Alps Appreciation

[bsdice]

Two further notes concerning my attempts at switch repair:

1) Left cursor key was pinging like crazy. Sounded like "pliiing" after every up stroke. Removed top housing, put tiniest bit of "GPL-205 G0" on bottom and top of spring with brush, also put tiniest bit of same on tactile leaf /backside/ (facing away from slider), finally added piece of paper between tactile leaf and upper housing. Reassembled, pinging gone, only slightest of click remaining on up stroke.

2) I think I also fixed the one dead Orange switch. Disassembled switch fully, i.e. took contact assembly out of casing (needs pretty much solder-free pins). Removed contact spring and where that was I put the tip of a toothpick between layers on top side really carefully, just enough to open the contact sheets up a tiny bit. Held it with tweezers and flooded it with "Kontakt LR" over trash bin. LR is German Leiterplattenreiniger, PCB cleaner. Contains 2-propanol, ethanol, volatile hydrocarbons and some other stuff I can't make out from the security data sheet. Then dried it with canned air, and presto, only small force again necessary to activate switch. Put back together.

I also took the opportunity to closer inspect the tiny details in the plastic of the bottom and top housing. Really great japanese engineering from the 1980s, very admirable. Among the world's best, even 30 years later.

[mode1ace]

I tried mounting a hybrid set of ANSI and ISO-DE keycaps on my ISO granite and It looks alright!

Now I have a kinda weird looking ANSI qwertz set and board, which leaves me wondering if there are any qwertz ansi fans out there who this'd be just the thing for?

[kshopper2084]

Yesterday I finalized my AT102DW with all SKCM Orange, my daily driver now. 210 solder spots to remove, 105 switches to remove, 210 solder spots to reapply. Ouch. It paid off to invest in a TS100 soldering iron (temp control, big ass tip from a 9-tip set), a Soldapullt desolder pump and braided wick to remove all solder relatively cleanly. And get all those bent pins ready for extraction (thanks, Dell!).

All in all I am satisfied. The board has a satisfying sonorous "thock" sound when keys bottom out, because of the combination of ABS caps, Orange switches, PS plastic case, steel plate, PCB. Key feel is alot better than stock, "cleaner" and much lighter than with SKCM Blacks. I skipped the SKCL Greens for modifiers, couldn't make up my mind. Not enough and clear precedent or success stories to warrant this complication. Also wanted to finish the project without waiting another few weeks for more switches to arrive. Maybe on my next keyboard.

The Oranges do ping more than Blacks, but that's what you get when you solder 30yr+ old switches into a 22yr old new old stock keyboard.

Out of 120 switches, 2 were bad. One I could fix using Chyros' YT guide by bending the contact spring legs a bit outward. No idea how long that would be good. The other requires a ridiculous force on the contact leaf to register at all. Tried canned air from all sides. Guess it is gone for good. Using it to test Ballistol Teflon Spray with PTFE on effect of dry lubing scratchy Oranges. It's wet at first but dries within seconds, leaving only a thin PTFE film. Working good and smoothed up the dead switch alot. No idea for how long.

One bonus for me is the repairability of this board.

And on a personal note, I started using the Internet back in 1991 when there wasn't even WWW yet, only FTP and Gopher. Gets me sentimental thinking that back then the switches I am using today already existed, somewhere.

Congrats! It's pretty special to be using these fantastic vintage switches as your daily driver after all this time. Love it myself.

[mode1ace]

I took advantage of some nice weather this weekend to wire brush and paint my SGI granite plate. Just gotta finish cleaning up switches for it, but I'm over half way there

[kelvinhall05]

I took advantage of some nice weather this weekend to wire brush and paint my SGI granite plate. Just gotta finish cleaning up switches for it, but I'm over half way there

Looks really nice. Good job

[mode1ace]

Got my wife to finish soldering the amber granite up today and the results are to say the least, extremely excellent.

This is my new favourite clicky board, and it may be my favourite overall! just a few finishing touches and I’ll post pics and video of some typing.

The noise it makes is just sublime.

[kelvinhall05]

The bamboo whites might not be the best Alps available, but they're still pretty damn good.

IMG_20200722_230710_NR.jpg (2.52 MiB) Viewed 7412 times

[Chyros]

Very nice!

[kelvinhall05]

Very nice!

Thanks. Touched it up a bit in gimp:

focusatnight.png (691.17 KiB) Viewed 7375 times

[Reimu64]

Guess I'll post my AEK II with those funky looking editing caps.

The switches are supposed to be 'dampened', but they're still quite loud imo (and some click on the upstroke, don't know why). I can always watch a resto guide though

[kelvinhall05]

Guess I'll post my AEK II with those funky looking editing caps.

The switches are supposed to be 'dampened', but they're still quite loud imo (and some click on the upstroke, don't know why). I can always watch a resto guide though

Very nice. I have seen a few floating around but unless I find some MX-mount ones or a video editing numpad, I will pass on more lol.

[mode1ace]

I went for https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datacomp-DFK ... 2749.l2649

Will probably convert it to USB if I can with a teensy in the case, we'll see. Amazingly this is my first white clicky alps board, I've got blue, amber, salmon, orange, white damped, cream damped and green, but this'll be my first white board.

Didn't realise they could come with doubleshots, it's rare to find a board with non-terrible caps with a straight pc UK-ISO AT-102 layout.

[Polecat]

I went for https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datacomp-DFK ... 2749.l2649

Will probably convert it to USB if I can with a teensy in the case, we'll see. Amazingly this is my first white clicky alps board, I've got blue, amber, salmon, orange, white damped, cream damped and green, but this'll be my first white board.

Didn't realise they could come with doubleshots, it's rare to find a board with non-terrible caps with a straight pc UK-ISO AT-102 layout.

