[GreenKeys] Model 15 Restoration...

[Scott Clark]

Hey guys!
First I want to thank everyone who wrote offering to help with my project...much appreciated!
Thought I'd post a quick update...  Got quite a bit done this weekend.  Everything took a nice long bath this weekend...

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131130_173701_662_zpsfebdbc41.jpg.html

The keyboard cleaned up better than I could have hoped.  Here's a pic of it sitting on my kitchen stove...

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131201_215350_117_zpsdc1a97a1.jpg.html

The mechanism on top was still kind of gooey after it came out of the bath, so I fired up my ultrasonic machine I have for cleaning camera shutters...I let the heater run for an hour before I used it to make sure it was as hot as it could get.  It cleaned up beautifully...

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131201_215409_541_zpsd75fd834.jpg.html

The clutch was sticking before, but now even before I've oiled anything it seems to work fine.

The tags on it look good...

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131201_215437_457_zps610517a3.jpg.html

Keys look great...never really looked at it before I started cleaning on it, and realized it's a fractions keyboard.  I checked the type bars, and they do match.

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131201_215508_169_zpsb27947c1.jpg.html

I read that the fractions units were used in financial institutions...is that correct?  Guess there's going to be some stuff that won't print correctly, but oh well...it's interesting because it's different.  

Three of the return springs are missing...

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131201_215559_620_zpsb390e522.jpg.html

Also really curious about the W-R-U key...can anyone fill me in on what it was for and what it's supposed to print?

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131201_215635_288_zps2210237f.jpg.html

Also started cleaning up the plate the motor mounts to...  I'm curious why it was left as bare steel, were these originally painted?  Seems odd to leave it with no rust protection at all.  Or if it had shellack or something it didn't hold up very well...it's pretty severely rusted and pitted in spots.  

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131130_182356_460_zps205bb0e3.jpg.html

I've always wanted to give electrolytic rust removal a try, but I've always just used more conventional ways to get it off.  Decided to give it a shot on this piece just to see how it works.  

Took this picture right at the start, before the rusty froth starting forming...

http://s114.photobucket.com/user/toolbox007/media/Teletype%20M15/IMG_20131130_184402_657_zpsca8256df.jpg.html

It works, but it's pretty slow going.  I suspect the temperature in the garage has something to do with it...chemical reactions love heat, and it's pretty darn cold out there.  I'm going to dump the bucket and start again with some really hot water and see how it goes.  I swapped the first piece I had in there as the anode with a big piece of 12ga sheet metal I had sitting around, and had a noticeable improvement, so the bigger the piece of metal the better.  Seems like it would be a good way to clean a typing unit if you had a really rusty one...  Mine isn't too bad, so I'll probably skip it and just do spot clean up with a dremmel tool or something.

Anyway, it's getting there :).  


 		 	   		  
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