geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: jshel2000 on Mon, 14 May 2018, 08:02:58
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I ordered a Zenith Z-150 keyboard off of ebay, and it got absolutely DESTROYED in shipping. It must have been slammed onto some concrete or something, and the plastic cover is absolutely shattered. I was looking forward to this keyboard (it's my first alps linear board) but so much for that... I have it in 3 pieces in that picture, but it only took a single screw to take it off. The feet are also destroyed, but I don't really use the feet, so I'm not too concerned with them. It was packaged pretty well, and the box showed almost no signs of damage. Funny enough, the key switches are still in nice condition, some feel and sound a LITTLE scratchy, but they can be fixed. Hell it must have been dropped pretty hard because the 1.5mm thick (or more) zinc-dichromate plated steel sheet was actually bent at one of the corners.
Does anyone have a spare cover that I could use? I would HIGHLY appreciate it if you did. I am pretty new to mechanical keyboards, and buying things off of ebay too for that matter, so I have no idea what I'll need to do there. Anyone willing to walk me through that too?
I kind of feel bad asking so much but I have no idea what else to do.
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the box showed almost no signs of damage.
Seriously? That is bizarre.
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I mean the corners looked a little rounded off, like the were pushed in, but nothing that would indicate the catastrophic damage that was done to the board. I do remember the bubble wrap being a bit lacking around the left and right sides, but it didn’t seem poorly packaged overall. Though a well placed drop on the side could have easily done a number on the board, and that appears to be what happened.
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How's about salvage the switches and keycaps for a diy build instead? Likely it's pcb would be damaged too. The case can be fixed with epoxy if you don't mind the look. Such a shame.
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Not against hunting down another cover..
But here's the counter-proposal..
Glue it up the best you can, and just accept it for what it is.
If you've fallen and skinned your knee, are you no longer still a person, are you no longer of any utility besmirched by a scar on your knee ?
It's a Battle Scars, One will receive many in life..
This keyboard event happening is more philosophical than mechanical,
---because fundamentally, a non cracked case vs a cracked one has no functional difference to the end user.
Learning to appreciate the Imperfection and History of an item as it moves through time is a worthwhile skill.
By accepting deminished vanity, one becomes more capable of extracting the maximum utility at the lowest cost..
There's a lesson in what's happened.. Shattered made whole, phoenix from the ashes, that sorta thing. hahahahahahaaha..
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PCB seemed okay, but that might not be a bad idea. Still a shame, I loved that badge and the metal parts of the case to death. Also I lack a good soldering iron, so I may not have much of a choice. I tried to hook up the keyboard without the case to my pc, and all that happened was the num lock light turned on, but that's it. It may have some non-cosmetic damage, or it somehow requires the case and bits of metal in it to complete some circuit, given there were some copper foil strips in the case that fell out. And yes, I mean fell out.
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PCB seemed okay, but that might not be a bad idea. Still a shame, I loved that badge and the metal parts of the case to death. Also I lack a good soldering iron, so I may not have much of a choice. I tried to hook up the keyboard without the case to my pc, and all that happened was the num lock light turned on, but that's it. It may have some non-cosmetic damage, or it somehow requires the case and bits of metal in it to complete some circuit, given there were some copper foil strips in the case that fell out. And yes, I mean fell out.
The metal part is grounded through that little wire with the loop on it , other than that, the case is NOT a functional part of the circuit..
The Foil etc is again part of the grounding.
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Not against hunting down another cover..
But here's the counter-proposal..
Glue it up the best you can, and just accept it for what it is.
If you've fallen and skinned your knee, are you no longer still a person, are you no longer of any utility besmirched by a scar on your knee ?
It's a Battle Scars, One will receive many in life..
This keyboard event happening is more philosophical than mechanical,
---because fundamentally, a non cracked case vs a cracked one has no functional difference to the end user.
Learning to appreciate the Imperfection and History of an item as it moves through time is a worthwhile skill.
By accepting deminished vanity, one becomes more capable of extracting the maximum utility at the lowest cost..
There's a lesson in what's happened.. Shattered made whole, phoenix from the ashes, that sorta thing. hahahahahahaaha..
I wish I could. I don't think I have enough glue, or time, to glue it back together. Plus, given that the case seems to be a bit thin (no more than 2 or 3 millimeters) I don't think there's enough surface area to fix it. And the amound of glue it would take... I live 15 minutes away from the Gorilla glue/tape headquarters and factory (they are a Cincinnatian company) and it still might be a bit of a task getting enough glue and a strong enough hold.
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PCB seemed okay, but that might not be a bad idea. Still a shame, I loved that badge and the metal parts of the case to death. Also I lack a good soldering iron, so I may not have much of a choice. I tried to hook up the keyboard without the case to my pc, and all that happened was the num lock light turned on, but that's it. It may have some non-cosmetic damage, or it somehow requires the case and bits of metal in it to complete some circuit, given there were some copper foil strips in the case that fell out. And yes, I mean fell out.
