geekhack

geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 05:50:07

Title: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 05:50:07: If you live in London you may be interested in half a ton of keyboards that's up for sale on the bay. Just the top ones look interesting alone. I'd love to go picking but live too far away. You're bound to get at least a handful of decent things in there.

You're welcome!
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: Data on Tue, 14 June 2016, 07:19:43: Rubber domes... As far as the eye can see...

(http://i.imgur.com/eJ4PxdP.jpg)
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 07:44:30: Quote from: Data on Tue, 14 June 2016, 07:19:43
Rubber domes... As far as the eye can see...

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/eJ4PxdP.jpg)

Aye but there must be at least 300 keyboards there. Even selling at £1 a kb that would be a huge profit for very little work - cleaning / plugging in and quick testing.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: fohat.digs on Tue, 14 June 2016, 08:18:30: Quote from: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 07:44:30

Aye but there must be at least 300 keyboards there. Even selling at £1 a kb that would be a huge profit for very little work - cleaning / plugging in and quick testing.

I don't know how it is in Merry Olde, but around here it would be a lot of work to move a quantity of dirty used keyboards at a dollar each.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: chyros on Tue, 14 June 2016, 10:23:15: Quote from: fohat.digs on Tue, 14 June 2016, 08:18:30
Quote from: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 07:44:30

Aye but there must be at least 300 keyboards there. Even selling at £1 a kb that would be a huge profit for very little work - cleaning / plugging in and quick testing.

I don't know how it is in Merry Olde, but around here it would be a lot of work to move a quantity of dirty used keyboards at a dollar each.
The recyclers I visit can't shift boards like that at any price, they actually cost them money as they have to dispose of them which costs them. Hence why they don't mind parting with them, especially old and heavy ones, to me ^^ .
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 19 June 2016, 00:28:18: eBay link please?

Dell, HP and Logitech on the top, who knows what else underneath.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: jcoffin1981 on Sun, 19 June 2016, 03:16:30: Who knows if any of them are damaged or if they were chucked for upgrades. However, if you want to harvest old switches or keycaps you may get lucky. But you would want to know what you are getting yourself into first. 300 pounds would be a lot for a bunch of crappy Logitechs with spilled soda.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Sun, 19 June 2016, 06:26:21: Quote from: rowdy on Sun, 19 June 2016, 00:28:18
eBay link please?

ebay.com / ebay.co.uk / ebay.fr / etc
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: emdude on Sun, 19 June 2016, 06:28:42: I think he means the link to the listing itself. :))
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: Magna224 on Sun, 19 June 2016, 07:39:11: I got a big bulk lot of keyboards once. I bought like 200lb of keyboards from a recycler and I told them I was interested in old keyboards so they threw in a model M and some dell quiet keys in addition. I got a couple sets of cherry compatible keycaps and that model M but nothing else of value. It was worth the like $15 they charged me and the 30 min drive. They were really cool though and told me any time I could just drop by the shop and go through their stuff and buy it by the lb. The browse around the shop and back I did when I was there I didn't spot anything else so I never went back. I found it odd though looking through a few hundred keyboards and only finding one model M though. I guess the luck just wasn't with me maybe you'll come out with a treasure trove.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: fohat.digs on Sun, 19 June 2016, 08:18:56: Quote from: Magna224 on Sun, 19 June 2016, 07:39:11

I found it odd though looking through a few hundred keyboards and only finding one model M though.

I would say that is about right. Finding 1 good keyboard per hundred is doing OK. If yellowed Dell AT101s or AEKs meet your definition of "good" then maybe you will do a little better.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: Magna224 on Sun, 19 June 2016, 08:55:08: Quote from: fohat.digs on Sun, 19 June 2016, 08:18:56

I would say that is about right. Finding 1 good keyboard per hundred is doing OK. If yellowed Dell AT101s or AEKs meet your definition of "good" then maybe you will do a little better.

