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geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: jacobolus on Sat, 05 March 2016, 22:43:24

Title: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: jacobolus on Sat, 05 March 2016, 22:43:24: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201533714996
Auction starts at ~$50 + shipping. These things are quite rare, so I have no idea what a fair price is. MSRP when they were new was like $1500 or something.

The Ebay auction has a horrible photo, and it’s hard to judge exactly what condition the switches are in, but the typewriter should be similar to this one of HaaTa’s:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triplehaata/sets/72157636880588075

HaaTa also has the more expensive “Professional” cousin:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113845661925823397356/albums/5788604832670527921

Here’s a video of the switch in action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA31C5-Oku8):
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: Firebolt1914 on Tue, 08 March 2016, 19:19:48: I might actually try to get this...
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: Firebolt1914 on Wed, 09 March 2016, 17:20:29: I won the bid, but /apparently/ the seller dropped the typewriter and it broke, thus can't sell it.
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: CPTBadAss on Wed, 09 March 2016, 17:23:31: Quote from: Firebolt1914 on Wed, 09 March 2016, 17:20:29
I won the bid, but /apparently/ the seller dropped the typewriter and it broke, thus can't sell it.

Bummer city. I would have loved to have this. Wonder if there's a way to get it to work over USB...
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: jacobolus on Wed, 09 March 2016, 17:34:15: You should see if they’ll send it to you anyway for a discount. Most of the switches and keycaps are likely fine, at least enough to build some custom keyboard out of.
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: Firebolt1914 on Wed, 09 March 2016, 18:07:49: Quote from: jacobolus on Wed, 09 March 2016, 17:34:15
You should see if they’ll send it to you anyway for a discount. Most of the switches and keycaps are likely fine, at least enough to build some custom keyboard out of.

I may have low balled for shipping only afterwards so I kinda burned down that bridge :blank:
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: jacobolus on Wed, 09 March 2016, 19:58:24: What’s he going to do with the typewriter? Just make sure it doesn’t get thrown away! :)
Title: Re: Olympia typewriter with click-tastic Marquardt “butterfly” switches
Post by: Firebolt1914 on Sat, 12 March 2016, 12:48:48: Quote from: jacobolus on Wed, 09 March 2016, 19:58:24
What’s he going to do with the typewriter? Just make sure it doesn’t get thrown away! :)

The seller is sketchier than I thought; when they 'dropped' it, all 7 typewriters for sale were deleted. The seller did message me that they were going to get it checked out. I still have a slim chance of being able to get it, but I'm doubtful.