New fonts, layout options, 96-character type balls for Selectric III

6 OCT 2025

Sorry (as always) for the lack of communication! This is a hobby project and it spends a lot of time on the back burner while I'm taking care of job, family, life, etc.

In the last post I mentioned the move and losing my production space. I'm still set up on the back patio at the new house and it's been working fine while the weather's been hot and dry, but I'll need to sort something out for the winter. Maybe I'll just build up inventory then stop production when it gets too cold.

The main problem I've been working on is that the printed type balls had gotten out of alignment (again) and were unusable on a customer's Selectric 1, producing lots of misprints. I eventually realized the balls had shrunk slightly compared to before and were binding a bit--the Selectric 2 has a bit more leeway on the tilt ring assembly, so I wasn't seeing the problem there. I remembered the strong smell I'd noticed when I started printing again, did some googling on that, and it turns out Sunlu changed their formula last fall. That could explain the additional shrinkage, too. They claim they've returned to the old formula but I'm still seeing the same amount of shrinkage.. Regardless, I adjusted the dimensions in the model so the inner diameter comes out the correct size, and everything seems to be going well. I'll measure regularly and make sure it doesn't shift back.

I've also had a bit of time to add some new fonts:

Here's a full list of what's available.

Next, I thought it would be nice to have a ball that's closer to the modern keyboard layout, with a carat at shift+6 instead of the cent mark, square brackets at the half/quarter key, and angle brackets at the shifted comma and period. For the fonts that include those characters, a layout option is available on the order page.

And we finally have Selectric 3 elements! But only for fonts that include the extra S3 characters °±[]: JetBrains, Plex Mono, Atkinson, and Papyrus. I've also added those, and even the other four characters ²³¶§ that are on the ball but don't have keys, to Spencerian and Senatorial. I plan to extend the other fonts as well but it might be a while. As with layout, there's a new popup on the order page for Selectric revision.

(Ignore Olympia Script there, not ready yet..)

And one last thing: If you need some service feet, we got you. :)