Beam Spring 104+SSK+122+62 Reproduction Project! Round 1 now shipping

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The beam samples have finally been completed!  Soon they will be on their way to me for full testing.

Below is the first photo of the completed Round 2 Beam Spring sample keyboards:

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Here we have some additional photos of the final beam spring pre-production inner assemblies.  There is a mistake on the B122 in that the 5 extra holes should have been cut out above the cursor area and then covered with tape (the photos show the key spots visible without tape on some of the top inner assemblies).

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The final beam spring sample keyboards arrived this week and have been tested.

They are excellent quality and have been approved for production!  Now everything remaining with the beam spring project has been approved for production. 

We just have some firmware issues including mapping errors on the boards that need to be corrected (the keys register but are not properly mapped). 

I very much like the quality and consistency of the beam module assembly and sounds.  I feel that the additional foam padding and slight enlargement of the top inner assembly module holes (more like the IBM originals but not so large that the keys wobble a lot - like on the IBM originals) refines the beam spring sound and eliminates much of the additional reverberation and higher-pitch sound found on the Round 1 boards. 

Only 1 out of the ~244 modules needed adjustment for the two B122 boards I tested.  And thanks to the change to the press-fit washers, the beam modules can be disassembled and reassembled by hand.  It is far easier and faster to reattach the flyplate with everything out of the module!

Weights without keycaps:  B122 9.4 lbs, B104 8.0 lbs, BSSK 6.8 lbs, B62 4.9 lbs

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Beam spring production update:

The factory notes that they have completed production and assembly of 80,000 Round 2 beam spring modules.

The cases, bottom and top inner assembly plates, foam, PCBs, and other small parts were approved for production last month.

The Leyden Jar (for B122 and B104) and xwhatsit (for B62 and BSSK) controllers are all in stock, ready to be installed. 

The PBT double shot MX keycaps for the beam spring keyboards all arrived to me with last year's container shipment, so they are all ready to ship.  These are the same keys from the same order as was done for the Round 1 beam spring keyboards.

I am hoping that they complete production and assembly of the remaining items over the coming months.

Again I want to reiterate that the quality of the sample beam spring keyboards received a month or so ago is excellent, and most noticeable is the significantly improved consistency of the key press of each beam module. 

For those not following the project closely in the past year or so, the beam module supplier switched and brand new molds were created for the Round 2 beam modules.  These new beam modules, combined with the improved assembly quality, has resulted in excellent production examples. 

Here's a photo showing how the modules are being stored while we wait for the other parts to be completed.  The modules are on layers in trays, with a cardboard separation between each layer of modules.