Kishsaver Photothread!

[photekq]

Amazing work Snoopy. It's a work of art.. Congrats!

[Hypersphere]

Thanks for showing us the great job you have done on your Kishsaver. I hope you won't mind some naive questions:

Could you elaborate a bit on the paint? What is involved in powdercoating?

What find of material did you use for foam, and how thick was it?

Which keycap set did you get from Unicomp? Was it the black blank set for a 101 keyboard?

Finally, what did you use for a spacebar? Did you buy a black one from Unicomp? If so, which size? Or did you paint the spacebar from the Kishsaver? I guess you must have used a Model M spacebar, which is the reason for using a stabilizer from wcass.

Maybe if I can gather all this restoration intelligence, a Kishsaver will fall out of the sky onto my workbench!

I can't tell you that much about the powdercoating. A local company did it. They are specialized on surface finishing. They also removed the old paint. But if you have time, you could also remove it yourself and save some costs.
I was able to choose between every RAL color and also choose on glossy, matt, or semi-matt

I used 'Moosgummi'. I'm not sure what the correct term for it in english is. Normally children or their parents use it to do arts and crafts. In my first attempt I used 2mm foam. But seemed like that in my case it was too thick, I didn't get that 'sandwich' back together (but monster-toys used it successfully). My second attempt was 1mm Moosgummi, but this was too thin at the rows in the middle and didn't give enough pressure. So I used 2 layers of 1mm foam in the middle and one layer 1mm foam at the edge. Not the perfect solution, but feels good. Maybe a foam that is more fluffy (like the original maybe was 30 years ago) would be perfect.
Short: too thick -> shit; too thin -> also shit;

I purchased a blank black keycapset for the classis 101 model m. It costs the same like when I would have done a special order for the kishsaver. And I have extra keycaps for free.

spacebar is also the one for the 101 model m. With wcass' stabilizer its possible to use it on the F.

You also need that plastic inserts for return, shift and backspace (if you want normal backspace).

Btw, the kish is loud as hell without floss. Much much louder than my normal Ms/SSKs. I can't even watch tv while typing.

Some new feet or that plastic spacers would be awesome. On my second kish those spacers are totally destroyed, not sure what to do there.

Thanks! I contacted Unicomp today. They are out of stock on the large black spacebars and they do not intend to get any more of them. Unfortunately, the black keycap set for the 101 model M does not include the spacebar. I suppose one could try dying the spacebar, but getting the color to match the other keycaps would be quite difficult.

All this is academic anyway until I can find my own Kishsaver!

[webwit]

Finally out of black space bars eh? This increases the value!

Spoiler:

[snoopy]

fuck, that are bad news. I needed another set.

[Hypersphere]

Maybe if all of us who want black spacebars were to contact Unicomp, they might change their mind.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go put my pot of RIT noir on the stove....

[mr_a500]

some first impressions of my BlacKish:

Awesome. The only thing I don't like is that skull keycap.

I thought the same when i saw your first pic of the black Kishsaver! Old vintage computer stuff is associated with beige color.

Not for me. I associate vintage stuff with the pre-beige era of black, white, blue and brown. It does look modern, but I think it's the cylindrical blank keycaps that do it. If you had spherical doubleshots on that keyboard, it'd look vintage. (..actually, that's my dream keyboard)

This is very nice too. I can't decide... when I steal a Kishsaver, should I paint it black or leave it metal? Maybe I'll just steal two.

[Hypersphere]

Thanks for showing us the great job you have done on your Kishsaver. I hope you won't mind some naive questions:

Could you elaborate a bit on the paint? What is involved in powdercoating?

What find of material did you use for foam, and how thick was it?

Which keycap set did you get from Unicomp? Was it the black blank set for a 101 keyboard?

Finally, what did you use for a spacebar? Did you buy a black one from Unicomp? If so, which size? Or did you paint the spacebar from the Kishsaver? I guess you must have used a Model M spacebar, which is the reason for using a stabilizer from wcass.

Maybe if I can gather all this restoration intelligence, a Kishsaver will fall out of the sky onto my workbench!

I can't tell you that much about the powdercoating. A local company did it. They are specialized on surface finishing. They also removed the old paint. But if you have time, you could also remove it yourself and save some costs.
I was able to choose between every RAL color and also choose on glossy, matt, or semi-matt

I used 'Moosgummi'. I'm not sure what the correct term for it in english is. Normally children or their parents use it to do arts and crafts. In my first attempt I used 2mm foam. But seemed like that in my case it was too thick, I didn't get that 'sandwich' back together (but monster-toys used it successfully). My second attempt was 1mm Moosgummi, but this was too thin at the rows in the middle and didn't give enough pressure. So I used 2 layers of 1mm foam in the middle and one layer 1mm foam at the edge. Not the perfect solution, but feels good. Maybe a foam that is more fluffy (like the original maybe was 30 years ago) would be perfect.
Short: too thick -> shit; too thin -> also shit;

I purchased a blank black keycapset for the classis 101 model m. It costs the same like when I would have done a special order for the kishsaver. And I have extra keycaps for free.

spacebar is also the one for the 101 model m. With wcass' stabilizer its possible to use it on the F.

You also need that plastic inserts for return, shift and backspace (if you want normal backspace).

Btw, the kish is loud as hell without floss. Much much louder than my normal Ms/SSKs. I can't even watch tv while typing.

