Slate TypewritersOne repair bench for mechanical typewriters, Leipzig
Shop ref
SL-19
Room
Leipzig, Saxony
Open since
2019
Benches
One, and it is full

Bound sheets, 2023 to date

Job sheets

Every sheet the shop has kept, most recent first. The earliest that survived in a readable state is from 14 November 2023; the first year of work was written on the back of delivery notes and is gone.

Sheets bound
4
Parts covered
Platen / Escapement / Cleaning / Carriage
Reading, end to end
36 minutes
  1. 004Carriage2025

    Fitting a new draw cord and finding the right mainspring tension

    The carriage cord is the one part on these machines guaranteed to fail eventually. How I choose the line, tie it, wind the drum, and count the turns back in.

    First typed 8 Sept 2025Put right 19 Jan 20265 parts9 min

  2. 003Cleaning2025

    Cleaning a sluggish segment without dunking the machine

    Sticking keys are almost never a lubrication problem. A working method for flushing a segment on the bench, the drying time it really needs, and the paint I stripped by being careless.

    First typed 17 Feb 2025Put right 30 May 20254 parts8 min

  3. 002Escapement2024

    Escapement timing on a machine that spaces twice

    A 1961 portable that put two spaces in wherever it liked, and the four evenings it took me to understand what the loose dog and the rigid dog are actually doing.

    First typed 9 Jun 2024Put right 21 Sept 20245 parts10 min

  4. 001Platen2023

    How I decide a platen is too hard to keep using

    Four years of squeezing rubber rollers taught me almost nothing, so I bought a durometer. What the numbers actually changed about the work on this bench.

    First typed 14 Nov 2023Put right 2 Mar 20245 parts9 min

Sheets get amended rather than replaced, and the date on the right of a sheet is the last time something on it turned out to be wrong. What counts as an amendment is set out in the note on how the sheets are written.