good start for more detailed cleaning with brush ang chems :)

I think that for collectors, that use many machines ocassionaly it's a great idea. You can keep them clean without much effort. Also for somebody, who simply needs to have things tidy!