I finally got some pictures loaded so that I could share some input with regards to this mod which I happen to REALLY like.
Here are two of my PC AT boards. One is "like new" and the seller asked me to keep it in original condition. So I obliged and decided to mod my "lesser" unit that arrived with a broken Enter key and is probably a 6 out of 10 in my ultra picky ranking of vintage gear.
A closer shot of the board:
Note the pitting and corrosion on the metal main frame. Clean it aggressively and you will remove the paint/primer and it will rust if used in a humid environment or if liquid is spilled onto the board.
Close up of the condition of the metal frame:
Next up is separating the casing. This thing will squeal, creak like it's breaking in half when you take the two pieces apart. As Haata mentions, that's "normal". LOL. Look at the pretty plated rear frame. IBM obviously stopped doing that with the Model M. I do have one really nice Space Saving Mini with what appears to be a nickel plated metal frame, but the rest of them look like crap. Rough cut metal and that's it.
Anyone try the single malts from Balvenie?? Wonderful stuff, especially my favorite the 21 yr. Portwood offering. Just delicious.
Here is a photo of the underside with what appears to be an undercoating of some kind. Maybe one of the IbM gurus can chime in to explain why this was used?? Damping factor?? I don't know......but it's cool!!
Now disconnect all of this stuff but take a quick glance at where the connectors fit into the main PC board. The first time I re-assembled the board, I thought I had blown out my LED strip, but I had simply snapped in the connector improperly engaging only one row of pins. DOOHHH!!
Pop the metal tab in the back, hit the metal frame lightly with a hard rubber mallet and rear metal frame and capacitve board come free. I advise that you support the the spring/hammer assembly with left right supports unless you happen to enjoy replacing springs/hammers on these b/s boards. I don't so I used two boxes on either side of the assembly. Maybe I'm a Geek/Gleek, but I think this shot is simply beautiful:
And here's the rest of the assembly:
Space bar mod. Now this is a tough one. I did this 4 times to get it right. First time....still too firm. 2nd time, too light, 3rd time, too light again and then on the 4th try I got it right. I shot for standard Model M stiffness. I have no method of gauging how much tension to set with this spring. Just trial and error. This was painful changing it again and again. HUGE word of advice. Use dental floss to hold the hammer/spring tight and pull it through the cylinder when re-assembling the case. Otherwise, you'll end up swearing like a drunk sailor when your space bar feels great, but doesn't actuate.
Haata's instructions are pretty clear about swapping the hammer position, placing the white key stabilizers and swapping in the appropriate keys, so just follow them. Takes 2 minutes from here:
And here's the end result. Red Esc key looks awesome there imho. On every other board, that key will sit on the top left.......BORING!!!!
I also swapped out the "F" and the "J" keycaps for regular Model M "nibbed" caps. And it's nice that this board has the arrow keys on the home row. You quickly get used to the position although you lose this when you apply the Num Lock. Oh well.....no perfect board. If there was, Geekhack would cease to exist and we would all own that one board.
Hope this was helpful. And I hope that this encourages Model AT F fans to give this a try. It's well worth the effort. And it's fully reversible. If you want, for a small fee, I'll increase the stiffness of your space bar so that it would require foot activation :-))
Thanks for reading!!
skc
