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geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: ekeppel on Mon, 15 May 2017, 11:56:47

Title: [Listing Ended by Seller] Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: ekeppel on Mon, 15 May 2017, 11:56:47
http://www.ebay.com/itm/192187827072

Same seller as one that was sold recently.  Perhaps they have a small cache of them? :-)

[attach=1]
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: clickityClackity on Mon, 15 May 2017, 11:58:11
Has anyone ever converted these to cherry mx compatible/is it possible?
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: clickityClackity on Mon, 15 May 2017, 12:03:12
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=82938.0
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: pr0ximity on Mon, 15 May 2017, 12:04:55
Has anyone ever converted these to cherry mx compatible/is it possible?
I'm not aware of any effort to, but the caps on these are better than just about any Cherry ones out there. Converting them to USB is trivially easy with an xwhatsit as well, no soldering required.
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: pr0ximity on Mon, 15 May 2017, 12:07:03
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=82938.0
Funnily enough these are a bit lighter than the 3101 mentioned in that thread, since the 3101 (which is actually my 3727) is all metal, while the 5251 is a plastic shell over the metal inner assembly. Metal bottom though, and they're both quite hefty.
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: ekeppel on Mon, 15 May 2017, 12:07:46
Strange...the auction was just ended without apparent reason or bids.
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: clickityClackity on Mon, 15 May 2017, 12:13:06
Strange...the auction was just ended without apparent reason or bids.
Weird... I did see one bid just a few minutes ago, maybe someone reached out and made a deal?
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: clickityClackity on Mon, 15 May 2017, 12:14:38
Has anyone ever converted these to cherry mx compatible/is it possible?
I'm not aware of any effort to, but the caps on these are better than just about any Cherry ones out there. Converting them to USB is trivially easy with an xwhatsit as well, no soldering required.
Yeah I wasn't very clear, I meant the keycaps. They are freaking gorgeous on some of these older boards, this one especially!!
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: ander on Tue, 16 May 2017, 16:20:35
Yeah I wasn't very clear, I meant the keycaps. They are freaking gorgeous on some of these older boards, this one especially!!

You sure got that right. (Except that, technically, they're called buttons (http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/Buttons)—caps being the upper halves of two-piece buttons on IBM boards. IBM created the terms "cap" and "stem" for this.)

What is it about great classic so-called "SA" buttons that turns us on so much, anyway? Is it the obvious care that went into their production? The elegance of the font, the audacity of the oversize characters? We should start a topic about this.

And BTW, what does "SA" actually mean? I know it means "big characters in the middle of the buttons", but what does "SA" actually stand for? Anyone know?

Okay, I've had coffee—but I would've asked at least some of these questions even if I hadn't been caffeinated.
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: pr0ximity on Tue, 16 May 2017, 17:22:09
Yeah I wasn't very clear, I meant the keycaps. They are freaking gorgeous on some of these older boards, this one especially!!

You sure got that right. (Except that, technically, they're called buttons (http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/Buttons)—caps being the upper halves of two-piece buttons on IBM boards. IBM created the terms "cap" and "stem" for this.)

What is it about great classic so-called "SA" buttons that turns us on so much, anyway? Is it the obvious care that went into their production? The elegance of the font, the audacity of the oversize characters? We should start a topic about this.

And BTW, what does "SA" actually mean? I know it means "big characters in the middle of the buttons", but what does "SA" actually stand for? Anyone know?

Okay, I've had coffee—but I would've asked at least some of these questions even if I hadn't been caffeinated.

Quote
"SA" denotes spherical keycaps, with the same profile across all rows. Originally a flat profile, SA was followed by the spherical sculptured SS profile, which was later retired. SA itself was later retooled for a sculptured profile, but retained its existing name.

https://deskthority.net/wiki/Signature_Plastics_SA_family
Title: Re: Another Beamspring up on eBay $29.95 starting bid...
Post by: ander on Wed, 17 May 2017, 21:31:16
Quote
"SA" denotes spherical keycaps, with the same profile across all rows. Originally a flat profile, SA was followed by the spherical sculptured SS profile, which was later retired. SA itself was later retooled for a sculptured profile, but retained its existing name.
https://deskthority.net/wiki/Signature_Plastics_SA_family

Ah. I'd always assumed SA referred to large, centered characters. But it refers to spherical buttons—and the legends are naturally centered on those because the shape's center-focused. And the single-character legends are usually oversized, I imagine, because that was just the style vintage SA double-shots used. It's good to understand these things... Thanks!