How To Re Ink A Typewriter Ribbon

This is part I. For role II, which actually achieved something, get hither.

So first I needed some postage pad ink. I got that at TCF in Canberra. They sell Artline postage pad ink in fifty cc bottles for virtually (at time of going to printing!) $A6.00 each, which is very reasonable. Most excitingly, it comes in a range of colours — blue, black, carmine, green and violet. Fantastic. I would like to exist able to type in light-green in particular. I could buy a ribbon, and not for much money, and some nice colours are available, merely I'd rather do an experiment first. Now, when I bought my Olympia, information technology came with a completely dead ribbon. A two-colour ribbon, the customary cherry and black. It was very expressionless, though on two dainty pressed-metal spools. I likewise had a nearly-as-dead 1 on plastic spools. I kept them both for experiments…

Now, patently y'all should always reink a ribbon with the colour it was originally. That would essentially restrict me to reinking in black and tossing out the two-colour ribbons. Only the ink is just $6, and the ribbons are useless anyhow, so a better idea is to monkey around first.

Reading around the web, information technology is clear that at that place are essentially ii schools of thought on reinking a ribbon (assuming you are going to bother at all). First, some just say air current it onto a spool as tightly every bit yous can, so that it is a sort of single mass of nylon, put 'some' ink on information technology and let information technology rest, peradventure rotating information technology periodically, to let the ink spread through the ribbon via capillary motion. The other method talks about inking a postage pad, laying the ribbon on the pad, laying a weight on the ribbon and pulling the ribbon across the pad under the weight. This on the surface sounds more disarming, simply also more effort. And I only have one stamp pad and information technology is purple/violet, not that that would be a bad colour to accept for a ribbon.

Then, what I am going to find out initially is: does the lazy method work, and does it piece of work on a ribbon that used to be two-color only is very dried out? Some articles talk most rejuvenating ribbons using a spray of WD40, just I want to steer clear of those kinds of solvent chemicals for now. That will come up along if information technology looks like the ribbon won't wet properly.

Anyway, I wound the ribbon onto one spool, keeping it nether tension just with my fingers. (Using very dry out just 2-colour ribbon, so may brand a horrible mess.) I started with just a few drops of ink, since I had no thought of quantity, but that did very trivial. And then more and more, but the ribbon was blotchy, equally if the ink was not spreading enough. Tried adding a few drops, rotating ribbon a few degrees, and repeating until a full circle. Left ink to spread for some hours. Looked unchanged, as if it had non spread. I am thinking it is the wrong ink — it seems to launder out in water, which suggests information technology volition dry out off as well fast. This was confirmed when the ribbon that was exposed to air (the bit between the spools, when I put information technology on the typewriter) was a dissimilar colour (blue) to the eye, but when I tried to type on information technology after a few hours it gave me the same virtually-invisible reddish and black the ribbon had had earlier I dyed information technology.

In other words, the ink was drying out and ceasing to do annihilation except crufty upward the ribbon.

And then the experiment was dead, except I tried one more thing. Even though I knew the ribbon would non proceed, I tried making a wooden frame to concur the spools, placing a well-inked postage stamp pad between the 2 spools and winding the ribbon from one spool to the other while pressing the ribbon against the stamp pad with the dorsum of a wooden spoon. Visually, the ribbon looked far more uniformly inked, and when I went to use it right afterwards the test, autonomously from getting ink on everything when I threaded it on the typewriter, it worked quite well — too dark, if anything.

Hence, I have the following conclusions: If I endeavour this over again, I'll research the ink I use ameliorate start (I had read on the web that stamp ink was the way to go, but I assume non all inks are equal). Likewise, I'll make an improved version of my wooden frame and utilize the stamp pad method rather than just expecting the ink to spread.

Next: glycerine.

'pod' is an interesting word considering it has a two-fold rotation axis.

Live and learn.