Help with Lego Typewriter 21327 - can't get the carriage mechanism working

Question

Two AFOLs here who are stuck on the Lego Typewriter build. We have built large and complex sets before, but this one has us stumped. We have now rebuilt Sections 5-7 twice, but we can't get the carriage mechanism working.

See the video at Reddit. All of the gears seem to be turning, and the carriage moves when we manually press the lever next to the lime green part on the left side of the back (looking at the front). However, the keys don't move the carriage. When we push the carriage all the way to the right as shown on page 170 of the instructions, typing on the keys does not move the carriage back to the left as shown on page 171.

The keys don't seem to be striking any of the mechanisms. The grey and blue pieces (closest to the keyboard in the back section) are moving, but the keys and the carriage don't seem to be connected. It's hard to describe, but the video shows the problem more clearly.

Can anyone help troubleshoot this?

Answer 1

From what I can see in your video, the carriage mechanism itself doesn't appear to be the problem, but rather the linkage between the keys and the carriage.

Pressing a key should move this assembly from step 152:

In your video, it looks like the left side of that assembly doesn't move freely. It should move when a key is pressed and activate the typebar to strike the page. I'm guessing that something is off with the way that mechanism is built or installed.

One thing to check would be the orientation of the black elements in step 134:

These should be able to rotate easily around the gray part.

Answer 2

We had exactly the same problem. This set has 2 elbow pieces 6262905 and 6261387. The directions do not specify which one you need for the step 199. However it has a 3 imprinted on it.

These 2 elbow pieces have different angles. So you need the one with 3 imprinted on it or piece 6261387. After we switched that piece it all works.