I misplaced a Topre spring once. It was misplaced in my hair.
Pretty alarming to be showering and finding a Topre spring..
I misplaced a Topre spring once. It was misplaced in my hair.
Pretty alarming to be showering and finding a Topre spring..
About 2 years ago my girlfriend's son did something bad (can't remember what exactly) and we grounded him. While the grounding was going down he lost his **** and started throwing stuff around my office. There happened to be a half drank bottle of cider which ended up getting poured directly into my keyboard. About 15 switches were so sticky that they wouldn't come back up when pressed.
On the bright side, I ended up getting some tools and switches and desoldered all of the sticky ones and replaced them. Which then gave me the confidence to start trying some custom builds...
Then last week... Basically the same scenario. Kid gets mad. Instead of going crazy though, he waits till later when I'm not paying attention sneaks into my home office and spits all over the board. I didn't work from home last week so didn't notice till a few days later when I sat at my desk and my board smelled like an animal died inside of it. I couldn't figure out what it was at first but assumed he did something. Girlfriend got him to admit it later. I couldn't believe it was just spit honestly because it smelled so horrible. Anyway, the keycaps have been removed to let it air out but I had to go out of town for the weekend so have not had time to give it a proper cleaning yet... Planning to clean it up tonight... If the smell doesn't come out he will be reimbursing me for the board and keyset (novatouch + gmk carbon). Also gotta get a lock for the office door now...
Not sure if it's what you're referring to, but I had a miserable time once that involved a keyboard... :-X
RIP AT-101
Not sure if it's what you're referring to, but I had a miserable time once that involved a keyboard... :-X
RIP AT-101Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/7YIAU39.png)
Not sure if it's what you're referring to, but I had a miserable time once that involved a keyboard... :-X
RIP AT-101Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/7YIAU39.png)
Not sure if it's what you're referring to, but I had a miserable time once that involved a keyboard... :-X
RIP AT-101Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/7YIAU39.png)
Did you have to use it as a shovel? :))
Horror story. My work doesn't allow personally supplied keyboards. Only IT vendor supplied boards for security reasons (government contracts, defense work, etc.. everything is locked down). They just replaced everyone's board with Dell chiclet style units. :-\ :'( >:D :mad: :eek: :(
Not sure if it's what you're referring to, but I had a miserable time once that involved a keyboard... :-X
RIP AT-101Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/7YIAU39.png)
Did you have to use it as a shovel? :))
Sure did! Didn't have anything else...
Got back to the office late and there was 2 feet of snow, and aorund 8 feet of distance to the cleared part.
Used it to dig out my car and another one. Can vouch for the rigidity of the Dell AT101. :thumb:
Not sure if it's what you're referring to, but I had a miserable time once that involved a keyboard... :-XWell ****.
RIP AT-101Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/7YIAU39.png)
I'm assuming you trashed it after? No way that thing was in working condition.. unless I guess you just let out the snow melt out and dry.
Well ****.
If that ever happened to me I'd be devastated. I hope it wasn't one of your daily drivers.
I don't have a photo of the board in question but this is my horror story.
I finished building some Custom 60 that I was working on. Nothing too special. I'd done probably 15+ builds at this point so I was pretty confident in my abilities. Anyways, after I finished soldering I went to test it. I couldn't reach the reset button with the case I had, so I left the internals on the desk and plugged them in. I went to keyboardtester and I started to test the keys. After about 5 switches, the board just went dead. However, I unplugged it and re-plugged it and tried the switch where it stopped working last time and it registered. I checked all the diodes and solder joints, everything seemed to be fine. However, the issue was still happening. The weirdest part was that I got all of the keys to register but it would just stop working after a couple keystrokes. That number was very inconsistent as well. Sometimes it would be 5, sometimes it would be 2. It was driving me ****ing nuts. I absolutely couldn't figure out what was wrong for the life of me. I flashed new firmware, nothing was working.
After a while I ended up getting some food and putting it on my desk. I put the board on my lap and started to test it. Everything worked. The entire board.
The issue was: When I pressed keys while the internals were on the desk, it would press the reset button on the back of the PCB and put it into booloader mode.
I am such a moron.
I bought a Noppoo Choc Mini on eBay with Gat Clears for $20. Only issue was a missing USB cable, which uses the 4 pin JST connector. Instead of tracing it or finding a wiring diagram or whatever, I cut a USB cable out of an old OEM board that had the same connector and plugged it in. Apparently the cable was wired differently because it burned the controller :(
Horror story. My work doesn't allow personally supplied keyboards. Only IT vendor supplied boards for security reasons (government contracts, defense work, etc.. everything is locked down). They just replaced everyone's board with Dell chiclet style units. :-\ :'( >:D :mad: :eek: :(Yikes!
