IBM SSK club!

[Redmaus]

@ramnes

Definitely, the shiny 107 deserves these keys

I like a lot your keyboard !

Will you make them gray or beige blanks? I think gray would go with it better.

[Muirium]

Not the greatest pictures for the moment, but I'm liking where this work in progress is headed. Behold the $25 Cindy special SSK I nabbed a good while ago…

Before:



And after cleanup:

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Phone pics all. I'll take good ones when I'm done.

Those are nice thickly dyed single-piece XT caps, besides the SSK's original mods and arrows and nav cluster. I've got an incomplete set from both keyboards, so can't do a proper job on the SSK's legends yet, but soon enough. Oh, and this is the one that will be getting Bluetooth once we've figured that out! In the meantime: a USB B socket on the back where the SDL goes instead.

[Khers]

@ $25 that's quite amazing! How is it in terms of rivets?

[Muirium]

More of them were blown than I expected. I just counted 12 heads in my spare parts dish. They're mostly up from the function row, and don't seem to have much of an effect on the board's feel. It's similar to my first SSK: a later, blue label Lexmark, which has a complete surviving set of rivets as I recall. I assumed this one did too until I opened it up. This took a while as I didn't bring my nutdrivers with me.

I'm very pleased with how it's cleaned up. I might even have the ideal spare caps for it back in Scotland. All the SSK specific caps came attached. Although I must say these luxurious XT caps are growing on me…

[andrewjoy]

Although I must say these luxurious XT caps are growing on me…

Ha ha i told you , XT caps are fringing sweet. Unicomp do make single part caps the windows one i got was 1 part, and they feel better to me, i wonder if they would do an ALP set on them

[Khers]

Ooh, so they do single piece 1u-caps? Would be really sweet to fill a board with that

[Muirium]

Yup, they're a striking set. No homing bumps, mind! But I'm used to that on my Model Fs anyway.

The legends are what makes them special. You can see all the extra ink IBM put on the early 80s XT caps, compared to the early 90s SSK two-piece ones.

[Redmaus]

My SSK has one piece caps...

[Muirium]

Good for you. Now mine does too! For the most part.

The earlier ones were better. IBM got innovative at cost cutting throughout the buckling spring era. Model M was a cheap trick to avoid capsense circuitry. And those faint legends on 1990s boards saved a few cents of ink…

[Redmaus]

Good for you. Now mine does too! For the most part.

The earlier ones were better. IBM got innovative at cost cutting throughout the buckling spring era. Model M was a cheap trick to avoid capsense circuitry. And those faint legends on 1990s boards saved a few cents of ink…

I actually my blue label SSK was made in 93'

[Khers]

Are all of the keys on your one piece? One of my SSKs have all one piece keys, except for F and J, which are two piece...

[orihalcon]

Work in progress. Original keycaps were boring, so switched the non blue ones. Finished bolt modding. Will try to fit a Model F Xwhatsit controller and solenoid inside this weekend:

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[Redmaus]

Work in progress. Original keycaps were boring, so switched the non blue ones. Finished bolt modding. Will try to fit a Model F Xwhatsit controller and solenoid inside this weekend:

I am SO confused by what I am seeing

[orihalcon]

Work in progress. Original keycaps were boring, so switched the non blue ones. Finished bolt modding. Will try to fit a Model F Xwhatsit controller and solenoid inside this weekend:

I am SO confused by what I am seeing

From what I can google, the part number is for a "Replacement Industrial SSK." So maybe they ran out of Industrial grey cases? Backplate label states IBM, so was probably assembled at Unicomp out of NOS IBM parts.

As far as the other caps, those are still a mystery to me. Came originally on a regular Model M 1391401 made in 1989. Best explanation that has been suggested so far is:

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[Madhias]

So this is a beige SSK, with blue industrial caps?

[seebart]

very nice orihalcon! Awesome with those caps.

[scottc]

But what's with the Xwhatsit controller and solenoid that was mentioned?

[ramnes]

Those caps are nice.

[ShivaYash]

Say hello to Frenchie. An original 1987 ISO SSK bought on ebay a few weeks ago. (One of the apparantly very ISO factory made)

It had french/canadian keycaps, but I changed them to danish. Except for the enter key. When I tried with my spare enter with wire stabilizer, it felt much more light to the touch than the other keys so I decided to keep the original enter.

I really like the size of the keyboard compared to the normal Model M's - not to mention the F's...

