Xerox 820 II Keyboard (928-900451) Teardown (tons of pictures)

[hwood34]

Just recently got this board thanks to a bunch of help from nubbinator, thought I'd take it apart and post some pics.



This may have been the hardest case I've ever opened. The tabs that hold it together were insanely thick and hard to push in




For how incredibly big the case was, the PCB was actually relatively normally sized






Cap profile:


Stem Angling:


4 types of switches:






Black: on most keys, the lightest of the four
Brown: Heavier than black, lighter than pale blue; used for L/R shift and enter
Pale Blue: Heaviest, used for spacebar, del, esc, and feed.
Lock: used for Caps Lock; a modified black switch

Switch Internals:








From left to right: MX, Maxi, ALPS



The spacebar stab was insanely thick

[jacobolus]

Great photos!

So as far as I can tell, those stems are all straight. Would you mind taking a side-view picture of one column's worth of profiled keycaps, just sitting flat on the table (i.e. not on switches?).

I wonder how close the profile is to signature plastics’s SS (http://www.keycapsdirect.com/pdfs/SSFamily.pdf).

One other question: does an MX spring work in this switch, or is the spring diameter too small?

[dorkvader]

Wow excellent pictures! I'm glad you got this find and took them. Check out that ground clip!

I bet an MX would fit but not seat all the way down on that conical spring retainer.


Did you happen to get a shot of the spacebar?

[hwood34]

Great photos!

So as far as I can tell, those stems are all straight. Would you mind taking a side-view picture of one column's worth of profiled keycaps, just sitting flat on the table (i.e. not on switches?).

I wonder how close the profile is to signature plastics�s SS (http://www.keycapsdirect.com/pdfs/SSFamily.pdf).

One other question: does an MX spring work in this switch, or is the spring diameter too small?

And it turns out mx springs actually do work in there. Guess I might be able to make these a little more usable

Wow excellent pictures! I'm glad you got this find and took them. Check out that ground clip!

I bet an MX would fit but not seat all the way down on that conical spring retainer.


Did you happen to get a shot of the spacebar?

[CPTBadAss]

Thanks for the teardown pictures! What do the switches feel like?

How do you feel about the Dillinger Escape Plan?

[jacobolus]

Thanks for the pics.

I think you missed the number row though; e.g. here’s a crop from the original auction image:


The keycaps mount on the switches at a bit of an angle, right? At least, that’s what it looks like from the original pics. Maybe the underside of the keycaps has the angled mount?

[hwood34]

Thanks for the teardown pictures! What do the switches feel like?

How do you feel about the Dillinger Escape Plan?

Switches: meh. They're not very smoot, but I'll try and lube them; they're also really heavy but I can swap the springs with MX
DEP:
 

Thanks for the pics.

I think you missed the number row though; e.g. here’s a crop from the original auction image:

Show Image

The keycaps mount on the switches at a bit of an angle, right? At least, that’s what it looks like from the original pics. Maybe the underside of the keycaps has the angled mount?

Yeah, I forgot the bottom row on there. The switches are straight on the PCB, but the PCB is pretty angled in the case

[jacobolus]

Yeah, I forgot the bottom row on there. The switches are straight on the PCB, but the PCB is pretty angled in the case

I mean the top row, not the bottom row; I think you used a cap from the numpad instead of the number row.

I’m not talking about the angle of the PCB, but rather the angle between the switch and the keycap.

[hwood34]

Yeah, I forgot the bottom row on there. The switches are straight on the PCB, but the PCB is pretty angled in the case

I mean the top row, not the bottom row; I think you used a cap from the numpad instead of the number row.

I’m not talking about the angle of the PCB, but rather the angle between the switch and the keycap.

Ah, sorry about that. Here's a better picture:



And one for the angling of the stem:

[jacobolus]

Aha. Thanks! Those number row keycaps are crazy tall.

[hwood34]

If anyone is interested in this board I'm willing to let it go