Topre 39-AA-0101

HaaTa · 16 Sep 2016, 00:44

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

DSC05586

DSC05375

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.

zslane · 16 Sep 2016, 00:52

Wow! That is beautiful!

chiptea · 16 Sep 2016, 01:01

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!

webwit · 16 Sep 2016, 01:01

What's the first date in the graph?

HaaTa · 16 Sep 2016, 01:13

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).

002 · 16 Sep 2016, 01:17

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

):

Spoiler:

Chyros · 16 Sep 2016, 01:48

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

HaaTa · 16 Sep 2016, 02:17

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.

vivalarevolución · 16 Sep 2016, 02:29

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.

seebart · 16 Sep 2016, 13:09

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

hypkx · 16 Sep 2016, 13:41

Such a nice keyboard.

jerue · 16 Sep 2016, 14:00

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

t!ng · 16 Sep 2016, 14:50

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

t!ng · 16 Sep 2016, 14:53

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 =(

seebart · 16 Sep 2016, 14:58

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

vivalarevolución · 16 Sep 2016, 18:26

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!

MaNiFeX · 16 Sep 2016, 20:29

dat spacebar

E3E · 17 Sep 2016, 06:15

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

HaaTa · 17 Sep 2016, 08:54

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

andreas · 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.

: ursa_sachiko_all_printed_v01.jpg (512.9 KiB) Viewed 115105 times

Muirium · 14 Oct 2022, 20:28

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

andreas · 14 Oct 2022, 20:32

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.

Muirium · 14 Oct 2022, 21:18

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!

xxhellfirexx · 15 Oct 2022, 06:19

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?

Muirium · 15 Oct 2022, 10:20

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.

andreas · 15 Oct 2022, 10:24

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

Muirium · 15 Oct 2022, 10:25

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!”

andreas · 15 Oct 2022, 10:52

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

Muirium · 15 Oct 2022, 16:18

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.

mmm · 15 Oct 2022, 21:21

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.

ursa_sachiko_all_printed_v01.jpg

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?