We should start a September club - I am '87 Sept 02

[ShivaYash]

Not the greatest pictures for the moment, but I'm liking where this work in progress is headed. Behold the $25 Cindy special SSK I nabbed a good while ago…

V nice.

[orihalcon]

But what's with the Xwhatsit controller and solenoid that was mentioned?

That's my project for this weekend! Xwhatsit's capsense controller will work with model M membranes, but you are still limited to 2KRO because the membrane does not have diodes. Confirmed that it works on a Wheelwriter model M a while ago which also interestingly also has a 16x8 matrix, which is exactly what that Model F Xwhatsit controller has. My reason to put one in is the ability to add the solenoid to it. Mounting job probably won't look all that pretty since I don't want to modify the case, so will likely use double sided foam tape to hold the xWhatsit and solenoid driver to the backplate and have the solenoid mounted on a short metal bracket attached to the backplate right above the underside "speaker grill" so that it resonates better. Will also need to put in a fixed USB cable.

*IF* things go well and I have time, I might post a video so that the SSK with solenoid on/off can be compared.

[Muirium]

But it's a delicate capsense controller! Think of its fidelity, think of its feelings! Being thrown into a brutal membrane matrix like that… all for want of a signal to hit the solenoid.

Mind, I can't think of another way to get the solenoid driver the input it needs without getting waist deep in code. These other controllers left out a vital F-WHACK-E-WHACK-A-WHACK-T-WHACK-U-WHACK-R-WHACK-E-WHACK-!-WHACK-

[Redmaus]

But what's with the Xwhatsit controller and solenoid that was mentioned?

That's my project for this weekend! Xwhatsit's capsense controller will work with model M membranes, but you are still limited to 2KRO because the membrane does not have diodes. Confirmed that it works on a Wheelwriter model M a while ago which also interestingly also has a 16x8 matrix, which is exactly what that Model F Xwhatsit controller has. My reason to put one in is the ability to add the solenoid to it. Mounting job probably won't look all that pretty since I don't want to modify the case, so will likely use double sided foam tape to hold the xWhatsit and solenoid driver to the backplate and have the solenoid mounted on a short metal bracket attached to the backplate right above the underside "speaker grill" so that it resonates better. Will also need to put in a fixed USB cable.

*IF* things go well and I have time, I might post a video so that the SSK with solenoid on/off can be compared.

Where did you get the solenoid?

[orihalcon]

Got the solenoid from a 3178 model F

[Redmaus]

Got the solenoid from a 3178 model F

Have one for me?

[orihalcon]

Got it finished up! Wasn't nearly as much space inside the case as I thought there would be (guess that's why they call it a space saver). Thought I wasn't going to be able to fit it at first. The solenoid did end up fitting at an angle towards the back and is held nicely in place between the backplate and case between foam and double stick tape. The controller had to be mounted sideways due to routing the wire around other components of the case.

Made a video (though not me typing, I'm not that fast) so you all can see how it sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIDDoRS25Y

Definitely a doable mod, and it really does add quite a kick! I have Model F xWhatsit controllers yet if anyone needs one, and there's a potential group buy going on in the marketplace for solenoid drivers:
http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/x ... 10321.html

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[Redmaus]

Got it finished up! Wasn't nearly as much space inside the case as I thought there would be (guess that's why they call it a space saver). Thought I wasn't going to be able to fit it at first. The solenoid did end up fitting at an angle towards the back and is held nicely in place between the backplate and case between foam and double stick tape. The controller had to be mounted sideways due to routing the wire around other components of the case.

Made a video (though not me typing, I'm not that fast) so you all can see how it sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIDDoRS25Y

Definitely a doable mod, and it really does add quite a kick! I have Model F xWhatsit controllers yet if anyone needs one, and there's a potential group buy going on in the marketplace for solenoid drivers:
http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/x ... 10321.html

Wow, great work Orihalcon! I wonder what the unsaver solenoid sounds like?

[snoopy]

love those blue keys

[Mal-2]

Original keycaps were boring,

Do want said "boring" keycaps with diacriticals and ðþʒåøə all over them! The blue keys are neat in a way, but the ArtGr keycaps actually mean something. (I'd build a keymap to match if need be!)

[seebart]

Original keycaps were boring,

Do want said "boring" keycaps with diacriticals and ðþʒåøə all over them! The blue keys are neat in a way, but the ArtGr keycaps actually mean something. (I'd build a keymap to match if need be!)

What?