Luxor ABC80 keypad - WEAB switches

[mmm]

I recently acquired this Luxor ABC keypad, here are some pictures!


Luxor ABC80 numpad. I would guess it's from the late 70s or early 80s, but could not find any production year indicated anywhere. The casing is made of two pieces of bent sheet metal, and the PCB is mounted to the top plate (beige).


Doubleshot keycaps with cruciform mount. Not cherry compatible.



Desoldered switch, WEAB branding. Identical to the ones displayed here, with a different slider. Their photos of the switch disassembled are way nicer than mine.


Bottom of the case


PCB bottom


PCB top


Converter I got along the keypad.

The keypad should be quite straightforward to convert as the switches are contact based. The switches are similar to "reverse" SKCL, in the sense that the contact leaf resistance is only present in the top of the switch.

[zrrion]

this is such a pretty keypad! relegendables too, quite the find

[Bjerrk]

Nice device!
Any "subjective" comments on keyfeel?

[ntv242ver2]

This moulding mark under the caps! I suspect this is a product of SP

[mmm]

this is such a pretty keypad! relegendables too, quite the find

Thanks, pretty happy about it overall!

Nice device!
Any "subjective" comments on keyfeel?

Overall? Interesting but unimpressive.

The switches are very inconsistent. The switch I desoldered and opened up feels much better than the remaining switches. I suspect that the desoldering loosened some tension in the switch. Gripping a loose switch too tightly makes it feel more like the remaining switches.

In general, a lot of the switches feel bindy, even center key-presses, and are very scratchy, and a few even has trouble returning to the resting position. Off-center keypresses are ok on the 1u keys (not significantly worse than on centered presses), but there is bad binding on the 2u vertical key.

But I will try to give my verdict on the desoldered (now resoldered) switch, which I confirmed to be working with a beeping multimeter.

• Long travel
• Medium/high tactility
• The tactility feels scratchy, slightly scratchy otherwise
• On the upstroke, the key makes a sound like a small plastic part is rattling into place
• Sounds very "vintage" and rough, and the hollow metal case amplifies this

But it's significantly different to anything I own, I don't think I would enjoy using them on a keyboard.

[margyparr]

happy to hear! excited to see it.

[mmm]

I recently went to a Danish museum for old computers, called Datamuseum, where they had not one, but two of these! The museum is highly recommended, and the guided tour was an absolute pleasure. It's run by volunteers, many of them who are old enough to have first hand account of how the machines were used, back in the day.

I didn't snap any pictures, but I can provide a bit of additional information. They were sold either as addons, or in a total package with the ABC80 computer, transforming the home computer into an office computer, which allowed them to be sold at a much higher price. The main keyboard uses Keytronic Foam and Foil as far as I can tell.

These keypads were probably among the less exciting stuff in the museum. After our visit, I could really understand the distaste for keyboard enthusiasts in the vintage community, orphaning those poor cool systems.

Incredibly cool museum, run by incredibly cool people.