IBM Beamspring 5251 Restoration

User avatar
Sangdrax

18 Apr 2023, 06:14

Hey folks,

Been awhile, but I got the itch to do some conversions and restorations again. I got a 5251 for a pretty good deal off ebay but it needed a lot of work.

Needed a lot of time in the evaporust.

The rust was really bad in the front left corner. A number of coil springs were ruined, two stems were rusted beyond use. A number of the metal switch stems had to be removed with a soldering iron to loosen them. I needed to order 2 additional modules to have everything perfect. Also replaced all return coil springs with new manufacture gold plated versions. New foam made everything nice and tight. PCB under the keys was good. Kept the original anodizing on the back plate but redid the top part of the switch plate. Feet on bottom all re-glued with silicone anti-vibration adhesive after paint cured. Overlubed a few keys but redid all those when the new modules came in. Boy, $50 for two beamspring modules. I'm glad they're available but things are getting higher.

I swear by DMA's common sense, but went with the old xwhatsit here just to try the old gal one last time. Still need to assemble a solenoid board. I have a couple PCB's waiting in my parts box for the job from years ago.

All works perfect currently though. I typed this entire thing on the restored beast and she feels nice and crisp all day long.

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User avatar
guidemetothelight

19 Apr 2023, 10:15

very clean now ! beamsprings get more enticing to me, day for day :roll:

User avatar
DMA

19 Jun 2023, 03:44

Oh wow. Not sure how I missed this, but it's indeed been awhile. Welcome back :)

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