It’s a strange state of affairs when typewriter accessories cost more than the typewriters themselves. I bought a $20 junk machine (a Brother AX25 in poor condition) so I could get my hands on the ENGLISH SUPER GRANDE 10 printwheel that came with it.
Buying a Brother printwheel online (if you can find one) is likely to cost you much more. Here’s a typical example…
Not too sure why you’d want an ALL CAPS typeface like “English Super Grande” – unless (like me) you just want a variety of printwheels. I suppose it’s useful for HEADLINES and HIGHLIGHTING PORTIONS OF TEXT…
Good luck buying a printwheel that doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg…!
Typecast on my Brother CE-30
7 responses to “Wheels of Fortune”
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[…] mentioned this before, but if you want to buy a daisywheel for your obsolete ’80s wedge, it’s generally […]
Regarding the “should I buy this accessory for $25 for a machine that cost me $5?” conundrum, I run across that all too often with thrift store and garage sale typers. I just dropped $18 for metal spools and new ribbon for my Remette that barely cost me over $20. :-/ So it is. I guess the joy brought to the heart of seeing a 70 year old machine functioning, outweighs the cognitive dissonance triggered by our brains when cross-referencing the internally held “chart of accounts” in our heads.
Taking apart sounds like fun. It’s the putting back together that worries me! 🙂
Oh, next idea: when you run out a ribbon cart on that thing, try taking the cart apart and winding in a cloth ribbon (short length). It’d be interesting to see what the type on a daisywheel would look like rendered with a cloth ribbon.
Heh, font lust strikes the daisywheel world. Do you poke at the wedges in thrifts & pull the typewheel out to see if it’s a fun typeface? I suppose that’s much easier to do on daisywheels than on typebar machines. 😀
$42? Oh man….. I’ve bought most of my top 5 typewriters for less than that price, and they are likely to last longer!