deskthority

Another day, another keyboard
Let's see how long I can keep this going!

Here's something that makes OO2 jealous, an OEM 45g uniform Hi-Pro Topre keyboard from 1991. Probably my only complaint about it was all the newspaper ink all over the keyboard. I spent quite a long time cleaning this one and you can still see it in some places...

It's part of a set of 3 keyboards I got, and I have no idea which computer system or company it was made for...
The other 2 keyboards are quite interesting (not Topre, but similar time period), I'll probably post them in the next few days

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And now for the force curve!


Now compare it to a NIB Realforce 45g numpad (I pulled it out of the packaging just to measure it )


I'll need to compare with a modern HiPro keyboard (I have one, but it's at work...) to see if they've changed over time.

Wow! That is beautiful!

WOOOW!
And I thought my Nissho caps looked good. Profile looks to be identical and some of the characters looks similar as well. Really nice!

What's the first date in the graph?

webwit wrote: What's the first date in the graph?

The first date is when I took the measurement
Yeah, I've had the data quite a while, though the graphs weren't quite ready yet.

As I tweak the template and the centering algorithms, I need to update all the graphs so they all look the same. If you click on the image it'll go to plotly and you can download all the processed data. The raw data is flipped, not aligned to any axis, has raw ADC measurements, datapoint timestamp, etc (around 100 MB per test uncompressed).

I'm hoping to push another update to all the graphs pretty soon with a new measurement (maybe tonight!). As I add more analytics tools I can just update the graphs in place (probably my favourite part about using plotly).

It's a beauty...and used by soul-crushed data entry beauties (although theirs do not have the pretty colours ):

Jeez, another gorgeous board Oo . What the hell, man xD .

002 wrote:

Spoiler:

Zoom into the bottom-center keyboard...it's not plugged in
Also seems like there's some sort of cover/tape over the volume control.

What a find. Wow that force curve is a little rocky. I think that I will stick with the Realforce 45g, thank you very much.

This is the type of post that made me join DT originally and inspired me to my posts. Incredible find, great work!

Such a nice keyboard.

Lovely keyboard. Thanks for sharing HaaTa...I am a bit jealous

Nice to see those 25 year old springs and rubber... thanks

002 wrote: It's a beauty...and used by soul-crushed data entry beauties (although theirs do not have the pretty colours ):

Spoiler:

Those looks in their faces make me sad =(

It's obviously a staged photo. The female japanese work force is supposed to look stern and productive.

seebart wrote: It's obviously a staged photo. The female japanese work force is supposed to look stern and productive.

No room for humanity! Now back to work!

dat spacebar

This post blew up in views! It is a nice keyboard though. There's got to be more of these around.

Updated the graphs with my first set of new analytics. This is something I've been wanting to do for a really long time.

See my latest post for details, and some more Topre graphing goodness

photos-f62/total-force-t14614.html

I was very inspired by this Topre keyboard and its NEC sibling, so I made some keycaps for my FC660C. I'm going to reprint the spacebar in blue at a later time.

Sphericals like that in Topre mount? Now you’re talking!

Muirium wrote: 14 Oct 2022, 20:28 Sphericals like that in Topre mount? Now you’re talking!

Smoother than HiPro's

I also received my HHKB today, so I will print more in the coming weeks.

I’d hope so. The open secret about HiPro is they’re just not very good. The most boring sphericals I’ve ever typed on. Nice for glamour shots but distinctively meh when you’re getting physical.

HHKB sets will be very tempting. 87U will be irresistible!

Muirium wrote: 14 Oct 2022, 21:18 The open secret about HiPro is they’re just not very good. The most boring sphericals I’ve ever typed on.

Isn't boring good for something you use and rely on everyday? Or do you prefer to keep yourself on your toes and keep switching things up with different layouts and different key profiles?

My shined, heavily used stock HHKB caps suggest we don’t disagree. I love those. Use them most days for most my typing.

HiPro is too flat and really lacks the charm Topre’s own sphericals have. Those deeply contoured dishes in their sphericals put HiPro’s dullard flat tops to shame. Which is a shame, as Topre makes great quality stuff. Just a pity they snoozed HiPro’s design.

I rate HiPro as about the same degree worse than SA as SA is to authentic beamspring. Most of that is the inadequate dishing, but the row profiles are lousy too. Matteo’s beamspring inspired design is between SA and the OG: the lips around the spherical dishes aren’t quite as good, but otherwise a commendable attempt.

Did I make a mistake and cause confusion? I thought HiPros are the Topre sphericals? Are there two spherical profiles for Topre?

HiPro is Topre’s spherical profile. No they make no other.

The other sphericals I’m on about are all non-Topre mount. IBM’s Selectric / beamspring caps, SA by Signature Plastics and those ones Matteo and Photekq did a few years ago via some Chinese manufacturer: MT3? I loaned a set of beamspring caps to Matteo to scan, and got a finished set as my reward. They’re very pretty, and almost there in the feel department, but kind of in the uncanny valley where my fingers keep complaining: “there must be something wrong with this beamspring!”

Thank you Mu,

I'm not a native speaker, and there is a quite a bit to uncover in the above posts. Though this paragraph, I do not fully comprehend:

Muirium wrote: 15 Oct 2022, 10:20 …HiPro is too flat and really lacks the charm Topre’s own sphericals have. Those deeply contoured dishes in their sphericals put HiPro’s dullard flat tops to shame. Which is a shame, as Topre makes great quality stuff. Just a pity they snoozed HiPro’s design.

Anyway, since this is my own design inspired by vintage keycaps, mostly from MicroSwitch photos, I can say they are quite different from MT3. I have both ABS and PBT of MT3, and they in themselves are quite different. To me, MT3 PBT is too harsh on the top edges and ABS feels too flat. And I do not have the means to own Topre HiPro's for comparison, as they are quite expensive to get.

Maybe I should print you some samples and get your feedback

Sounds good to me.

The comparison I was making in that particular paragraph is with Topre’s cylindrical caps. You know: the ones they put on the Realforce and HHKB by default. Those are very opinionated, well conceived caps. Proud even. The comparison between Topre cylindrical and Topre HiPro is all the more disappointing! If their regular caps were as boring as “OEM”, I could forgive them more easily. But HiPro actually feels like a significant step down from Topre’s excellent regular caps, certainly to me.

Beamspring will do that to you.

andreas wrote: 14 Oct 2022, 18:08 I was very inspired by this Topre keyboard and its NEC sibling, so I made some keycaps for my FC660C. I'm going to reprint the spacebar in blue at a later time.

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This looks amazing! I would not have guessed these were printed. The legends looks crisp!

Can you tell us a bit more about the process of making these (and how you made the legends), and do you have more pictures from more angles?