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Author Topic: Typewriter keys retrofit?  (Read 8315 times)

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Offline fl0w3n

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Typewriter keys retrofit?
« on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 02:35:04 »
I love the looks of the old plastic, cupped, thick typewriter keys. 

I.E.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever attempted to retrofit them onto a newer board? 

I'd love to attempt this, but even as difficult as getting the standard alpha numeric keys to fit, getting modifiers would be insanely unlikely.

Anyways, I just wanted to see if there was any discussion to be had regarding this idea. 

Or maybe some vintage keyboards that I could look into with these style caps, that can be used on a PC. 



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Offline rowdy

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 02:53:01 »
Dat R!

Anyway, pic of the underneath???
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Offline Alessandro

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 04:22:08 »
I know people do MX stem modding with old Cherry caps locks, I'm wondering if you could do the same to these and fit MX stems on them...
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Offline TotalChaos

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 05:08:52 »
@flow3n

We need upskirt shots to determine gender and so forth.

p.s.  The keys in your pic have "spherical" tops.  Because they have a spherical indentation.  You can put a marble on top of your key and it will not roll off.  I want to get spherical keys too.  But the only kind I can find anywhere have cylindrical tops.
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Offline GMC

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 05:48:55 »
Signature plastics can do spherical profile. I've got a space cadet style set coming in the round 4 group buy on Deskthority. Head over there and see if there are leftovers.
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Offline TotalChaos

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 06:09:49 »
@GMC

You just exploded my brain.  :eek:

I could have got Spherical keys as all row 3 ?

Am I understanding that right?
So all the keys would be interchangeable?
I could rearrange my keys to try Dvorak or Colemak, etc. if all keys are in Row 3 profile, correct?
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Offline GMC

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 06:56:01 »
You'd have to contact 7bit to be absolutely sure but looking at the wiki, I think mods are all row 3 but alpha might be stepped, see sp website faq for an image of the sa series

Round 4 set illustration
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Offline BLJ Consulting

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 10:03:47 »
Quote from: TotalChaos on Sun, 25 November 2012, 06:09:49
@GMC

You just exploded my brain.  :eek:

I could have got Spherical keys as all row 3 ?

Am I understanding that right?
So all the keys would be interchangeable?
I could rearrange my keys to try Dvorak or Colemak, etc. if all keys are in Row 3 profile, correct?

yes at SP we have the tooling for these spherical keys both 1st and 2nd shot and yes generally it is all row3 that is ordered.  we use them mostly for industrial customers but occasionally GH'ers order them

 
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Offline fl0w3n

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 12:37:17 »
Quote from: BLJ Consulting on Sun, 25 November 2012, 10:03:47
yes at SP we have the tooling for these spherical keys both 1st and 2nd shot and yes generally it is all row3 that is ordered.  we use them mostly for industrial customers but occasionally GH'ers order them
Got any pictures of what these look like?


Also, this eBay listing has a nice clear shot of the underside.  It looks like they could have a little "tongue" made, and possibly fit that into the keycap and then the other end into Alps?  For Cherry, it would need some real handy dremel work. 
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Offline fl0w3n

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 12:58:38 »
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Offline samwisekoi

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 13:16:10 »
Quote from: BLJ Consulting on Sun, 25 November 2012, 10:03:47
yes at SP we have the tooling for these spherical keys both 1st and 2nd shot and yes generally it is all row3 that is ordered.  we use them mostly for industrial customers but occasionally GH'ers order them

Does that change pricing, or did I just ask a Melissa question?

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Offline fl0w3n

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 13:52:55 »
Hmm, there are some SA profile (One of the SP spherical profile codes) sets here, http://keycapsdirect.com/key-capsinventory.php

But when it says there are XXX qty of keys in XXX color, does that mean they are blank or just a jumble of legends or what? 
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Offline fl0w3n

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #12 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 21:41:15 »
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Offline Hak Foo

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 21:47:48 »
I think someone played with the 64's caps, and while similar to the Cherry stem, they're not quite the same.
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Offline fl0w3n

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #14 on: Sun, 25 November 2012, 22:21:37 »
Damn, those look pretty sweet too.

I'm not interested if anyone can show me what SP's spherical keys look like...I may be interested in putting together my first GB if they look right. 
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Offline BLJ Consulting

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #15 on: Mon, 26 November 2012, 18:17:59 »

[/quote]
Got any pictures of what these look like?


[/quote]

grey is the SA series which i think is what you are looking for, black #3 is DSA, white/red escape is DCS row1

sorry the photos arent great.
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Offline fl0w3n

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #16 on: Mon, 26 November 2012, 18:33:06 »
Thanks!

I think you're right, from the pictures the F2 may be close to the style I'm looking for.  Based off your sketches of keys on the site, SS series may also be close. 
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Offline TotalChaos

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #17 on: Tue, 27 November 2012, 01:43:34 »
Why does the gray Fkey look so tall?  It looks like OEM profile?

I never heard that SP could make OEM profile keys....
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Offline jeroplane

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #18 on: Tue, 27 November 2012, 14:36:56 »
Quote from: TotalChaos on Tue, 27 November 2012, 01:43:34
Why does the gray Fkey look so tall?  It looks like OEM profile?

I never heard that SP could make OEM profile keys....

It's part of their spherical series, not cylindrical.
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Offline TotalChaos

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #19 on: Thu, 29 November 2012, 11:10:08 »
What is the height of their spherical series?  12mm?
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Offline dorkvader

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #20 on: Sat, 01 December 2012, 13:42:29 »
I know it won't help much, but IBM Selectric keys will fit on a beam spring.

From what I have seen, modding these to fit on a cherry KB is really difficult, you need to hollow out the stem to fit the + of the cherry key, then you need grind away plastic until it's narrow enough to fit in a cherry keyswitch without hitting the top of the switch housing.
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Offline precarious

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Re: Typewriter keys retrofit?
« Reply #21 on: Sat, 01 December 2012, 20:34:19 »


album: http://imgur.com/a/ZBmCn

some old cherry spherical doubleshots i pulled from a microscope keyboard i received a month or so ago.  they'll fit onto an MX stem but they won't go down into the switch housing, of course.  these would presumably be easier to modify to be compatible -- any good methods to go about this, or is it something no one has ever really gone through with?
« Last Edit: Sat, 01 December 2012, 22:09:46 by precarious »
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