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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: fuus on Tue, 10 December 2013, 15:14:06
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Hey guys, quick question.
I received an SSK today of which the 'numpad' layer is all in blue font? All the other SSKs I've found online of the same model number seem to have a grey font? Is the google fu not with me today or is it genuinely rare?
Any help appreciated! Thanks, Fuus
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The later ones unicomp did often had that blue numpad. from which year is it? 200x?
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04 June '87.
EDIT: I guess the caps must be a replacement!
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afaik there is grey, light grey (with kind of silver in it), very dark grey, light blue and a very intensive blue (what unicomp did)
you should post pics. Pics are always good :)
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I'll get some up right away! brb
EDIT: Uploading. I think there's a grey shade difference in the caps!
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tada!
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ignore
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According to clicky keyboards, they refer to the numpad sub-legends as light-gray, dark-gray, light-brown, dark-brown, and black.
The majority of mine have been light-gray.
I have a set of blue that I really like, and seem to vaguely remember orange but I may be wrong.
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That looks really nice actually. Interesting...
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I'm not 100% sure, but my bet is, that it is a replacement set. I personally don't own a ssk from 87, but the ones I saw mostly had a kind of grey embedded numpad. But maybe somebody knows more...
Also that right shift looks like it belongs to another set.
But that blue is very cool.
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All pics finally uploaded, PC having a shocker >:D
I would agree with you about the right shift and slightly different shaded keycaps. It's a franken-board! Too bad about the scratches under the space..
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All pics finally uploaded, PC having a shocker >:D
I would agree with you about the right shift and slightly different shaded keycaps. It's a franken-board! Too bad about the scratches under the space..
don't worry about the scratches. Scratches give a ssk character ;)
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all I need is a replacement key for the key left of enter from unicomp and the board will be complete. Perhaps some bolt modding after that!
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According to clicky keyboards, they refer to the numpad sub-legends as light-gray, dark-gray, light-brown, dark-brown, and black.
The majority of mine have been light-gray.
I have a set of blue that I really like, and seem to vaguely remember orange but I may be wrong.
"The majority of mine have been light-gray."
Do you have too many? Do you have any intention of letting one go? I promise I will handle her with care. I have hacked a regular to ssk, but would love to have the the real one with numpad. :)
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"The majority of mine have been light-gray."
Do you have too many? Do you have any intention of letting one go?
I was referring in general terms to the couple of dozen M/Fs that have passed through my hands in recent years. I have never owned an actual SSK.
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I've been studying the quality of IBM's dyesubbing for a while now. I would say some of those caps are likely replaced, as I've yet to see a known example of IBM keycaps from that age with the "thin" process. This is especially noticeable between the [?/] key and the nearby [enter]
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tada!
It's so pretty. :'(
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If I bought a 104 key replacement cap set from Unicomp, would there be enough caps in there to make a full set of reasonably same looking caps?
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If I bought a 104 key replacement cap set from Unicomp, would there be enough caps in there to make a full set of reasonably same looking caps?
I think so
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I'd keep the new SSK caps and ditch the originals, to hopefully make it mono tone in the alphas :p
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You can also order a set of ssk keycaps at unicomp with silver-grey numpad legends
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I'm quite fond of the blue now :D
Edit: how do I order the SSK caps?!
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I'm quite fond of the blue now :D
Edit: how do I order the SSK caps?!
You have to email them and do something like a custom order. Tell them you want keycaps for the classic ibm spacesaver with the numpad legends.
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How much will they set me back?
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http://pckeyboard.com/page/Buttons/CPSET
30$
You can also order over the form above and specify what you want in the comments section. But make sure that they 100% understand what you want... if not, you end with something you didn't want. The unicomp guys do sometimes strange things. lol
If you only order up to two keysets, then shipping should be somewhere around 20-25$ iirc
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Thanks for the info snoopy, much appreciated :)
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The mystery deepens today! The SSK has been 'glue' modded :p and has a weird arrangement of two and one piece caps! the last pic is with ALL one piece caps removed except caps, and all of the top half of two piece caps gone. Weird eh?
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I saw that little white/green sticker on the back of the board on the pics you posted earlier... seems like it came from HK or china and was "refurbished" there...?
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perhaps, to me it looked like an electrical safety sticker :))
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Have you checked the crystal yet? Maybe it's uber-rare!
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to me it looks like one of those typical HK quality check stickers, that certain companies put on their cleaned/refurbished products. there should be some funny symbols on it and maybe some numbers. I also got ssks with those, but in white/red :D
But as long as everything works and the price was ok... but you should definitely think about bolt mod, that glue stuff is not ideal. :)
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Sounds about the same as what the sticker was!
I'll definitely consider a bolt mod. All the keys work absolutely perfectly!
Crystals, what?
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Those are definitely not the original keycaps. The SSKs have one piece keycaps not two piece like a full size M. Still a nice board though! I have 2 from 1987.
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One-piece caps are more common on SSKs, but there are some with two-piece caps (pre-unicomp).
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If the board is from 1987 they should be one piece.
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Well I've given the case and keycaps a good clean and the cap tones are much closer so all in all I'm pretty happy!
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Whether the SSK has one- or two- part keys doesn't depend on the date. Boards with special keycaps such as the 1392464 will have two-part keys irregardless of the date. And SSKs with one-part keys can have two-part "F" and "J" keys. Otherwise, all of the SSKs that I've seen ranging from 1987 to 1992 have one-part keys.
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Is it possible to order more of the 'under' parts from unicomp?
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Is it possible to order more of the 'under' parts from unicomp?
Yes and clickykeyboards.com.
Whether the SSK has one- or two- part keys doesn't depend on the date. Boards with special keycaps such as the 1392464 will have two-part keys irregardless of the date. And SSKs with one-part keys can have two-part "F" and "J" keys. Otherwise, all of the SSKs that I've seen ranging from 1987 to 1992 have one-part keys.
The date does matter because the only ones I have are from 1987 ;) I don't know about newer ones. All of the 1391472's (the model in question) from 1987 have one piece keycaps. Some do have two part F and J keys. The pictures provided by the OP show almost all of the keycaps as two piece which is not correct for the model that it's supposed to be according to the sticker on the back.
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Thanks smknjoe! Your help is much appreciated
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No problem fuus. It's still a great board. A famous movie quote to sum it up: "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."
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One of the feet slips in the central most upright position, any advice on a fix?
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My boards are so heavy they don't budge on a smooth desk. Do you mean the board slides around or the foot/leg won't stay stationary in one position?
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One leg doesn't stay in the central position, it slides down to closed
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It sounds like it's not opening up completely. It should open to form an obtuse angle not a right or acute angle. Check to see what is causing an obstruction.
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both will open to form obtuse angle, however one foot will also form a right angle which the second won't?
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Mine only open fully. There is some resistance right around the 90 degree point, but that's not a position to be used. It's either fully open or closed.
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ah okay, that makes sense. I shall give them a good clean out! Thanks again smknjoe