Montana 2

This typewriter required U.C./L.C. alignment.  a 6mm ignition wrench is required, 2 if you want to hold the adjustment screw while tightening the lock nut.

One of several screw holders I find very useful while working on electronics and TYPEWRITERS.

Alignment as found

Getting better, but not quite.  The paper guide needs moved and more adjusting of the lower case.

Same screw for lower case on the right side.  The screw above is left side upper case alignment. This is as far as lower case can go.  The slight misalignment will stay.

The same on the left.  The bottom screw is the lower case alignment.

To align the type slugs to be perfectly aligned requires lowering of the guide and this guide is not adjustable.  It is stamped and formed and attached to the back of the carriage rail.

Typecast from the workbench.

This is the linkage below the right shift key. The design must have been made by a drunk engineer and approved by a drunker manager.

As with all my typewriters.  The time to give the type slugs a good cleaning is when the machine is apart for maintenance.

7 screws must be removed from the typewriter's housing and the slide that is pressed to open the case cover must also be removed.  One must be careful when doing this as the 2 springs will take flight if not prepared for the spring loading of the slide.

The older Montana Luxe had a cork rest that I replaced.  This one has a foam one.

Plastic Plastic Plastic.  I do not like plastic. It is fragile, dries, and had very low strength.  The entire case and bottom plate is plastic on this Montana. Notice the bar that needs pressed to release the cover.  It is the same one that needs pressed to remove the typewriter's housing for access to the mechanics of the machine.

Stif'ner.

 I was putting this typecast together when I realized I did not proof read and correct my typed sheets.  Hope my sloppy typing is not too difficult to read.

I could have gone into more detail on how I do an alignment also.  I always use 2 wrenches. Pliers slip too easily and strip the corners of the nuts or hex head screws.  I loosen the lock nuts on which ever adjustment I want to make first or which ever is not aligned to the index line.  In the case of this Montana I could not raise the lower case any more than it was.  I was left with adjusting the index guide, bending the adjustment hardware, or letting well-enough alone.  I chose the latter.

Then I loosened the lock nuts on the upper case adjusting screws and gave each screw one half turn to see which direction it adjusted.  I do this so I can go back the half turn and turn the screw one half turn in the other direction should my first be wrong.  I check alignment.  Then I turn each screw 1/4 turn at a time until both upper and lower cases align.  Then I hold the adjustment screw whild tightening the lock nut.

On many machines the wire is not in the way of wrenching the screw.  On the Baby, Rocket, and Montana the frame is on one side of the adjuster and a wire on the other.  I straddle the wire with the open end of the wrench and it seems to work fine and does not bend the wire.  Alternately one could hope to find the correct typewriter wrench on Ebay or grind the sides of ignition wrenches.

I used to work with a fellow from Poland who ran the distillery.  Stif'ner was a gift.