The Soul of a Great Machine

Time to test the ASR 33! With the paper tape punch engaged I typed the following string:

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOGS BACK 1234567890 TIMES

Put the tape in the reader and switched the reader lever to run:

Click here to watch the video: Teletype ASR 33 typing using tape reader

The paper tape punch worked fine when I got the Teletype ASR 33 but the tape reader would not advance the paper tape. The tape is advanced by a feed solenoid in the reader unit and it get’s it power from the reader power supply board which had a hair crack in one of the foil traces.

Teletype ASR 33 reader power supply broken foil

Well, that was easily fixed by putting a drop of super glue between the connector pin foil and the board and then soldering a piece of large gauge wire over the broken path.

Teletype ASR 33 reader power supply broken foil repaired

The Line Feed did not work on my newly acquired Teletype ASR 33. After having spent several hours trying to figure out how to decode and set the codebar so that the Line Feed function would engage, I subscribed to the GreenKeys Teletype mailing list and asked if any of the members could assist. It did not take long before member Larry responded and told me about the little piece of plastic that needed to sit on the Line Feed Drive Link in order for the Line Feed to work.

ASR 33 Paper Feed Mechanism

I fabricated the black piece of rubber with the crosshatch pattern seen in the picture below from a rubber sole.

Teletype ASR 33 Line Feed

Thanks a million Larry! Without your help I would never have been able to fix the Line Feed!

Since the ASR 33 had been sitting in Tom’s basement for a few years I disassembled, cleaned and lubricated the Teletype before doing any testing.

Below is a syringe I used to put very small drops of oil at the designated lubrication points. The syringe is made from plastic and I made the tip a lot smaller the following way:

1. Put a screw into it’s to large tip.
2. Held the screw by my finger tips.
3. Carefully heated the tip using a gas fired, portable soldering iron with the torch tip attached and let the syringe slowly descend downwards and thereby stretching the tip making it much smaller.

Today I picked up a new (well, not really since Teletype Corporation stopped making the Teletype ASR 33 in 1981) Teletype ASR 33 from Tom in Drammen, Norway. Tom needed the space and I needed a Teletype ASR 33. The drive from Upplands Väsby in Sweden is 554 km one way. I left 09:00 and was back at 23:00 after the 1100 km drive.

Solbergmoen, Norway

Tom and the Teletype ASR 33