I'm a pretty decent solderer so the task doesn't scare me. But all these stories about soldering mishaps is one reason why I'm considering using holtites for my next build. All it takes is one mess up.
I've got a good one, also the reason I'll probably never try to buy another OTD board.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=74002.0
Edit: rereading the thread is giving me flashbacks :blank:
I've got a good one, also the reason I'll probably never try to buy another OTD board.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=74002.0
Edit: rereading the thread is giving me flashbacks :blank:
That truly is a nightmare.
I've got a good one, also the reason I'll probably never try to buy another OTD board.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=74002.0
Edit: rereading the thread is giving me flashbacks :blank:
That truly is a nightmare.
It was a roller coaster of emotion and in the end a good learning experience for everyone involved.
I'm a pretty decent solderer so the task doesn't scare me. But all these stories about soldering mishaps is one reason why I'm considering using holtites for my next build. All it takes is one mess up.
Bought an 87u once.. when I was a n00ber ..
Totally disappointed, did not live up to hype..
Last year I found a dusty old (circa 1993) IBM Model M buried in the bottom of a cabinet at work. It was like finding an old, desiccating corpse. I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery. Preferably with fire. Lots of fire.
Last year I found a dusty old (circa 1993) IBM Model M buried in the bottom of a cabinet at work. It was like finding an old, desiccating corpse. I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery. Preferably with fire. Lots of fire.
Last year I found a dusty old (circa 1993) IBM Model M buried in the bottom of a cabinet at work. It was like finding an old, desiccating corpse. I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery. Preferably with fire. Lots of fire.
What??! Don't trash it—it's a classic! It probably still works fine, and is just grimy from service. Ironically, the better-built a keeb is, the longer it can be used and the dirtier it can get... But that's not the poor keeb's fault, is it?
Pull the keys, separate the caps and stems (assuming they're 2-piece keys) and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes with a bit of liquid laundry soap, stirring every 10 minutes to agitate them. Blow the case out with compressed air and wipe it down with alcohol (being careful not to damage the back label).
Before putting the keys back on the board, be sure to let the stems and caps dry (at least overnight, preferably 2 days) so all vestiges of water evaporate.
If you do it with care, you may end up with a Model M that not only works perfectly, but looks like it just came off the assembly line.
Of course some Model M's are mistreated and not restorable, but that's not typical. There's a lot more info about them in threads here at GH.
I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery.
Had a 1800 PCB that had a short in it. Before doing any actual work on it I plugged it in to make sure I had the right software to program it. Ill never forget the sound of my computer recognizing it, then immediately disconnecting it about 200 times in 5 seconds. Sounded like the windows alert system was going to war.
Hate when things show up DOA
Had a 1800 PCB that had a short in it. Before doing any actual work on it I plugged it in to make sure I had the right software to program it. Ill never forget the sound of my computer recognizing it, then immediately disconnecting it about 200 times in 5 seconds. Sounded like the windows alert system was going to war.
Hate when things show up DOA
Last year I found a dusty old (circa 1993) IBM Model M buried in the bottom of a cabinet at work. It was like finding an old, desiccating corpse. I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery. Preferably with fire. Lots of fire.
What??! Don't trash it—it's a classic! It probably still works fine, and is just grimy from service. Ironically, the better-built a keeb is, the longer it can be used and the dirtier it can get... But that's not the poor keeb's fault, is it?
Pull the keys, separate the caps and stems (assuming they're 2-piece keys) and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes with a bit of liquid laundry soap, stirring every 10 minutes to agitate them. Blow the case out with compressed air and wipe it down with alcohol (being careful not to damage the back label).
Before putting the keys back on the board, be sure to let the stems and caps dry (at least overnight, preferably 2 days) so all vestiges of water evaporate.
If you do it with care, you may end up with a Model M that not only works perfectly, but looks like it just came off the assembly line.
Of course some Model M's are mistreated and not restorable, but that's not typical. There's a lot more info about them in threads here at GH.
Last year I found a dusty old (circa 1993) IBM Model M buried in the bottom of a cabinet at work. It was like finding an old, desiccating corpse. I still need to put that horrific thing out of its misery. Preferably with fire. Lots of fire.
What??! Don't trash it—it's a classic! It probably still works fine, and is just grimy from service. Ironically, the better-built a keeb is, the longer it can be used and the dirtier it can get... But that's not the poor keeb's fault, is it?
Pull the keys, separate the caps and stems (assuming they're 2-piece keys) and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes with a bit of liquid laundry soap, stirring every 10 minutes to agitate them. Blow the case out with compressed air and wipe it down with alcohol (being careful not to damage the back label).
