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Hardened feet turn a quiet portable into a jackhammer. Replacing them is a one-hour job that changes how the machine sounds and how it walks on the desk.
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.
You cannot re-vulcanise a platen in your kitchen. You can, however, buy meaningful improvement in feel and print quality with three simple treatments — and avoid the three internet remedies that will destroy the rubber outright.