B profile keycaps ? etc.

[rpl]

Hi,

New on the board : ducked in just to say "hi" to Dick Harris (who I didn't even know existed as a single person - for some reason thought it would be a commitee .... serious wow factor, both the B and F models), but, as long as I'm here...

<ramble>
Bluntly, the itty bitty 16:9 screen and abysmal kb layout on my current x230 is dragging me down too much, so my next system purchase will probably be a desktop (small possibility of a custom re-mobo'd old thinkpad, but they aren't cheap).

Which will give me the opportunity to blow the dust off my trusty Slimblade trackball, and 'M'

(I originally bought two M's, so I'd have a spare for when the first one wore out <cue laughter> and after a decade sold the redundant spare to somebody - for more than I paid for it - who was so ecstatic at the deal he was getting, he blurted out "you could get 3x as much for this" before we even started the handover (I wasn't even tempted to be a jerk, he looked so happy)).
</ramble>

So - and this by the way is completely your fault - I'm now pondering a future new or old F purchase, and also if I should go for sphericals or stick with cylindrical keytops.

Which brings me to my questions :
1) Are beamsping-era spherical profile keycaps even available, for F and M models ?
2) On some of the old [clarification: B model] terminals the bottom (thumb) row were convex cylindrical : does anybody do those ?

Thanks

[Johnbo]

There has definitely been some interest and designs prototyped over the years, but to the best of my knowledge nothing ever came to production, unfortunately. I would also love some spherical M / F keycaps.


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[Karmel]

1) There was a thread on here about making spherical keycaps for buckling springs, although I don't think anything was actually produced. There was also that buckling spring to MX project, but again I don't think it was ever in production.

2) I think you're talking about the bottom row being convex, as for buckling springs the only convex key that I know of other than the space bar is the code key that came on Wheelwriters.

[rpl]

Thanks, guys : looks like there's almost enough interest for a new run.

re: convex caps : I meant B series terminals/consoles : on (for instance) the 5251 the alpha/numeric block had them. Of course, I'm also interested in any F/M versions if they exist... or others just to see. Reason is, I started "keyboarding" on a desk-calculator, so 0 is a thumb key.

Oh, almost forgot...

3) is there a force diagram for the Selectric ? (and maybe the old card-punches).

[Karmel]

3) is there a force diagram for the Selectric ?

There's this one which I think is from IBM themselves, though it's simplified just like most other force curves that companies make.

Spoiler:

SelectricComposerForce.png (68.54 KiB) Viewed 1767 times

[rpl]

Awesome, thanks : quite the difference. I never used a Selectric personally - except the occasional typing test - but it's interesting to see how the B->F->M series' progressed.