Before putting the keys back on the board, be sure to let the stems and caps dry (at least overnight, preferably 2 days) so all vestiges of water evaporate.
If you do it with care, you may end up with a Model M that not only works perfectly, but looks like it just came off the assembly line.
Of course some Model M's are mistreated and not restorable, but that's not typical. There's a lot more info about them in threads here at GH.
Oh, I took it apart and cleaned it all up, just as an exercise. It works just fine. It's a little scraped up, but is in otherwise fine condition. But it's a Model M, and it doesn't deserve to live.
You know what they call a thousand Model M's at the bottom of the ocean? "A good start." :p
Got a used ducky mini as a christmas gift, sister dropped it five minutes after I opened it.
It works fine but that little dent on the bezel forever taunts me.
Not exactly my horror story, but my SO spilled a glass of milk all over their Razer mech keyboard... They shortly replaced it with a $10 rubber dome until a close friend gave his old Ducky Keyboard with Cherry MX Reds. I still cringe about the whole thing- from Razer > Milk > Rubber Dome... ( ་ ⍸ ་ ")
Long time lurker, first time poster! Hello everyone.
My horror story happened quite recently. I had bought a Ducky One keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches, and I wanted to replace the stock keycaps with a set of Dolch keycaps I had bought. Due to supply constraints, the only Ducky One keycap color I could get with Cherry MX Brown switches was the hideous lime green and white. It literally hurt my eyes to look at, but with new Dolch keycaps waiting in the wings, this could quickly be remedied.
The keycaps I intended to replace the ugly but quality double-shot dye sub PBT Ducky One keycaps with were made of double-shot ABS. Not quite as high a quality, IMHO, but a lot better than lime green and white!
So I set about removing the stock Ducky One keycaps. Using my wire keycap puller, which I've used countless times before, I set out to do the keycap removal. I got about half way through the board when, on the S key, the slider pulled out of the switch housing along with the keycap! I was mortified. I've never replaced switch springs or had the need to open up a switch to lube or anything, so it seemed like it was going to be quite daunting to put the slider back into the switch assembly.
So I checked YouTube and other online sources to find out how one goes about opening up a Cherry MX switch, and lacking the purpose-made tool, I set out to try using small jeweler's flat-blade screw drivers, as one guy had done on YouTube. What could go wrong?
Long story less long, I completely botched it, ruined the switch, and thus effectively ruined the keyboard. I never had a slider pull out of a switch before, and I don't yank on the keycap when I'm trying to pull it off, I give it a slight wiggle and slight pull pressure and off they come, easily. So it's still a mystery why this one particular one came out.
So the keyboard sits in the corner, broken, I guess I could desolder the switches or something, or even just desolder and re-solder one new Cherry MX brown switch to replace the broken one, but the thought of soldering on a keyboard is a bit more than I'm comfortable with, so I guess that keyboard is now dead to me.
Long time lurker, first time poster! Hello everyone.
My horror story happened quite recently. I had bought a Ducky One keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches, and I wanted to replace the stock keycaps with a set of Dolch keycaps I had bought. Due to supply constraints, the only Ducky One keycap color I could get with Cherry MX Brown switches was the hideous lime green and white. It literally hurt my eyes to look at, but with new Dolch keycaps waiting in the wings, this could quickly be remedied.
The keycaps I intended to replace the ugly but quality double-shot dye sub PBT Ducky One keycaps with were made of double-shot ABS. Not quite as high a quality, IMHO, but a lot better than lime green and white!
So I set about removing the stock Ducky One keycaps. Using my wire keycap puller, which I've used countless times before, I set out to do the keycap removal. I got about half way through the board when, on the S key, the slider pulled out of the switch housing along with the keycap! I was mortified. I've never replaced switch springs or had the need to open up a switch to lube or anything, so it seemed like it was going to be quite daunting to put the slider back into the switch assembly.
So I checked YouTube and other online sources to find out how one goes about opening up a Cherry MX switch, and lacking the purpose-made tool, I set out to try using small jeweler's flat-blade screw drivers, as one guy had done on YouTube. What could go wrong?
Long story less long, I completely botched it, ruined the switch, and thus effectively ruined the keyboard. I never had a slider pull out of a switch before, and I don't yank on the keycap when I'm trying to pull it off, I give it a slight wiggle and slight pull pressure and off they come, easily. So it's still a mystery why this one particular one came out.
So the keyboard sits in the corner, broken, I guess I could desolder the switches or something, or even just desolder and re-solder one new Cherry MX brown switch to replace the broken one, but the thought of soldering on a keyboard is a bit more than I'm comfortable with, so I guess that keyboard is now dead to me.