Some new feet or that plastic spacers would be awesome. On my second kish those spacers are totally destroyed, not sure what to do there.

Thanks! I contacted Unicomp today. They are out of stock on the large black spacebars and they do not intend to get any more of them. Unfortunately, the black keycap set for the 101 model M does not include the spacebar. I suppose one could try dying the spacebar, but getting the color to match the other keycaps would be quite difficult.

All this is academic anyway until I can find my own Kishsaver!

I think that powdercoating involves heating after application of the powder, so apparently this would be fine for metals but not for plastics.

"Moosgummi" gets translated as sponge or foam rubber. It might be the same as art/craft foam here, but perhaps Moosgummi is more resilient. Based on my experience with installing a silicone foam layer in my XT, I think that 2 to 2.4 mm thickness would work if you used a bar clamp to pull the plates together.

[Halvar]

I used 2 mm "Moosgummi" on my beamspring boards, and it also said "foam rubber" on the package. 2 mm and 4 mm were the only thicknesses I could obtain locally in an art/craft shop.

[Muirium]

Was 2 mm any good on a beam spring? Any difference you've noticed between beam springs and Model Fs?

[Halvar]

2 mm was fine on the beam spring board for the underside of the upper plate. I think 1mm would be too thin, but 2 mm is near the upper limit I guess. If you find 1.5 mm that would be ideal IMO (if you choose to replace it at all). Monster-Toys used 2 mm with success, too. An error I made first was to make the holes for the switches in the foam rubber a mm or so too small. The rubber foam is elastic and the switches widened the holes, but the additional thickness was just that bit too much. Just be exact or a bit generous with the diameter of the holes and you're fine.

There was no need at all to replace the rubber mat under the PCB, and I didn't do that.

For Model Fs, I have no experience with repairing them. The only one I have is an AT board that just works.

[dustinhxc]

My Kishsaver is completed now and working thanks to Hasu's converter code.

I think it would be cool to have a thread were we can show our Kishsavers off, similar to the SSK and Poker threads!

So here is mine:


As you can see I have put on ISO DE keycaps on it and the case is repainted.
After consulting webwit I decided to go with RAL 7030 "Stonegrey", which should be pretty close to IBM's industrial color.

So let's see how your Kishsavers ended looking like!

I love this thread! This grey stone color is very nice and I love the ISO!

Sleepy, I love the bushed aluminum but you know that!

Snoopy, I love the black! (Dark Grey) So wicked!

[CPTBadAss]

[7bit]

[Parak]

[webwit]

This is sacrilege and you will be punished by the gods!

[Muirium]

The fluffy, sparkly, marvellous gods and their unicorn steeds!

[Halvar]

Gifting a kishsaver to your 10 year old daughter is too much pampering for sure!

[Dubsgalore]

I will say: that's unique but almost disrespectful

[andrewjoy]

I will say: that's unique but almost disrespectful

I would agree with that.

[scottc]

Unique is one word...

[002]

Haha, that is so ballsy. I admire your courage. Would I do it to my own kishsaver though? Hell no

[macmakkara]

Are thosr flakes? HEEAY

Thats really unique...

[mr_a500]

[Madhias]

I was browsing Flickr, and my wife (who is never interested especially in keyboards) saw in the corner of the eye Captain Badass' Kishsaver and was instantly amused. I for myself thought WTF!

[HipsterPunks]

I love the photo you posted of it sitting on your dashboard, i imagined you driving around in black shades just pointing at it XD great board.

[7bit]

You should see his car:

[snoopy]

Scirocco 1... awesome car... but that color doesn't look good on that car... Needs to be black, or a nice grey.

[Muirium]

Is this a good place to admit I'm quite partial to white Ferraris?

[7bit]

Finally out of black space bars eh? This increases the value!

If someone wants a 7 units black space bar, this thread might be for you:
http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/b ... t8839.html

[Hypersphere]

Look what landed on my desk, just in time for Thanksgiving!

Hypersphere_KS1.jpg (970.02 KiB) Viewed 9138 times

This is my first "Before" pic of my "new" Kishsaver. It seems to be in relatively good shape, although I have not yet dismantled it. There is one bad spring/pivot plate assembly and it needs a new spacebar stabilizer wire (which I have).

This will be my only Christmas present this year, so it has to go back in the box to be opened on December 25. In the meantime, I am collecting parts and suggestions for the refurbishing and installation of an xwhatsit Model F controller (Rev. 2).

Among the things I hope to do:

-- Sand-blast and powder-coat the case and barrel plate. I am thinking of a dark gray, matte black, or "oil-rubbed bronze" for one of the dark color schemes I have seen on these pages and over on GH.

-- Change springs and inserts to yield an ANSI/Mac/HHKB layout.

-- Replace mods and spacebar with blank black keys; keep ivory-white alphanumeric keys.

-- Install a panel-mount micro-USB receptacle for a detachable USB cable. I would like to select the site for this in the case and do any necessary drilling before having the sand-blasting and powder-coating done. Suggestions welcome on where to locate the receptacle in the case.

-- Install an xwhatsit controller (Model F Rev. 2). Suggestions welcome on where to find the latest instructions and firmware with explicit instructions on installation of the hardware and firmware. My primary OS is Mac OS X (10.10.1), but I also have access to Linux Mint 17 Xfce and Windows 7 Enterprise.

What a great day! I am motivated as never before to get going on the restoration. Between now and Christmas I will be gathering suggestions and instructions.