Yost 10 - derailed

Lexi-Graphi-kon: smokin' tabs

The carriage brake and the arm that releases it

The link which trips the carriage brake to OFF and the escapement to ON when a tab stop is reached

How the link pictured above looks like when removed from another Graphika.

Studio 44 conundrum - solved

UPDATE
Thanks Ted for this advice.

As you can see, as far as cover removal goes at least, the 21 and the 44 are similar enough. Set those tabs wide and bring the carriage hard to port. Another great carriage removal avoidance ploy.

KHM: tab problem solved

The grime inside isn't doing any harm - it has taken 74 years to build up. I reckon that's part of its heritage and I'm positive I'd do more damage removing it than leaving it alone

I have figured out the solution to the sticky tab illustrated in my previous post. 

Removing the left-hand rear dust cover reveals the motor and what I'd originally thought was a retaining collar for the clockwork motor's spindle. At second glance (and in better light) I spotted a worm gear. A drop of oil and a trial and error turn in both directions and voila! No more sticky tabs and enough pulling power wound into the spring for the carriage to move briskly along to the set tab. If I hadn't had all the covers off again for a more thorough cleaning of the paintwork, I'd probably never have spotted that worm gear.  

I hope this is of help to any other Royalists (aristocrats? typocrats?) with sluggish carriages. This fix took two full rotations of the motor spindle to load the spring sufficiently. To save straining yourself with heavy carriage returns or stressing any parts, slightly over-wind the spring first and then gradually slacken it off until there's just enough tension.

All work and no play

After a week's neglect, I revisited the misaligned lowercase on my Olympia SM4 with the same hopes I might harbour returning to a baffling crossword clue. 

The upper and lower stops for the carriage's vertical travel (see earlier post) were so hard to reach, I decided that their adjustment shouldn't be the solution to fixing the unusefully large amount of play problem on an otherwise pristine Olympus. 

There were two sources of to-and-fro play in the carriage that I could see. One being the (unfathomable) shifting linkage, the other the bearings and the tracks the ball-races run along. I unclipped the carriage strap and spent a few minutes running it from side to side to see how the play might be eliminated. I'd assumed the two rails were part of the same pressing but when I got my magnifying glass out I could see that the rails were separately mounted and that the rail on the keyboard side showed a tell-tail knurled surface beneath one of the screws. An adjustment slot? Could be. After slackening the screws at both ends of the rail, I pushed each rail away from the other as far seemed practicable. I'd guess somewhere between 0.5mm and 1mm. Then I retightened the screws, adjusted the back rail stops (at bottom, see photo) and checked that the carriage still ran freely under ts own weight. It did and it worked! A few lines of type showed legible descenders on the lowercase where previously they'd been faint ghosts. The seven eighths is joy to behold!

Both photos taken under a desk light, typing not scanned. PS: The slow bike ride happened - I lost - and I didn't suffer the indignity of the knobbly knees competition.

So, if you find yourself with misaligned lowercase on an SM4 - maybe the above will help. I hope so. And thanks again to Robert and Mike for their helpful suggestions. Sometimes it is good to walk in the wrong direction before arriving at the destination.