[GreenKeys] Refurbishing a 33 KSR

Tue Feb 1 11:44:13 EST 2011

Chris,

Dons advice is right on, but it may be easier just to change the typewheel to match the keyboard.  Pretty tricky to work on a keyboard if you never have.  Do not remove the keyboard from the pam of the machine without the plastic cover on as it will fall apart and then you have big problems.  The C on the plastic cover rings hold the keyboard together. 

Wayne

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Robert House <Packard42 at gmail.com>
To: Christian Gauger-Cosgrove <captainkirk359 at gmail.com>
Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Mon, Jan 31, 2011 7:00 pm
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Refurbishing a 33 KSR

Hi Chris,
I will ask my webmaster to put the scanned 33 training manual up on my
ebsite.  Take a look at the site you have not already done so.  Some of
he images are messed up, but there is a lot of information there.
http://www.nadcomm.com/
Most people have a lot of trouble with 32 and 33 keyboards because they
emove the unit to work on it.  I used to do that but is not a good  
dea...
Here is how you do it...
With the cover off the rest of the machine you will notice two C rings,
ne on each side of the plastic keyboard top. Remove thesed with a pair
f pliers. Be careful not to loose them. Then make sure the two mounting
crews holding the keyboard in place are nice and snug.  Do not remove
he so-called "H Lever" which is actually an "X".  The H-Lever is what
rips the distributor to serialize the parallel data coming from the
eyboard, the answer-back drum, and/or the tape reader if an ASR. All
f those contacts are in parallel.  If one bounces it garbles the other.
Take a wide flat screwdriver, or preferably an old butter knife and
ull the right side metal frame away from the plastic "tits" that
rotrude through the frame and lift.  This makes it a bit easier to pry
he left frame away from the left side "tits." Remove the plastic cover.
You will now notice that the keys alternate from being held in the front
nd held in the back with the opposite end of each key lever being loose
n a slot.  Using a long nose pliers SLIGHTLY bend the horizontal frame
ectangle that holds the key lever you want to change the keytop on.
Wiggle the keytop with its key lever until it pulls up and out. Take the
ey lever to a strong vice and put the lever in the jaws of the vice.
hen use your long nose pliers as a double lever to remove the unwanted
eytop.  Once it comes off. (Some can be difficult) you can put the key
op you want on the lever.  Make sure the vise is tight and use a small
lat piece of wood, such as a tongue depressor, to cover the top of the
ey top while you tap it down with a tack hammer or wood hammer.
The only keys you have to be careful of are the HERE IS key and the
EPEAT key as they are only loosely held in place with their springs
y rectangular holes in the frame.  When you have completed your
esired keytop changes you simply reverse the procedure starting from
he left side. Use the eraser on the end of a pencil to align any key
ops that are not falling into place as you lower the keyboard top into
lace,
You will be pleased when you get done.  I replaced the O with the
rrow with the O with the underscore on my 35ASR so I could send
ou this keytop. However the keytops I removed are less than perfect.
aul Cembura has most of the keytops and they are all new old stock.
Best,
on
9TTY

n 31 Jan 2011, at 12:26 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote:
Hello,
I would quite enjoy having a set of manuals, only problem is the manual
et on eBay (the one I found, and I think the one you were referring to)
 personally cannot purchase. (Yay for not having a PayPal account at
ll.)
The training manual could provide an interesting read. (Also, why not
ut the PDF on BitSavers if you do end up scanning it. Let the whole
orld get a chance to read it.)
As one person told me when I asked about the keyboard "don't touch it
s it is filled with a great many parts that have a tendency to go  
sproing'
nd fling themselves to the other end of the room." Where could one get
 replacement type wheel though? I ask because I personally find I like
SCII '63 compared to later ASCII variants; plus every DEC manual that
entions the teletype and software involving the teletype, is based on
SCII '63 which has the up arrow and left-pointing arrow.
That fix for the print hammer doesn't sound all too difficult. I'll  
nd up
oing it as soon as I get some spare time and money to buy some tubing
I also need some spare time and money to get the rest of the TTY
orking too).
I have some photographs of the KSR-33's I/O cables, and I can provide
hem if you're interested as I'm still trying to figure out what the
nterface actually is. Because I'm not wholly sure at all.
Thanks for the help, and cheers to you.

