I don't think Unicomp sells the barrel plates anymore for the TKL's as I just asked them about it. However you could easily cut a plate down from a full sized 103 plate.Huh. Interesting. I thought they just recently added a listing for SSK barrel plates (I'm either mistaken or they went quickly!).
I don't think Unicomp sells the barrel plates anymore for the TKL's as I just asked them about it. However you could easily cut a plate down from a full sized 103 plate.Huh. Interesting. I thought they just recently added a listing for SSK barrel plates (I'm either mistaken or they went quickly!).
I'd recommend cutting down a 101 barrel plate, instead of a 103 plate. Unicomp's 103 key keyboards have windows/meta keys that won't correspond correctly to your SSK's case and membrane.
Edit: Unicomp doesn't sell a 103 key version. Wildcard probably was referring to the ISO layout of the 101 key (ANSI) layout. They use the same barrel plate, which, to my knowledge will be the 101 key barrel plate.
Where do you work???
I want a ssk!
Where is this plate listed on Unicomp? I'm not seeing it or it's listed by another name I'm not putting together.
Hammers and springs look good and clean except three of them. Where the spring meets the hammer it is corroded with rust, not just on the surface I can clean away. Might still just replace them all anyway.
Cleaned the rust up on the controller and also cleaned the membranes. After looking at them closer some of the traces were a little dark but they all cleaned up pretty decent. The calcium, or at least I think that's what it was, rubbed away rather effortlessly, possibly sugar from soda or similar? No idea there but it's gone.
Half assembled the board with the controller and steel plate in the housing and laid the membrane on and plugged it in and tapped around in notepad and everything was working well. Regular presses, shift and alt presses as well as function layer.
Guys, Unicomp has had SSK cases and barrel frames ("chimneys" in unicomp lingo) for a while.
I actually ordered this part in June, when I was restoring CPTbadass's SSK.
edit: there's a good chance that they added it to their website because of my order.
Where is this plate listed on Unicomp? I'm not seeing it or it's listed by another name I'm not putting together.
Hammers and springs look good and clean except three of them. Where the spring meets the hammer it is corroded with rust, not just on the surface I can clean away. Might still just replace them all anyway.
Cleaned the rust up on the controller and also cleaned the membranes. After looking at them closer some of the traces were a little dark but they all cleaned up pretty decent. The calcium, or at least I think that's what it was, rubbed away rather effortlessly, possibly sugar from soda or similar? No idea there but it's gone.
Half assembled the board with the controller and steel plate in the housing and laid the membrane on and plugged it in and tapped around in notepad and everything was working well. Regular presses, shift and alt presses as well as function layer.
The post I'm remembering is this one: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51438.90 (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51438.90)Guys, Unicomp has had SSK cases and barrel frames ("chimneys" in unicomp lingo) for a while.
I actually ordered this part in June, when I was restoring CPTbadass's SSK.
edit: there's a good chance that they added it to their website because of my order.I suspect you need to send them an e-mail for the barrel plate. You might as well ask about the SSK plates. It's better to ask and get lucky than to not ask at all. If they don't have any SSK barrel/chimney plates, you can order the 101 barrel plate from them via e-mail. I'm not sure how they charge you, but I know others have done it this way.* see the edit.
So, it looks like you have a working SSK! I've seen people glue broken plates together again by adding some structural support, but that isn't always reliable (bad keypresses, re-breaking, etc). Buying a new plate is definitely the best option, even if you have to cut down a 101's. Be sure to post pics when it's done! I love comparing before and after pictures on projects like this.
*Edit: this might be it: http://pckeyboard.com/page/Misc/CVSET I think "frame" is what you are looking for. If it is, the 84 key is just what you need, no cutting! I'd throw Unicomp an e-mail to confirm this first, just to make sure you don't order the wrong part.
If you order that barrel plate, this is as good as saved. You'll be surprised at how well it cleans up: case, keycaps and all.
Have you tested every key? The only thing holding this board back now is the membrane. Test every key before you bolt it back together with the new barrel plate so you know the membrane is good. It is possible to repair a broken membrane with the right copper tape, or conductive pen, but you'll want to know this before all the bolts are on. The bolt mod is notorious for not being right on the first try. Once it's done, if a key doesn't register, don't immediately assume that the membrane is to blame, adjust the tightness of the bolts. Too loose or too tight and some keys may stop working until it's adjusted.