Nice find! Very clean, and from the mold numbers (5x/6x?) those look like very early white Alps switches, not long after the change from blues.

[mode1ace]

Nice find! Very clean, and from the mold numbers (5x/6x?) those look like very early white Alps switches, not long after the change from blues.

I'm really curious to 1-2 test them next to my blue and amber boards, if they are to blues as salmons are to oranges I'll be quite happy with the board.

[Reimu64]

This beauty just arrived today! It's going to be a while for another keyboard to top this.

It's not a complete board; just a plate with the switches and keycaps, so it doesn't work. But hell, I love Alps now...I'm itching do an Alps build soon haha

[zrrion]

I saw that board but they didn't ship to where i live, nice to see its in good hands!

[ddrfraser1]

This beauty just arrived today! It's going to be a while for another keyboard to top this.

It's not a complete board; just a plate with the switches and keycaps, so it doesn't work. But hell, I love Alps now...I'm itching do an Alps build soon haha

Looking forward to seeing the final product!

[amigastar23]

Hello there,

i just bought an ARC-Monterey-K102-K101-ISO-vintage-keyboard-SKCM-White-Alps and it has from what i know 2key rollover, does this mean only through USB or PS/2 connection also. I've thought PS/2 connection has nkeyrollover?
maybe someone can clarify this to me.
I haven't received the Keyboard yet, thats why i'm asking.
Also how close are white alps to blue alps? I would love to get a blue alps Keyboard but they are a little bit too expensive, will i be still happy with white alps?

thanks

[Chyros]

PS/2 is not inherently NKRO, it'll be 2KRO over either connection.

[amigastar23]

Hey Chyros,

guess what i bought an Alps Keyboard only because your Videos introduced me to the wonderful world of good switches.
Can i use
Keyboard -> Passive AT-PS/2 adapter -> PS/2-USB adapter -> Computer
i suppose yes, right? Or is there an AT-USB adapter available also?
thx

[ddrfraser1]

Hey Chyros,

guess what i bought an Alps Keyboard only because your Videos introduced me to the wonderful world of good switches.
Can i use
Keyboard -> Passive AT-PS/2 adapter -> PS/2-USB adapter -> Computer
i suppose yes, right? Or is there an AT-USB adapter available also?
thx

I usually get something like this and then pair it with a ps2 to usb converter.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Din-5-Female-t ... 0005.m1851

[amigastar23]

@ddrfraser1
yeah, thats what i been also thinking of.

[amigastar23]

Quick question,
I've read that the ps/2 to usb adapter has to be an active converter.
Is this true and what is an active converter if it's indeed needed?

[Polecat]

Quick question,
I've read that the ps/2 to usb adapter has to be an active converter.
Is this true and what is an active converter if it's indeed needed?

An active converter has electronics inside. A passive one is just a pin adapter, with wires between the two connectors. You'll definitely need an active converter to run a pre-USB keyboard on a USB port. Only later model keyboards with internal USB support will run on a passive converter. USB didn't come out until 1996 or so, and a Monterey K101/102 definitely predates that.

My personal opinion, and it's only that, is that very early white Alps switches are indistinguishable from blues. I have two matching pairs of keyboards with whites and blues, and one of those just happens to be Monterey K102. (The other is gold label Northgate 102). I would challenge anyone to tell the difference between blues and whites on either of these without pulling a keycap.

[amigastar23]

@Polecat
Interesting, thank you for the information.
Sounds good.

[hellothere]

I have become an official Alps keyboard owner. I already have a grey 4-tab clone, a green 4-tab clone, and a Matias ergo. I'm getting a Focus 8000 with white Alps next week. I'll try to follow Chyros' video on cleaning Alps keys.

[Chyros]

I have become an official Alps keyboard owner. I already have a grey 4-tab clone, a green 4-tab clone, and a Matias ergo. I'm getting a Focus 8000 with white Alps next week. I'll try to follow Chyros' video on cleaning Alps keys.

Get one that doesn't need cleaning. My video is only intended for boards that are already dirty. Never buy Alps dirty if given a choice.

[amigastar23]

I have become an official Alps keyboard owner. I already have a grey 4-tab clone, a green 4-tab clone, and a Matias ergo. I'm getting a Focus 8000 with white Alps next week. I'll try to follow Chyros' video on cleaning Alps keys.

Anyways congrats, i'm also an official Alps owner, waiting to arrive in the mail.
White Alps are a good alternative to enter the Club.

[hellothere]

I have become an official Alps keyboard owner. I already have a grey 4-tab clone, a green 4-tab clone, and a Matias ergo. I'm getting a Focus 8000 with white Alps next week. I'll try to follow Chyros' video on cleaning Alps keys.

I've looked up the Focus FK-8000 and it nowhere says that it has white Alps. Just curious.
wiki/Focus_FK-8000
Anyways congrats, i'm also an official Alps owner, waiting to arrive in the mail.

I did see a pic and it did look like white Alps. I definitely have been wrong before, but it was inexpensive and I think I could resell for the same amount or higher.

[amigastar23]

I have become an official Alps keyboard owner. I already have a grey 4-tab clone, a green 4-tab clone, and a Matias ergo. I'm getting a Focus 8000 with white Alps next week. I'll try to follow Chyros' video on cleaning Alps keys.

I've looked up the Focus FK-8000 and it nowhere says that it has white Alps. Just curious.
wiki/Focus_FK-8000
Anyways congrats, i'm also an official Alps owner, waiting to arrive in the mail.

I did see a pic and it did look like white Alps. I definitely have been wrong before, but it was inexpensive and I think I could resell for the same amount or higher.

Let's hope you get White Alps, was just curious.