IT'S ALIVE! Post your xwhatsit-resurrected beamspring/kishy

[Touch_It]

the 107 is growing on me i did not like it at first but now i think about it as a 122 without the top function row , still i think my order of preference for model F is still 62>77>104>122>107>XT>AT and i only have 122 xt and AT

I got the 107 as my first F and followed with a 3178. Now all I want is an 122, AT, XT, and XT bigfoot. I would love a 62 and 77 key but I am sure I will never get either, sans a huge find. I still think the 107 will be my all time favorite, its large, in charge and has a metal case. Plus it was my first IBM F keyboard. I was very lucky to stumble into it.

Fake edit. Someday I would like a 50 key F as well.

[XMIT]

So, you want all of the Model Fs.

[Touch_It]

So, you want all of the Model Fs.

LOL yes.

[snoopy]

So, you want all of the Model Fs.

LOL yes.

Unsaver is missing in your list.

[Touch_It]

So, you want all of the Model Fs.

LOL yes.

Unsaver is missing in your list.

That it is. I will likely never own along with the kish and 77 key.

[Muirium]

Work in progress:



The solenoid mostly works, but has a habit of going to sleep until I pull the USB cable. A few keys aren't registering, so I'll be inside cleaning the PCB soon enough. But so far, so good. What a relief compared to my rusty first! So shiny…

[0100010]

Here are some additional pics of mine from today.

[Madhias]

I have still one problem with the case of my 3278, that one mount of the bar of the door is broken off and my only plan is now to make some weird installation since glue does not work. I have to post some pictures, maybe someone has an idea.

Meanwhile I have saved some layouts to the controller and played with the buzzer. I made a video with the sound of the keyboard with and without solenoid. I am too lazy to cut it properly, or edit it. I have to say I hate video editing, but could edit a photograph for hours.

Sounds like a machine gun

[HzFaq]

Holy shit that's loud! I'd hate to live next door to you!

[Touch_It]

Ear porn!

[pr0ximity]

Just found this thread, these are far and away my favorite boards in the community. Always so lovingly restored!

Restored my 107-key late last year and have been using it frequently ever since. My girlfriend loves it as well and has officially claimed it as hers to use when working from home Luckily I have a 5251 83(?)-key arriving Monday and another xwhatsit for it shortly after very excited for my first beamspring!

[Chyros]

That's a beam spring? Oo

[Vizir]

That's a beam spring? Oo

That's a model f 107. The beam spring is on its way. See Muirium's keyboard with black and white keys a few posts up for beam spring.

[alh84001]

Just found this thread, these are far and away my favorite boards in the community. Always so lovingly restored!

Do you mind sharing the way you did that blue keycap?

[emdude]

It looks like an artisan.

[alh84001]

Yep. But I wasn't aware there are BS artisans.

[pr0ximity]

Yup, Hipsterpunks of GH made it, it's called a Blaze Blue Wrapped. Plenty of BS artisans around, but they're a bit less common.

[y11971alex]

Case still at the powder coating house.

[ramnes]

How much does it cost you to powder coat the case? And which color did you choose?

[seebart]

Case still at the powder coating house.

Can't wait to see it.

[y11971alex]

How much does it cost you to powder coat the case? And which color did you choose?

It was around $100. And since this is a restoration, there isn't really a choice of colour.

[photekq]

Crappy pic will have to do for the minute, but I think this is my new favourite keyboard to use

[y11971alex]

Crappy pic will have to do for the minute, but I think this is my new favourite keyboard to use

What shocks me is the virtually identical layout of the 3278 above compared to my 3101. I can't spot a single difference other than the legends on the keys. Of course, the 3101 has a rounded case, which seems to be a stylistic choice rather than a technical one. The 3101 keyboard sat in front of the terminal, which had a detachable base and a monitor, whereas the 3278 had an integrated base and the keyboard tucked under the monitor.



It makes me wonder, if the internal assembly is identical too...

If so, this would mean IBM didn't cheap out on the keyboard, even when the terminal it went with was marketed as cheap at that time, at only $1250.

[hypkx]

Finished my 5251 Beamspring yesterday.
Potatoe picture of the internals:



After restoring the keyboard it works now like a charm and the solenoid is a very cool feature.
photos-f62/beamspring-refurb-ibm-5251-b ... beamspring

Thank you seebart, for the keyboard.

For lazy people is a the layout file attached (because I dont found one and had to assign every key by myself).
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fi ... 4860190548

[seebart]

Thank you seebart, for the keyboard.

Your very welcome, I knew you would restore it the way it should be. Thanks for sharing the layout file.

[JP!]

This white whale of a keyboard arrived on my doorstep this morning Lucky for me I had already ordered a Model F Xwhatsit which was customized by Orihalcon to work with the DisplayWriter. Being somewhat new to the Xwhatsit I had a little bit of trouble as I was using an incorrect current threshold value. I found that a value of 120 was the sweet spot for this particular keyboard. I just need to solder the pins for the expansion header so I can hook up the solenoid driver. Also I am still working on the layout for some of the keys. Overall it is in very good shape, no rust but lots of dust bunnies. It was well used as some of the keys have some shine to them. Eventually I will clean the case and wash the keys.

001.JPG (264.33 KiB) Viewed 28420 times

Born in 1983

001b.JPG (52.96 KiB) Viewed 28420 times

Original speaker, controller, and cable.

003.JPG (184.24 KiB) Viewed 28420 times

Installed solenoid, Xwhatsit, and solenoid driver

003b.JPG (162.32 KiB) Viewed 28420 times

Here I have the ground wire attached to the case.

004.JPG (127.12 KiB) Viewed 28420 times

[seebart]

Nice JP!, so how do you like those Beamspring switches? I see you decided to keep the original contamination shield in place.

[JP!]

Nice JP!, so how do you like those Beamspring switches? I see you decided to keep the original contamination shield in place.

Oh these Beamspring switches are terrible

I started pulling the keys and then decided to do a full tear down while I was at it. I am glad I tore it apart though. The foam is completely broken down so it is like having no foam at all to hold the switches in place. I had to do away with the contamination shield as it completely disintegrated. So yeah, I resurrected this keyboard, then murdered it, and will be bringing back to life again.

[y11971alex]

[hypkx]

Here a album from installing the Xwhatsit in my IBM 3178:
http://imgur.com/a/JaR94