The metal part is grounded through that little wire with the loop on it , other than that, the case is NOT a functional part of the circuit..
The Foil etc is again part of the grounding.
I will have to look at it again, but I feel like I just called the color yellow, blue. Not out of the ordinary for me though.
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Not against hunting down another cover..
There's a lesson in what's happened.. Shattered made whole, phoenix from the ashes, that sorta thing. hahahahahahaaha..
If I do this, I'm calling the keyboard pheonix or something. I'll only us it once every year or so and have it framed on my wall, along with a picture of the state of arrival and the ebay picture.
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Worst case scenario you either learn how to solder and how to fix DC circuitry or let someone else to fix/salvage it, I could fix it to look near undamaged state and fully functional in a few days by buying the wreckage from you if the shipping from US to the UK isn't this prohibitivly expensive but I am sure someone else based in the US is willing to fix it. Smashed case? Epoxy it sand it paint for the grain, fried controller? jumper it to a teensy or arduino or hand wire it entirely. It's simple if you really want to do it. By the way did you just updated your signature today?
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Can you file a claim with the shipping company or paypal or ebay?
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You or the seller could file a claim with the shipping company iff it was insured shipping.
If you had not specifically asked the seller for insured shipping and it was shipped uninsured then you can't claim anything from anyone — because it is implicit that you would have chosen to take a risk in having it shipped uninsured.
If you had asked the seller for insurance but the seller shipped uninsured then only then would you have grounds for a claim with eBay/PayPal.
The only exceptions to the rule would be if the sender had been grossly negligent in packaging, or if it was broken before sending. But I can't see that here. Keyboards are shipped in simple cardboard boxes all the time.
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@Mattr567 was selling some SKCL greens from a Z-150 the other day, maybe PM him and see if he still has the plastic cover.
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@Mattr567 was selling some SKCL greens from a Z-150 the other day, maybe PM him and see if he still has the plastic cover.
Its sitting on my floor.
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Now I think that someone had a box that it just barely fit into side-to-side but was big enough in the other 2 dimensions so that it could have plenty of padding and withstand a lot of abuse - except for a side-to-side squeeze.
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I tried to hook up the keyboard without the case to my pc, and all that happened was the num lock light turned on, but that's it. It may have some non-cosmetic damage, or it somehow requires the case and bits of metal in it to complete some circuit, given there were some copper foil strips in the case that fell out. And yes, I mean fell out.
For what it's worth, that's an XT so it won't work via PS/2 without an active converter. I'd say plugging it in and having the Num Lock light come on is a very good sign -- that's what my AT does when it's plugged in. My AT is also incredibly picky when it comes to PS/2 adapters, in the event that's an AT with an XT badge.
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Worst case scenario you either learn how to solder and how to fix DC circuitry or let someone else to fix/salvage it, I could fix it to look near undamaged state and fully functional in a few days by buying the wreckage from you if the shipping from US to the UK isn't this prohibitivly expensive but I am sure someone else based in the US is willing to fix it. Smashed case? Epoxy it sand it paint for the grain, fried controller? jumper it to a teensy or arduino or hand wire it entirely. It's simple if you really want to do it. By the way did you just updated your signature today?
I will consider sending it to someone, but I would prefer to do it myself. Cheaper that way.
I did change my signature. I joined the forum like two days ago, so that's why.
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Now I think that someone had a box that it just barely fit into side-to-side but was big enough in the other 2 dimensions so that it could have plenty of padding and withstand a lot of abuse - except for a side-to-side squeeze.
Upon further inspection (I actually looked at the box again), the box is a little bit crushed horizontally. Not a lot, but it didn't look out of the ordinary when I picked it up. It was just that there was so much damage to the keyboard itself. fragments of plastic from the case about two inches long and an inch wide were just floating around inside the keyboard, and smaller, one inch long and quarter inch wide pieces were actually stuck BENEATH the keys.
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I tried to hook up the keyboard without the case to my pc, and all that happened was the num lock light turned on, but that's it. It may have some non-cosmetic damage, or it somehow requires the case and bits of metal in it to complete some circuit, given there were some copper foil strips in the case that fell out. And yes, I mean fell out.
For what it's worth, that's an XT so it won't work via PS/2 without an active converter. I'd say plugging it in and having the Num Lock light come on is a very good sign -- that's what my AT does when it's plugged in. My AT is also incredibly picky when it comes to PS/2 adapters, in the event that's an AT with an XT badge.
Even with the pull-up resistors, my white label Z-150 would not work with my Soarer's but worked great with a Monoprice 10934 PS/2 converter. I think the black label Z-150s are better because even though they need a custom pinout to accommodate the additional reset pin, you end up with the ability to remap keys and add fn layers.