- Oct 2024
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Pretty much all manual typewriters use 1/2" (12.7mm) wide ribbon which is most of what you're probably going to find in the marketplace.
The thing that changes from machine to machine is is the potentially proprietary spools and those are usually specific to how the ribbion auto switch is effectuated. Most ribbon comes with small grommets about 10-12 inches from the ends as many machines need this to trigger the switch over. If the plastic spools you purchase don't work with your particular machine you simply spend a minute or two to hand wind it onto your existing original (metal) spools and go from there.
There are lots of videos on YouTube showing how to hand wind ribbon onto a machine. Sarah has a pretty reasonable one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up412FjTEkw
Even Tom Hanks has a ribbon changing video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBbsNKaVAB0
Incidentally, if your seller specifies them, the Underwoods take Group 9 (GR9) spools. Likely not helpful or illustrative for you, but certainly interesting from a historical perspective, Ted Munk has a catalog of Typewriter Ribbon varieties Offered by Underwood in 1956: https://munk.org/typecast/2020/08/23/typewriter-ribbon-varieties-offered-by-underwood-in-1956/
reply to u/prettiestGOAT at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1g8z0fm/can_anyone_help_id_this_underwood_typewriter_and/
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- May 2023
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I buy exclusively from Ribbons Unlimited since their products and service are superb. I have purchased from Amazon suppliers if I need a ribbon "pronto", but the biggest problem that I run into with their supplier's ribbons is the fact that they normally don't have reversing grommets installed at the end of the ribbons, and unless your machine can sense ribbon tension and reverse the ribbon, you have to reverse the ribbon direction manually. I purchased a grommet installation tool to try and capitalize on the cheap price of Amazon ribbons, but found that it's not really worth the effort (plus my hands got really "inky") - I always come back to Ribbons Unlimited.
Some cheap typewriter ribbon spools don't have grommets on them to force auto-reverse of the spool. Without grommets, some machines may sense ribbon tension for reversal, otherwise one needs to switch direction manually.
There are grommet installation tools that one can use, but this often requires getting one's hands dirty to install them.
Ribbons Unlimited has a good reputation in the r/typewriters community for providing good sales and service.
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