Repairing the Drawband on an Orga Privat 5 Typewriter

The Orga Privat 5‘s mainspring and drawband assembly is very similar to that of the Smith-Corona 5 series, but is imminently more accessible and easier to attach. You can see and access all the major parts for basic repair without removing anything.

The mainspring here seems to be fine. The catgut-type drawstring seemed long enough to work, though it seemed a tad damaged from having been pinched into the mainspring hub assembly. I tried looping a slipknot to attach it at the metal tab/channel on the right side of the carriage (left when looking from the back). However when adding tension to the mainspring, the drawstring predictably broke about halfway through.

I’ll need to get some fishing line to completely replace the drawband and get this working again.

Looking from the back, the silver knurled wheel on the right can be turned clockwise to tension the mainspring and there’s a silver thumb lever right next to it that can be used to slowly let off tension when necessary. I recommend using either rubber gloves or some similar scheme to protect your fingers against the thin knurled wheel which gets tougher to turn/tighten as you progress.