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geekhack Community => New Members => Topic started by: spiritanimals on Fri, 24 June 2016, 11:55:08

Title: Howdy!
Post by: spiritanimals on Fri, 24 June 2016, 11:55:08

Hey, geekhack! A few months ago, I saved an Apple Extended Keyboard II from the dumpster at work. Wanting to learn more about mechanical keyboards, I signed up here. Well, that was back in December... better late than never!

The AEKII is a M3501 with cream alps. The shell is in great condition, but the keys have side-grime and the innards could use a good cleaning as well. Only problem is, I don't have a cable (or adapter) to test the thing. I've been waiting to pull the trigger on a cable cause I am one of those types who needs the cable that came with that specific model. Also been considering this mod (http://ifixit.org/blog/4468/hack-it-better-apple-extended-keyboard-ii/) to do after I take it apart to clean.

Anyway, I recently got my first modern mech keyboard to get started with what I think is a new addiction. :p An 87-key CM Storm QuickFire Rapid with brown cherrys. Really wish it had a version with clears, but I guess that'll be a big project for another day! Can't wait to pull the ugly caps off this sucker. I'll be lurking the interest checks and other marketplace threads to cover that.

Thanks for having me. :)

Title: Re: Howdy!
Post by: mike52787 on Fri, 24 June 2016, 12:21:53

Welcome fellow floridian! The AEKII is a great place to start. Be sure to get a keycap puller before you disassemble it, alps switches always have very tight keycap mounts, and if youre not careful you can easily break the stems off. Modding it with a teensy like you linked in that article is definitely the way to go.

Title: Re: Howdy!
Post by: xtrafrood on Fri, 24 June 2016, 14:48:52

Florida people be like "This is my turf, scram!"

Welcome :) OoooOoo, you don't have to hand wire a matrix with that modification. Nice

Title: Re: Howdy!
Post by: spiritanimals on Fri, 24 June 2016, 18:58:24

Thanks for the warm welcome, Florida friends.  :cool:

Title: Re: Howdy!
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 26 June 2016, 01:18:20

Welcome to Geekhack!

(From someone not in Florida :p )

Congratulations on the AEKII, that is a nice keyboard by all accounts.  If modified properly, it should give you years of faithful service.  Is yours very yellowed?  A little Retrobriting can fix that.

The keycaps will probably clean up quite well after soaking in warm water with a few denture tabs.

There are a few TKL keyboards with MX clears, including the KUL (if you can find one), and the CODE (which I have).  Beware of pinging with the MX clears though, it can be a problem.