Saving an IBM M15 - need restoration advice

[snuci]

I'm glad you got this together with the parts you needed! I do still need to tear into an M2. I'm glad clickykeyboards was able to get you the parts you needed.

He also got me some parts for my other keyboards so it's all good. I bought a set of M2 caps at the start of this restoration but it turns out they were rubber dome caps or I would have sent you what you needed. Luckily, I found an inexpensive M2 that I pulled a key from. Now I need the M2 keys to finish off the M2. I DO like the M2!

Scottc, I forgot to reply to the "how does it feel?" question. It feels exactly like an M2 but it has some weight behind it

[Touch_It]

Looks awesome. I will say that personally, I love the Feel of the M2. I would call it more "pingy" than a standard M. Will you actually use this as a daily driver or rotational board, or more for an occasional, I have this, it's fun to type on once in a while type situation?

[snuci]

I will actually use it but I will swap it in for a bit. I actually don't "touch type" so I want to use it to separate my hands and keep them on the normal sides as opposed to crossing over on a fairly regular basis. I constantly watch the keyboard as I type and this should mess me up enough that I have to relearn and not look

[Redmaus]

Could you do a video of you typing on it?

Also, I have some extra M2 keys around somewhere if you didn't already get them.

[snuci]

There is a very good overview video by vwestlife on Youtube already. Mine is exactly like that in "clickyness" and in looks except for the logo on the front of the keyboard.

I'll PM you about the keys. Thank you.

[berserkfan]

truly an awesome project. And I'm sure Ellipse is getting ideas in his head now... in a year or two he will be launching a $1000 model F ergodox.

[XMIT]

I just had my M15 out and had to reverse engineer the pin out for a Soarer's Converter. Maybe this will help someone later.

White - GND
Black - Vcc
Red - CLOCK (pin 2 on a Pro Micro)
Yellow - DATA (pin 3 on a Pro Micro)

[mike52787]

Well you learn something new everyday. I was under the impression that the m15 was built just like the m2 with a plastic back panel and snapped together. Pleasant surprise to see that I was wrong and it is built better than the limp noodle that is the m2.

[dcopellino]

Drawing inspiration from your great daring - Snuci, I took courage for converting my ANSI IBM M15 to ISO, Italian layout. Yes! Now I'm writing this post with a f* 'fine' Italian IBM model M15.
Sorry for necro this post, but I thought that it would be more useful to publish here my m15 porno pics for future reference instead of creating a new boastful and useless topic on the like: "hey, look how smart I am", as well as being pointed out as a lucky bastard who owns an M15!

M15_ansi_to_iso.gif (1.36 MiB) Viewed 449 times

Opening up and tearing apart such an expensive and rare model requires a good dose of heroism. So starting from where someone else has already been is a nice start. The IBM M15 isn't as complicated to disassemble as an IBM M2, but those clips are really the worthy infamous heirs of the M2 flimsy plastic hooks. Here a closer look to them:

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It's very easy to break one of the ten plastic pegs trying to take the ring clips (see pic) off to access the barrel frame in order to proceed with the ANSI to ISO conversion. You'll need, indeed, to add and swap 2 springs/hammers in the two different halves of the keyboard, respectively.

barrel_plate.jpg (392.47 KiB) Viewed 433 times

in the pic above: I swapped the spring/hammer located beneath the ANSI '/' character into the slot located on the left side of the vertical ISO Return, (right half of the keyboard).

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In the pic above, look at the extensive list of quality control procedures. Of course, I personally missed some.

open_case.jpg (303.56 KiB) Viewed 433 times

inbetween the metal plate and the barrel plate.....

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I found a membrane in pristine conditions with no signs of corrosion. Once done the first half, I started over with the other half where you are required to add an extra spring with hammer in correspondence of the long ANSI left shift, which hosts the angle brackets key in the ISO layout, just between the 'Z' and the new shorter 'SHIFT'.
Let me know your comments.

[nihilist000]

That is amazing - and very brave - work. Thank you for sharing. How is the new typing experience now it is ISO? There must be very few ISO M15s in the world.