Hermes 3000 Typewriter Feet (1st and 2nd Gen) (set of 4)

Description: Top quality, authentic gray or black Hermes 3000 feet using the best synthetic rubber! Don't be fooled by others offering the wrong color black rubber feet, these are the right color and built to last! I now have both types of feet for these glorious Swiss machines made between 1958 and 1970. These are feet for the first two generation machines--the original sleek "curvy" chassis design, and the subsequent "boxy" design that came next. These feet do not fit the 3rd generation Hermes 3000 machines with plastic chassis', which don't seem to use feet (as such) at all, but rather long rubber strips instead. Please examine your machine and the photos closely to be sure you choose the right feet for your machine, then pick either: #1: Gray Hermes 3000 feet for 1st Generation "Curvy" metal bodies. Here you can get new feet that closely match the original Swiss design (black feet don't look good or authentic on this amazing machine's case). This listing is for one set of four 3D printed replacement typewriter feet for the acclaimed curved-top Hermes 3000 typewriters (officially HP-2/58), made in Switzerland between June 1958 and mid-1966 (serial numbers 3,000,001 through ~3,357,400), according to the TWDB. There is very little evidence online, but my guess is the curvy machines all use this same foot design. These feet may also fit Media 3 machines, but this is not verified, please check your machine before ordering. These feet were made to replace the rock-hard slippery feet on my 1961 machine. These are very easy to replace, just like the original design. You should only need a flat screwdriver to remove each foot assembly--in theory. In reality, once you get the foot off you will need to carefully pry the dried up old foot out of the "shoe" without scratching it. Don't lose the metal parts! The original keyhole shaped washer, the screw, and the foot are required to install the new feet. I found that the washer pops right out the bottom by pushing a small screwdriver through the hole from the top. Then just clean up the old hardware, and use it to reverse the procedure installing the new ones. Note that the hole is designed to be a tight fit, so you drop in the washer (easy fit), and then you push the screw through it, and they hold together for easy installation with the shoe on top. #2: Black Hermes 3000 feet for 2nd Generation "Boxy" metal bodies. Here again you can get new feet that closely match the original Swiss design, in this case black feet like the original. This listing is for one set of 4 3D printed replacement typewriter feet for the boxier metal Hermes 3000 typewriters (officially HP-2/66), made in Switzerland between May 1966 and 1970 (serial numbers 3,357,500 through ~7,061,000), according to the TWDB. There is very little evidence online, but my guess is the boxy machines all use this same foot design. These feet were made to replace the flexible, but still slippery, feet on my 1968 machine. These feet are not as easy to replace as the earlier machine. While they are each mounted to the central chassis (these are actually the screws to remove the bottom) by a strange pointy (sharp!) screw, they actually mount to the chassis bottom on their own with a semi-circular flange part that doubles as a grommet for shock absorption between the case bottom and the machine chassis. Very cool, elegant Swiss design--hard to get on and off. It's best to remove the 4 screws (be careful to save them AND the 4 rectangular washers!), leave the feet in place for now, and carefully rotate the bottom up from the back (it might be slightly stuck, but it will go). The front of the case bottom has a metal lip that is mated to the chassis, and is also entangled with the spacebar preventing it's removal. I found you could simply slide the spacebar/case alignment slightly sideways and pop it loose, and after that the case bottom metal lip can slide off. Now you have access to both sides of the feet. For each foot, by pulling on one corner from the bottom, you can push the corresponding corner of the inside grommet towards the hole and it should pop right out, fully intact. If you try to do this without removing the bottom, it will likely break into pieces. Take this opportunity to do some cleaning. Next is the hard part. For each foot, I used the following steps to install it:Pinch the new foot between your fingers on the long ends with the grommet facing outwardStick one end of the grommet into the hole (bottom, outside), perhaps rotate a little until it clearly goes in at that end--keep that pushed in placeNow--still pushing the corner in, begin to push down into the hole as well, and you can try pushing the other end sideways towards the hole, perhaps wiggling a little, and get your thumb in the center to push into the hole. It will be frustrating and not seem to work, but after a few goes it should pop in.If you have a plastic spudger (anything plastic you can poke with), you can also approach step #3 by pushing that last side of the grommet through (again, while pushing inward). This helped somewhat, but was still a bit finnicky. Once you get the grommet through the hole, rotate it a bit to be sure the inside lip is all the way in. You can also use a plastic spudger here to kind of pry that lip up and over the case metal. I got all four installed in about 10 minutes, not that big a deal, try to enjoy the Swiss engineering :) After this, reverse the steps to reinstall the case bottom and re-entangle the spacebar. Test everything and make sure it works! Then just insert the rectangular washers and screw them all in, checking case alignment and squeezing it together the whole time. Done! I designed these to be nearly an identical replacement in outside appearance, but with the advantages of modern 3D printing technology we can engineer materials that were previously impossible. I printed with Gray and Midnight Black NinjaFlex TPE polymer (https://ninjatek.com/ninjaflex/), which is very strong in ordinary usage (but a knife or scissors will cut it, just like rubber!), flexible, and very gripping on most surfaces. Some people may prefer the original dull rubber look (and those are also likely being made and sold), but I actually think these are a superior look to rubber, and the sleek glossy finish nicely accents the machine. I also think these will last far longer than natural rubber without changing shape or falling apart. Please ignore other's marketing claims that 3D printed feet have no grip, or that their feet are more "professional". Look at my reviews, these are beautiful and amazing typewriter feet being bought by collectors and dealers alike, I'm regularly told my feet are the best. For goodness sakes, don't put cheap black feet on your valuable amazing 1st Generation Hermes 3000, they are supposed to be gray! I designed these for my own typewriter as shown, and this is an experiment to see if it's worth my time to make some more for the community. These should fit all curvy Hermes 3000 (and probably similar looking Media 3) typewriters, and no hardware or original feet are required. This auction is only for 4 replacement feet, any other items shown (like the typewriter) are not included! PS: Ebay's volume discount display is a bit confusing, each purchase is a SET OF FOUR feet, so picking "1" is one set of 4; "2" is 2 sets of 4 (8), etc. You get one set only, everything else pictured such as typewriter and hardware is NOT INCLUDED.

Price: 34 USD

Location: Leesburg, Virginia

End Time: 2024-09-20T00:42:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD