geekhack
geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: E TwentyNine on Tue, 11 March 2014, 12:47:35
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/141219144641
AU $195.00
Approximately US $175.89
Plus a lot of shipping if you're not local...
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Holybejebus, 88 shipping to US . Always interesting to see the cost of international shipping
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Unless you're local, shipping kills it pretty hard.
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Always interesting to see the cost of international shipping
USPS flat rate game board box international is $78 ($54 to Canada) and is the only realistic option for a heavy keyboard leaving the US.
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That's the kind of shipping cost we get from US to Australia all the time.
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Second one added
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/IBM-Model-M-Clicky-84-Key-PS-2-Space-Saver-Keyboard-SSK-1370475-1993-/141219656639
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There are four expensive SSKs up at once now. The two aussies, one bolt mod, and one NOS. Maybe the price will finally start going down with the supply increasing like this.
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Nice, but still above my budget :(
Here's hoping that prices do start to descend.
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Always interesting to see the cost of international shipping
USPS flat rate game board box international is $78 ($54 to Canada) and is the only realistic option for a heavy keyboard leaving the US.
I have maild a lot of keyboards internationally and in almost every case it was cheaper to mail it priority but not flat rate.
for example (http://ircalc.usps.com/MailServices.aspx?country=10013&m=7&p=7&o=0&MailingDate=3/12/2014&MailingTime=8:00%20AM&l=20&w=8&h=4&g=0&r=True&dv=10) a 7 lb box with impressive dimensions (20*8*4) costs under $60 to ship to Australia. Postage price is primarily determined by the weight, so flat-rate is usually only worth it for really heavy items, or dense items.
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I have maild a lot of keyboards internationally and in almost every case it was cheaper to mail it priority but not flat rate.
I recently shipped a 4 lb. 9 oz. keyboard in the same box from Georgia to California and the Priority rate was almost 30% higher than the flat rate would have been.
I shipped a relatively light keyboard to Tasmania for about $53, but that was before the last big price jump.
And, each weight has an associated size range, and the rate goes up steeply when you cross various thresholds.
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There are four expensive SSKs up at once now. The two aussies, one bolt mod, and one NOS. Maybe the price will finally start going down with the supply increasing like this.
What are thoughts on bolt modded boards?
Also, is this something that should be disclosed by a seller? Feeling a bit burnt by a purchase I made as found a board to be bolt modded when it was not mentioned in the listing.
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There are four expensive SSKs up at once now. The two aussies, one bolt mod, and one NOS. Maybe the price will finally start going down with the supply increasing like this.
What are thoughts on bolt modded boards?
Also, is this something that should be disclosed by a seller? Feeling a bit burnt by a purchase I made as found a board to be bolt modded when it was not mentioned in the listing.
I'd consider that a plus, as long as the bolt mod was done properly. The biggest pain in the ass with a bolt mod isn't installing the bolts, it's drilling all those damn holes.
Even if it were done improperly, any issues you have with the board can be fixed fairly quickly and the board will be more solid going forward.
But yes, I do think it should be disclosed by the seller if it is not apparent in the pictures.
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There are four expensive SSKs up at once now. The two aussies, one bolt mod, and one NOS. Maybe the price will finally start going down with the supply increasing like this.
What are thoughts on bolt modded boards?
Also, is this something that should be disclosed by a seller? Feeling a bit burnt by a purchase I made as found a board to be bolt modded when it was not mentioned in the listing.
I'd like it to be mentioned, but overalll, I don't really care as long as it works and there are no dead keys or anything of the sort. I buy keyboards to use them, not display them in a museum.
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Feeling a bit burnt by a purchase I made as found a board to be bolt modded when it was not mentioned in the listing.
That seems bizarre but could be troubling. I have done over a dozen bolt mods and I will tell you that they are a PITA.
At the minimum you have invested a couple of hours and spent at least $10 on hardware, so I would expect to be compensated for that.
Therefore, I would place the bolt-mod front and center in my ad, and expect to be paid a premium for it by someone who wanted it.
If you wanted a virgin M so that you could do the bolt mod yourself, I can see that you were very disappointed. I would have been.
Otherwise, I would have expected a bolt mod to be an upgrade worth tens of dollars at least, and if no premium price was asked, I would immediately assume that it was a botched job that the seller was just trying to unload.
But a properly-working Model M is a good thing to have. If you really want a fresh one, sell it on ebay for what you paid, and try again.
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Unless the seller happened to purchase the board already bolt modded, didn't realise, and sold it on without checking.
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Kudos to the seller for the fair pricing.
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Kudos to the seller for the fair pricing.
+1
But if only it was a little bit lower still ...
;)
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Feeling a bit burnt by a purchase I made as found a board to be bolt modded when it was not mentioned in the listing.
That seems bizarre but could be troubling. I have done over a dozen bolt mods and I will tell you that they are a PITA.
At the minimum you have invested a couple of hours and spent at least $10 on hardware, so I would expect to be compensated for that.
Therefore, I would place the bolt-mod front and center in my ad, and expect to be paid a premium for it by someone who wanted it.
If you wanted a virgin M so that you could do the bolt mod yourself, I can see that you were very disappointed. I would have been.
Otherwise, I would have expected a bolt mod to be an upgrade worth tens of dollars at least, and if no premium price was asked, I would immediately assume that it was a botched job that the seller was just trying to unload.
But a properly-working Model M is a good thing to have. If you really want a fresh one, sell it on ebay for what you paid, and try again.
I was expecting a virgin board, as the seller was someone who knew Ms. Already paid a premium because it was an Industrial 102.
There was some pinging on the number row keys, so opened it to see if there was an obvious problem, and immediately noticed the bolts.
What was also interesting is some of the bolts where one way, and some the other. I cannot remember this on any of the guides I had read.
I didn't do anything else inside, and just put it back together and put it aside to decide what I should do next...
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Another one added:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/IBM-Model-M-Clicky-84-Key-PS-2-Space-Saver-Keyboard-SSK-1391472-1987-/141220788397
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What was also interesting is some of the bolts where one way, and some the other. I cannot remember this on any of the guides I had read.
Hard for me to understand how you would do that. I drill all my holes, clean them up, and run the bolts through from the front (top) side.
Then I turn the barrel plate over and assemble everything else in the upside-down position. I use the little bolts to stack all the layers and have everything aligned properly. The holes in the metal plate are a bit larger and will accommodate holes drilled not-perfectly-vertical.
I suppose that you could do this with some, but not all of them, but then it would be very hard to "hit" the holes exactly from the blind side. And that ridged side is where you want to be careful not to booger up the slots and tabs ("crescents" as Sandy called them).
Also, if the holes were not drilled straight, you could make the problem worse by forcing your way in from the wrong side. More, without washers, the bolt heads might almost slip through the holes.
Last, there are problems of space and fit. There is not a lot of extra clearance on either side - if the nut ends protrude too far out the bottom, you can almost hit the case at the front (spacebar) side, so using short bolts is important. On the top, you are very close to the skirt of the key when it is in the depressed position.
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What was also interesting is some of the bolts where one way, and some the other. I cannot remember this on any of the guides I had read.
I could see maybe on the bottom row reversing the bolts (if that would even work). If they're just randomly reversed, yeah that's strange.
But again, easily fixed.
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Whoops, link to the more recent listing already posted.
(Really needs to be a way to delete messages on here.)
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I could see maybe on the bottom row reversing the bolts (if that would even work). If they're just randomly reversed, yeah that's strange.
But again, easily fixed.
Yes, the bottom row was reversed. And there were no washers.