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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: alipstadt on Wed, 03 February 2010, 18:19:47

Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Wed, 03 February 2010, 18:19:47
And I got my first Filco yesterday, and the keys were a bit light, and I was curious, and the other one was in view, and I was bored:

(http://www.lipstadt.com/pub/filco_swap_sm.jpg)

Err yeah.  And I need to clean those keys.  Ok, I'll be quiet now.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Wed, 03 February 2010, 18:41:10
Yup, my AEKII is looking a bit naked at the moment. In the meantime, I did the rest of the interior letter sized keys.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Wed, 03 February 2010, 18:48:12
Speaking of, is there a cheap source of harvestable double shot Alps?
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 03 February 2010, 19:25:29
I see your Focus doesn't have a large, red Esc key.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Wed, 03 February 2010, 21:52:26
Arg, the U key was intermittent.  I fiddled with it for a bit, and now it functions but the tactile and audible feedback is just slightly different than every other key, but enough that I notice.  I really don't want to send this in.  Can someone tell me how to safely take apart one of these Fukkas?  I'm out at a cafe at the moment, so I won't be doing it right now, but I'd rather not have to send in an otherwise great keyboard.

BTW, I think I like the Apple keys better, giving more of a thunk than the thinner Filcos.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 02:06:44
Ugh, the backplate was messed up, which I screwed up further.  I know it wasn't me initially, because I opened another keyswitch to check what the plate should look like, but I made matters worse when trying to put it back (the slight bend became a bigger one).  Now the U requires a ridiculous amount of force to trigger; I need a new plate, or a new switch.

Any idea where I can get one replacement switch?
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 09:31:18
Ripster, what's the mount compatibility of these this switches?  Could I just pull one from an AEK?  What else might work?

I looked at the pics of a Filco Zero teardown, the Fukka switches look like through hole pcb mounts, is that correct?

I know where to order Cherry switches; is there no component store that stocks these?
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: itlnstln on Thu, 04 February 2010, 09:33:16
ALPS (real and "compatible") can be swapped out with no problem. Bigpook put real ALPS complicated blacks from a Dell into his Filco Zero, so you should have no problems swapping around switches.
 
I don't know of a component shop that carries ALPS-compatible switches, though.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 09:43:17
Ok, well there is one AEKII switch that isn't so dampened any more.  Should make a nice caps lock key. Then again, let's see what donor boards are on the 'bay.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 10:18:23
One lot of these ought to do it. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-6-Dell-AT101W-AT-101W-Keyboard-Nice_W0QQitemZ350313180698QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item51904aee1a)
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 10:36:22
Actually, I like the clicky ALPS more than the dampened ones.  I just decided that the AEKII (really, just decided, had the case open and everything) was in too good of a condition to tear down.  Besides, 6 donor keyboards for $66 shipped is better than one at $60, esp. since I have a SGI fetish and would again finding myself not wanting to kill a keyboard :-)

No such sentimentality over those 6 Dells.
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 10:42:45
Hmmm.  Can I use the leaf from the Fukka?
Title: 'cause I was bored.
Post by: alipstadt on Thu, 04 February 2010, 10:52:37
Well, I'll have to wait to find one of those. Buying keyboards for my keyboards, ugh.:fear: