In Typewriter Video Series Episode 325, Joe installs a cloth ribbon cartridge into his blue model 721 Selectric. Will it print as well as a carbon film ribbon?
I just picked up a 721 Selectric for $10 from a junk sale. It had been used for a magazine in Chehalis, WA called "Logger's World". Absolutely filthy and frozen. In the process of cleaning it up, but have done enough to be able to turn it on and confirm that it doesn't "thump". If I can get everything cleaned and freed up, I *may* have a good machine. It's the coral red color. Thank you for your videos.
Hello, I just wanted to say that I absolutely adore your videos, and passion for typewriters in general, I’m truly happy to see the typewriter has not been forgotten, if anything it’s created a much larger growth in how much people love them for what they are, god bless.
love these models, i have one but the center hub cracked and i'm not talented enough to try to replace it. Now i'm using an Royal Apollo (electric) to replace the selectric. The apollo is not made as well as the selectric but boy it's very very quiet. I'm pretty happy with it thus far. Joe ur selectric is beauuuutiful! enjoy!
I gotta say, I was really surprised by the imprint you were getting with that cloth ribbon. My previous experience with Selectrics were only with carbon ribbons and I didn’t know what to expect. Like you said, it doesn’t look at all like the imprint you get from cloth on a normal manual machine and really looks fantastic and crisp.
In the seventies we used to order these by the dozen from IBM nylon ribbons. Carbon didn't dominate nearly as much as it is represented here--I remember that time well. The original carbon ribbon for the S-1 didn't look or operate like this at all, and it was single use, came on two spools.
Apparently, looking at a Phoenix Typewriter video on this, it's quite easy to pry open an IBM cartridge and replace the fabric ribbon with a standard one. Any quality print you get on a manual typewriter would then be available on the Selectric, at a considerable cost saving. I was wondering if you tried that.
I have a Burroughs “multi-strike” film ribbon cartridge for this machine also, that gives the quality film ribbon imprint. A one time-use film ribbon could only be used one pass before the cartridge reverses, then I’d have to switch the color selector to one of the other tracks. It would only offer three passes before the ribbon was used up.
Great video! The imprint is truly impressive but if my memory serves me, you said similar praises for the Smith Corona Elecric's way back when. A comparison is in order. Another video perhaps?
This is great Joe, the ribbon works very well and the writing looks so clear.. Do you know if a Smith Corona 2200 Coronamatic typewriter can also take fabric ribbon inside the cartridge? Thanks
@@Joe_VanCleave ok that's great. It is a typebar electric with side loading cartridge so I'll have a look. If you feel like doing a video on how you did yours - I know it's slightly different but it would be really helpful. Thanks again Joe. 😊
@@WiseSkies144 It certainly needs a video made; when I did it for this video it was at night on Kevin's veranda under bad lighting, and I didn't have my camera with me. I think he has a few more cartridges needing to be reloaded, I'll get one from him and document the process. Thank you for watching!
Any suggestions where to find correction tabs? Been looking all over. Just realized mine is a 71. Didn’t know there was a small one. Looks like mine is carbon. Learned a lot today.
The first Selectric model is the 70 series. 71 is carbon film with individual spools, 72 is fabric ribbon in a cartridge (like mine). The third digit denotes carriage width. Mine is 721, the narrowest width made. There’s probably a model reference chart somewhere online, I can’t remember where.
I just picked up a 721 Selectric for $10 from a junk sale. It had been used for a magazine in Chehalis, WA called "Logger's World". Absolutely filthy and frozen. In the process of cleaning it up, but have done enough to be able to turn it on and confirm that it doesn't "thump". If I can get everything cleaned and freed up, I *may* have a good machine. It's the coral red color. Thank you for your videos.
Wow, this is really giving me Slectric 721 envy! The quality is really impressive. Thanks for getting the ribbon and showing it to us. Daniel
Hello, I just wanted to say that I absolutely adore your videos, and passion for typewriters in general, I’m truly happy to see the typewriter has not been forgotten, if anything it’s created a much larger growth in how much people love them for what they are, god bless.
I've never been disappointed by Ribbons Unlimited.
Hi Joe! Enyjoing all your videos lately. Tremendous work! Anthony
love these models, i have one but the center hub cracked and i'm not talented enough to try to replace it. Now i'm using an Royal Apollo (electric) to replace the selectric. The apollo is not made as well as the selectric but boy it's very very quiet. I'm pretty happy with it thus far. Joe ur selectric is beauuuutiful! enjoy!
Wow, the type looks great with the new ribbon--looking forward to getting my hands on a good selectric!!
Did someone experimented replacing the coton ribbon for a Carbon film ribbon on manual typewriter ?
Yes, but the machine has to be able to move the ribbon at least one character width between key presses, to get fresh carbon ribbon each time.
I gotta say, I was really surprised by the imprint you were getting with that cloth ribbon. My previous experience with Selectrics were only with carbon ribbons and I didn’t know what to expect. Like you said, it doesn’t look at all like the imprint you get from cloth on a normal manual machine and really looks fantastic and crisp.
In the seventies we used to order these by the dozen from IBM nylon ribbons. Carbon didn't dominate nearly as much as it is represented here--I remember that time well. The original carbon ribbon for the S-1 didn't look or operate like this at all, and it was single use, came on two spools.
Apparently, looking at a Phoenix Typewriter video on this, it's quite easy to pry open an IBM cartridge and replace the fabric ribbon with a standard one. Any quality print you get on a manual typewriter would then be available on the Selectric, at a considerable cost saving. I was wondering if you tried that.
I have a Burroughs “multi-strike” film ribbon cartridge for this machine also, that gives the quality film ribbon imprint. A one time-use film ribbon could only be used one pass before the cartridge reverses, then I’d have to switch the color selector to one of the other tracks. It would only offer three passes before the ribbon was used up.
Great video! The imprint is truly impressive but if my memory serves me, you said similar praises for the Smith Corona Elecric's way back when. A comparison is in order. Another video perhaps?
Yes, I will be making that comparison soon!
This is great Joe, the ribbon works very well and the writing looks so clear.. Do you know if a Smith Corona 2200 Coronamatic typewriter can also take fabric ribbon inside the cartridge? Thanks
If it’s a typebar electric with the side-loading cartridge and moving carriage, I think they do use cloth ribbons.
@@Joe_VanCleave ok that's great. It is a typebar electric with side loading cartridge so I'll have a look. If you feel like doing a video on how you did yours - I know it's slightly different but it would be really helpful. Thanks again Joe. 😊
@@WiseSkies144 It certainly needs a video made; when I did it for this video it was at night on Kevin's veranda under bad lighting, and I didn't have my camera with me. I think he has a few more cartridges needing to be reloaded, I'll get one from him and document the process. Thank you for watching!
@@Joe_VanCleave Thank you Joe, that will be so useful. I really appreciate you and your channel and all your hard work. 😊
Any suggestions where to find correction tabs? Been looking all over. Just realized mine is a 71. Didn’t know there was a small one. Looks like mine is carbon. Learned a lot today.
How can you determine what model the machine is?
The first Selectric model is the 70 series. 71 is carbon film with individual spools, 72 is fabric ribbon in a cartridge (like mine). The third digit denotes carriage width. Mine is 721, the narrowest width made. There’s probably a model reference chart somewhere online, I can’t remember where.
IBM called the ribbon "fabric ribbon" not "cloth ribbon".
I was in IBM Japan's typerwriter division servicing Selectrics.