So, I picked up one of these in the last few days, and to my dismay, it was a rubber dome. But, I thought to myself, Unicomp is all about streamlined production, I have enough spare parts, so why don't I see if it can be converted to buckling springs?
OK, I have good news, more good news, some so-so news, better news, a last bit of good news, and bad news.
The good news is that the controller on this is similar (if not the same) as the buckling spring version, including that if you remove jumper J3, you swap between PC/5250 mode and Emulator mode.
The more good news is that the barrels plates are identical to one another.
The so-so news is that contrary to what I thought, this isn't a sheet of rubber domes, but rather a set of 122 individual rubber domes. And yes, they all went flying when I pulled the keyboard apart, but I was able to find all of them (I counted).
The better news is that you can, in fact, convert between rubber dome and buckling spring. With a caveat (see bad news below).
The last bit of good news is that, although the membranes aren't actually identical, they are, in fact, interchangeable. I tested this by popping it in my 1397000 that I had disassembled.
The bad news (you knew there had to be some) is that the rubberish sheet that is between the barrel plate and the membranes is not there. Now, it isn't necessary on the rubber dome version, and in fact would keep it from working. Strictly speaking, it isn't even necessary on the buckling spring version, in that it functions just fine without it (though is quite a bit louder), but I also imagine it damages the contacts slightly every time you push a key.
I'm not sure how expensive that mat is from Unicomp, but it may be cheaper to rip it out of an old terminal board, a dead 1397000, or some other way I haven't thought of yet.
I took some with my phone as I was taking it apart, but many didn't turn out well at all. I have attached them, but tommorow in the daylight I'll retake all the pictures with my macro lens, so that they are easier to see.
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Huh, those look even blurrier than I thought from my phone. I'll definitely be replacing those.