Oh those are on my list too! I have quite a few in my closet. The model M was the only interesting thing at all besides keycaps. That's what depressed me the most. Over the years I've probably found over 20 mechanical keyboards one at a time in the wild yard sales/thrift stores so when I finally found a big lot I was beyond excited. Too bad it didn't pan out. If I could buy another ~100 keyboards for $15 I would do it again though as long as there was one confirmed mechanical. My lot was completely blind from a recycler minus those few they threw in one of which was the only keyboard I cared about. That model M I later sold for $15 to a kid to cover my costs plus I got to keep all the keycaps and an adapter so it was just a bit of my time.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 19 June 2016, 21:59:04: Quote from: emdude on Sun, 19 June 2016, 06:28:42

I think he means the link to the listing itself. :))

I think you're right!
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: emdude on Sun, 19 June 2016, 22:02:38: Quote from: rowdy on Sun, 19 June 2016, 21:59:04
Quote from: emdude on Sun, 19 June 2016, 06:28:42

I think he means the link to the listing itself. :))

I think you're right!

:rolleyes:
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Mon, 20 June 2016, 13:10:26: Quote from: emdude on Sun, 19 June 2016, 06:28:42
I think he means the link to the listing itself. :))

oh... i knew...
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: rowdy on Mon, 20 June 2016, 21:50:05: Shouldn't this be in great finds (https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=41.0)?

PS. Still don't have the link.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Tue, 21 June 2016, 06:51:13: Quote from: rowdy on Mon, 20 June 2016, 21:50:05
PS. Still don't have the link.

ebay.co.uk and search. the keywords are obvious!
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: spremino on Wed, 22 June 2016, 14:38:19: Quote from: Magna224 on Sun, 19 June 2016, 07:39:11
I bought like 200lb of keyboards from a recycler and I told them I was interested in old keyboards so they threw in a model M and some dell quiet keys in addition.

It seems like they knew which keyboards were worth something, hence it was not by chance that you found nothing of value in those 200lb.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: ander on Wed, 22 June 2016, 16:52:33: Quote from: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 05:50:07
If you live in London you may be interested in half a ton of keyboards that's up for sale on the bay...

THANK YOU for forgetting to include a link to this. Sincerely.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Thu, 23 June 2016, 06:02:10: Quote from: ander on Wed, 22 June 2016, 16:52:33
Quote from: QuincyJones on Tue, 14 June 2016, 05:50:07
If you live in London you may be interested in half a ton of keyboards that's up for sale on the bay...

THANK YOU for forgetting to include a link to this. Sincerely.

You're welcome - it'll give you a chance to use your keyboard to type and search rather than simply clicking a mouse on a link!
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: rowdy on Thu, 23 June 2016, 21:53:24: Quote from: QuincyJones on Tue, 21 June 2016, 06:51:13
Quote from: rowdy on Mon, 20 June 2016, 21:50:05
PS. Still don't have the link.

ebay.co.uk and search. the keywords are obvious!

[attachimg=1]

:(
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: emdude on Thu, 23 June 2016, 22:11:03: In reality there is no lot of keyboards, and he got you to waste a couple minutes of your life looking for nonexistent rubber domes.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: QuincyJones on Fri, 24 June 2016, 12:07:09: ohh... this is the metric ton(ne).

and do young people really give up this easiy nowadays and lack the ability to think laterally? no wonder mp's are resigning everywhere now.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: TopreFan333 on Fri, 24 June 2016, 13:48:58: I thought this was going to be a thread about using dollars to go shopping in London now that the pound is dropping like a stone.
Title: Re: In London? Go get half a ton of keyboards!
Post by: zcmy on Sun, 26 June 2016, 02:20:03: Quote from: dchadwick on Fri, 24 June 2016, 13:48:58
I thought this was going to be a thread about using dollars to go shopping in London now that the pound is dropping like a stone.

Well, the Pounds taking a pounding. Might be cheaper to ship these out of the country to recycle now that it's dropped.