On 31 January 2011 00:08, Don Robert House wrote:
Christian,
A set of manuals would be helpful for you to figure these things out.
here is a nice five volume set up for bids on eBay.
I also have a 33 training manual here I could scan and send to you.
 am not sure when I will have time to do it yet however.
There were at least a dozen different type wheels and the keytops
ere not always changed to match.  Changing keytops on a 32 or
 33 is a bit of a challenge.
The best print hammer is a piece of 7/16 inch vinyl tubing cut to
/8 inch long.  Warm it in your hands and push it over the print
ammer after cleaning the gunk off.
The 33 was made in different configurations depending on the
nterface that was needed. Some have an EIA interface and some
ave a 20 Milliamp current interface.
Good luck...
on
9TTY

On 30 Jan 2011, at 10:51 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote:
Right, well hello everyone.
I need a bit of help figuring out what - in general - could be
he problem with my KSR-33 teletype, and what I could do to get
t back to the point of actually working. I'll quickly list and
escribe the problems that affect the KSR-33.
Firstly, and this problem cropped up most recently. While running
he teletype to check something regarding it; I noticed the teletype
ad begun to make an odd noise, before I could kill the power, the
ain drive motor blew it's fuse. On a whim - and at the suggestion
f a person who shall remain nameless - we popped a spare fuse in
o check to figure what the problem could have been. Unsurprisingly,
he second - new - fuse blew in a very short time; however the odd
oise seemed to have disappeared.
Secondly, and the teletype has had this problem since I got it, is
hat the carriage will not move at all. Though I am unsure if that
s completely correct, as the carriage is at the furthest point
ightward in it's travel, and therefore cannot proceed right any
urther. But it also will not return to the left.
Thirdly, the rubber part of the print hammer is completely vanished
nto nothingness. But luckily I'll be making a stop at Home Depot
ometime in the near future, so that issue will be resolved quite
hortly.
Fourthly - and this issue is not all that pressing until everything
lse has been fixed - but I have no idea what the connection for
he input/output of the teletype is. I say this because the connector
sn't what I ususally assumed was a current loop connection. But
he connector - which is a male DB-25 connector - doesn't seem to
ave enough of it's pins connected to the cable to the teletype to
ake sense as an RS-232C serial connection. (However, the giant
rick of a box made by "UTEC" looks like it could be a current loop-
o-RS232 converter, so that may be the solution to that.)
I've already downloaded - and paged through - the manuals for the
achine that are on BitSavers. Though I do find them somewhat
mpenetrable.
Oh, and as a question; were the type cylinders of all Model 33 teletypes
he same throughout their production lifetime? Or did they ever change
he type cylinders? I ask because the keyboard of my KSR-33 has replaced
he up-arrow and back arrow-symbols with the caret and low-line ASCII
ymbols. Would that mean that the type cylinder of my KSR-33 has those
SCII characters on it as opposed to the arrows? Or is the cylinder
lways the same? If the type cylinders are different, how difficult
ould it be to get a Model 33 type cylinder with the "original"
haracter set?
Two final queries; firstly, what kind of ink ribbon does the Model 33
eletype use, and where can one find a replacement ribbon? Secondly,
s it possible to use 8.5" roll paper with an inner core diameter of 2"
nstead of 1" when replacing the paper roll?
In conclusion to this rather long, and very rambling e-mail I look
orward to any replies to my questions, and any suggestions as to what
 could do to get my KSR-33 back up and running again.
Thanks in advance,
. M. Gauger-Cosgrove
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