I tested the membrane through notepad and everything seems to be working fine. On my first bolt mod I ran into the issue of over tightening and switches not working and remember panicking a bit.Glad to be helpful! Hope they have the FR84 in stock. If not, I'm 99% certain that a 101 will work for the project, no matter what Unicomp says. Unicomp doesn't really get involved in the DIY scene, so they aren't aware of the things that can be done relatively easily with their parts.
I called Unicomp this afternoon and it went a bit like this: (not exact wording but close)
Me: Im rebuilding an ibm model m model 1391472 and am looking for a replacement frame. Will the 84-key frame you have work with my board?
CSR: We don't have 84-key frames.
Me: I was sure I saw them listed on your site.
CSR: No you didn't. We don't carry those. Only 101 and 104.
Me: If I were to cut down the 101 would it possibly fit?
CSR: That I do not know. I can tell you that we are currently developing our own 84-key that you can get a hold of sometime middle of next year.
Me: Excellent. Thank you very much.
-End call-
From there I went to the site and put in my order for the FR84 Frame that was listed, Cable, and the replacement pivots and springs, some extras of those. See if Mr. CSR or the site is lying/uninformed.
Now the waiting game.
Thanks again for your informative replies. They're really helping my confidence in saving this thing as well as learning some new things.
Where is this plate listed on Unicomp? I'm not seeing it or it's listed by another name I'm not putting together.
Hammers and springs look good and clean except three of them. Where the spring meets the hammer it is corroded with rust, not just on the surface I can clean away. Might still just replace them all anyway.
Cleaned the rust up on the controller and also cleaned the membranes. After looking at them closer some of the traces were a little dark but they all cleaned up pretty decent. The calcium, or at least I think that's what it was, rubbed away rather effortlessly, possibly sugar from soda or similar? No idea there but it's gone.
Half assembled the board with the controller and steel plate in the housing and laid the membrane on and plugged it in and tapped around in notepad and everything was working well. Regular presses, shift and alt presses as well as function layer.Where do you work???
I want a ssk!
Low Voltage installer. Mostly data, phone and fiber networks. I end up in a lot of odd places in the buildings I work in sometimes and come across all manner of things from keyboards like this to hand tools. Here there is an old BS type-writer I found as well. Some places just never throw stuff away. It gets shuffled around until someone like myself shows up, finds it and asks, "Can I have this?" Maybe I should start taking pics of stuff I find and can have and see if anyone here wants it.
From there I went to the site and put in my order for the FR84 Frame that was listed, Cable, and the replacement pivots and springs, some extras of those. See if Mr. CSR or the site is lying/uninformed.
From there I went to the site and put in my order for the FR84 Frame that was listed, Cable, and the replacement pivots and springs, some extras of those. See if Mr. CSR or the site is lying/uninformed.
edit: found it: http://pckeyboard.com/page/Misc/CVSET
Thought about greasing the keys. Should I?
I recall liking the grease mod a lot and not the floss mod.
If you do decide you want to grease mod your Model M, rkinze has some info on it here (http://www.knizefamily.net/russ/computing/keyboards/ibm-model-m-grease-mod/). I recall liking the grease mod a lot and not the floss mod. I tried rkinze's grease modded M and floss modded M at Keycon.
When he said "grease the keys" I figured he meant the key stems, like lubing Cherries or Alps.
If you do decide you want to grease mod your Model M, rkinze has some info on it here (http://www.knizefamily.net/russ/computing/keyboards/ibm-model-m-grease-mod/). I recall liking the grease mod a lot and not the floss mod. I tried rkinze's grease modded M and floss modded M at Keycon.
I like the floss mod, its worked well enough for my work keyboard.
I have found that the floss mod works better on the 1 piece BS keys than it does on the 2 piece cap-and-stem type.
I personally wouldn't want to grease the keys because it seems like it would be a pain in the backplane to reverse. Primum non nocere
Good luck with your restoration!!!
Congratulations! Fabulous results :)
Worst case you can sell it, might get $300 to $400.
So, a split plastic plate cannot be repaired? It must be replaced?
This is a .020" Polyurethane sheet I had to cut holes in to replace the original rubber mat. It still could be 1/2 to a 1/4 of the thickness but it works pretty well. Feels more crisp than my full M with its stock mat.I used a modern unicomp "blanket" which is much thinner. I like it a lot more than the original.Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/o2Wrp3r.jpg)
Nice writeup of the restoration process. Very enjoyable read. Does make me worry about having to boltmod my own some day, seems like tedious work.