Reattaching the Model F (PC/AT) spacebar

[modelf]

I pulled out my 1985 IBM Model F capacitive buckling-spring keyboard (PC/AT) the other day and realized it desperately needed a foam replacement. So I meticulously cut a new foam sheet and started the project. Now I'm dealing with a situation where I can't get the spacebar spring (the main spring, not the stabilizing wire) to stay in place while I hammer the assembly together. I've been through a ton of documentation, including the fishing line method described here. Nothing, I mean nothing, seems to work to keep the spring in place.

I have some questions:

...do you great, amazing, wonderful keyboard experts have any suggestions?

...does anyone have detailed (macro-ish) photos of what the underside of the spacebar assembly should look like when it's put together the right way?

...on the stabilizing wire, how do you know which side is "up" and "front"? (I'm running into a problem where the top and bottom look identical in photos.)

Longtime lurker, first-time poster-er. Thank you for your help.<3

[modelf]

Well with a little work, I figured it out. Just please consider this thread moot. Thanks. (I tried to find a button to edit or delete this thread but, apparently, that's verboten around here.)

[Muirium]

Well with a little work, I figured it out. Just please consider this thread moot. Thanks. (I tried to find a button to edit or delete this thread but, apparently, that's verboten around here.)

No, you just delete your first post and the thread goes with it.

Or would have done, before you added a second post. You'd have to delete them both. And now you can't delete the thread at all because someone else (hi!) posted on it, and you can't delete others posts.

Might just keep this for a useful little FAQ to link to on the subject. Ta.

[modelf]

There was no delete button anywhere, even before you posted.

[kbdfr]

There was no delete button anywhere, even before you posted.

The reason is that I locked your post to prevent editing, as I routinely do for first posts of new members.
Some spammers start with an innocent post which they then later edit to add a spam link.

On the other hand, this way we now know you were able to solve your problem - congrats

[Muirium]

So stealthy.

[NathanA]

Well with a little work, I figured it out. Just please consider this thread moot. Thanks. (I tried to find a button to edit or delete this thread but, apparently, that's verboten around here.)

Damn it.

[AndyJ]

I colored the left side of my spring with a black felt tip to indicate which way the spring is installed. Of course, I still managed to put it in backwards since I was assembling it upside-down...

[modelf]

It's weird how both the top and bottom of the spring look exactly the same in photos. It's like it does something weird, like a forced-perspective effect or something.