About 5 months ago I was able to save what was left in an abandoned factory here in northen Italy. It's already been visited multiple times before and a ton of good stuff came out of it, in particular Beamsprings, but that was a while ago and when I went there the first time there was pretty much nothing left, except for a couple of keyboards and calculators. I ended up going there again a couple of times tho, and I was actually able to find some stuff. In particular, 4 Beamspring keyboards: 2 IBM 3742 modules, both coming from the same desk, an IBM 3741 and another one I was not able to identify, but after a bit of searching I was able to find it on another post:
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=5700&p=511188&hili ... ng#p511188
- IBM 3742 2.jpeg (478.05 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- IBM 3741 .jpeg (361.23 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- IBM 3742 1.jpeg (503.01 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- IBM thing front.jpeg (341.98 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
I also took pictures of the desks where the keyboard modules were taken from:
- IBM 3742 desk.jpeg (236.63 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- IBM 3741 desk.jpeg (247 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- IBM thing.jpeg (398.92 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
It looks like the desk modules use a different variant of switches, with one of the 3742 having what seem to be blue housings and the 3741 with it's odd yellow sliders, not to mention the non angled metal stem on all of them. I just started working on the 3742 in better condition, and after finishing it I'll probably sell the other one and start working on the one that I still don't know the name of, while the 3741 will probably just be used for parts, as it's pretty much unsalvageable.
I started by taking the keycaps off, and as you can see the housings are blue rather than black.
- Keycaps off.jpeg (312.18 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- Blue housings.jpeg (526.22 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
I remember seeing these somewhere before but there are no mentionings of different variants on the wiki. The metal plate and back plate were a bit bent, since to remove the keyboard module from the desk, the only way to do so was using a crowbar, and by doing so the keyboard got bent. Luckily it was an easy fix tho! All I had to do was hammer it back to shape, which took something like 5 minutes to do.
- plate and backplate.jpeg (378.86 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
The pcb seems to be in decent shape, but I'm quite sure I'll have to use a new one.
- pcb.jpeg (359.9 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
I then took the switches apart, and unfortunately (totally my fault) one of the metal stems broke, so I had to make a new one:
I took a sheet of scrap metal with a thickness of roughly 1.17mm and carefully filed it down to shape
- replacement stem 1.jpeg (166.75 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- replacement stem 2.jpeg (111.33 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
it's not identical, but it fits perfectly in the plastic stem and keycap without either too much stress or wiggle, so it won't be an issue. I then put the switches parts and keycaps in vinegar for about a day, and cleaned them with an old toothbrush and a sponge and washed them with soapy water.
- sliders in vinegar.jpeg (338.58 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
- springs in vinegar.jpeg (216.76 KiB) Viewed 10865 times
As you can see from the picture I also tried to salvage some parts that I had found laying around in the factory, as I have a whole bag of those and I want to restore those too, for spares and extra keycaps and parts. I reassembled all the switches and that's basically it for now, I still have to work on the metal plates, but before doing it I decided to try and look into the software part of the project. I think the only way I can get this thing working is by using the Commonsense firmware, only issue is that I can't seem to find the board needed for it to work, the CY8CKIT-059, anywhere for less than 100€. Anyone knows if I can use a different board for it or where I can find one for a reasonable price? I should also probably mention that, while I have restored a bunch of vintage keyboards in the past, none of them where either as complicated, trashed and valuable as this one, so I am trying to be as careful as possible and any tips or criticism is more than welcome.
