4 pieces filed under this tag.
The typebars are almost always fine. It is the dried grease in the segment slots that has become concrete. Here is the calm way to dissolve it without turning a straight bar into a bent one.
A concrete platen prints crisply but shortens the life of every typebar. A soft platen prints kindly but smears. Here is how to measure what you actually have and decide whether recovery is worth two hundred dollars.
One letter prints higher than its neighbours. Another leans left. The bars are not broken; they need to be nudged, and the nudge is smaller than you think.
A carriage that will not move is not one problem; it is any of six. Diagnose in the right order and the fix is usually free.