Source for two-piece Model M keycaps?

[ed.avis]

I have a Model M in Spanish layout. To fully change it to UK or US International layout I'd need to replace about thirty keycaps, but I could make do with fewer. (I don't mind if Num Lock says Bloq Num instead, but it's annoying to have the wrong punctuation characters in the number row.)

The board uses two-piece keys (made in United Kingdom, 1991). Is there still somewhere to buy the keycaps for a two-piece, keeping the existing stems? Since I would like to replace only a few keys, I'd prefer not to end up with a mixture of one- and two-piece keys.

[AndyJ]

You can get used keycaps on eBay, or perhaps the For Sale section here. Unicomp in the USA makes new keycaps, but I don't see Spanish caps listed on their web site. You might email them and ask.

[ed.avis]

Thanks for the reply. I don't want Spanish keycaps, but "ordinary" ones (meaning US or US-International layout, or others closely related to it). Unicomp no longer manufacture two-piece caps, as I understand it. I've not had any luck searching for specifically two-piece ones on Ebay.

[modelf]

rermoved

[thefarside]

I ordered a set of caps from Unicomp back in 2022 and they were the two piece design. It couldn’t hurt to email them and ask if you can’t find a good source.

[AndyJ]

Unicomp only makes two piece caps, up to October of last year, anyway. ModelFKeyboards.com makes one-piece keycaps.

[Ellipse]

The New Model F project caps are 100% compatible with Model M keyboards; even the spacebar was designed to match the Model M to be fully compatible. I recommend picking up a spare key set which can be used with your new Model F and Model M. There are so many variations with alignment and the shade of black with Model M boards, since the M has been in production for decades, that you may not find a replacement part as consistent as the rest of the keys if you can notice such differences. Some IBM Model M sublimation was a dark shade of brown instead of black, for example.

You may want to message the various US-based eBay sellers of these keys as many of them are probably two piece. Another great resource to consider is forum member ClickyKeyboards whose site is linked below. You could send a photo of a close up of your keys to see if they can find keys that approximate the alignment and color of your keys.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ib ... &_from=R40

https://www.clickykeyboards.com/product ... -key-caps/

[ed.avis]

Thanks. I did check clickykeyboards.com too but their catalogue doesn't specifically say two-piece or one-piece. I'll need to ask them directly.

I'm hoping to just replace a handful of keys on the board, rather than the whole set. I was going to say that an exact match with the style of the existing ones isn't so important to me. But that would be contradictory since my starting point was that I wanted two-piece ones to match. So perhaps I should just let go of that requirement.

[clickykeyboards]

I have a Model M in Spanish layout. To fully change it to UK or US International layout I'd need to replace about thirty keycaps, but I could make do with fewer. (I don't mind if Num Lock says Bloq Num instead, but it's annoying to have the wrong punctuation characters in the number row.)

The board uses two-piece keys (made in United Kingdom, 1991). Is there still somewhere to buy the keycaps for a two-piece, keeping the existing stems? Since I would like to replace only a few keys, I'd prefer not to end up with a mixture of one- and two-piece keys.

Yes, I do regularly provide vintage original IBM model M two-piece keys.

https://www.clickykeyboards.com/product ... key-stems/

Send me a note if you need additional keys for your restoration project.
If you are trying to match the legend placement/alignment on the keys, font-color, font-weight, etc.. best to send me a photo of your current keyboard so that we can try to find ones that match best.