Siemens TD 81610

[niubio]

Told you in Zbrojovka post I've something really special to show...? Well, the time has finally come! Introducing Siemens TD 81610 - Loch Ness beast digged up from polish flea market:




[Pic 2] [Pic 3] [Pic 4] [Pic 5] [Pic 6] [Pic 7] [Pic 8] [Pic 9]

What can I say about it...? Almost nothing! It weights a tone, has THE BEST switch mechanism EVER (for me of course!), it feels almost like a light typewriter! Interior of the switch is hysterical - thick, steel contacts with ultra-complicated design. Caps are doubleshots. Plug at the end of the thick cord is a freakin' MONSTER (see photos). Under blank caps there are special "blocking" plastic clips, but they also have 100% working switches.

I've absolutely no idea where this guy crawled out from. I've found this site, which ?I think? is a component from the same set... Even have problems with getting the idea about the year it was made! Any clues? Wild guesses? My bet is ~'78.

I'm in a middle of video compression, stay tuned folks

EDIT: Fixed links pointing to my server, as old hosting domain does not belong to me...

[niubio]

Here it is! Enjoy And be sure to check the size comparsion with modern slim ACME keyboard @ the end of the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le7KA4ehNP4

[HaaTa]

Sorta like this one, but not

[CPTBadAss]

Wtf niubio . Making me jealous of those Polish flea markets @.@

Really lovely board, thanks for sharing pictures. Wish I could tell you more about the keyboard.

[dorkvader]

Excellent find!

My favorite part was where you opened the switch in the video.

The blank keys have a blocker under them to keep you from pressing them, I have a honeywell hall effect keyboard with a similar thing, though yours is older by far.

[HaaTa]

I usually look at a bunch of the ICs and take the latest date and make that my manufacturing estimate.

[niubio]

Sorta like this one, but not (Youtube)

Wow, that's a lovely board too! But those keys... naaaah, that's a different mechanism. On this 22241 model it's some kind of plate mounted switch... Those wicked photos... (link) - WOW, beautiful! It's not simililar to my board tho Those switches have a very distinct "metallic" feeling when they bottom, as if a "type bar" would hit a paper sheet on a typewriter (but with much less resistance).

Wtf niubio . Making me jealous of those Polish flea markets @.@

Yeah, the same thing can be said about german "Flohmarkts" - you can buy really crazy stuff like decomissioned nuclear plant equipement and sh1t like that

I usually look at a bunch of the ICs and take the latest date and make that my manufacturing estimate.

... I'm really stupid Thanks HaaTa! Dates on ICs: from 74 up to 79 (There's only one chips with that year), so I was almost right - 1979 it is!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The TD 81610 switches look really familiar, but I can't place who has something very similar. I've ruled out MouseFan and rzwv, as they have actual pages of all their switches for reference.

[niubio]

I've posted a PC question in Classfields section, but I'm thinking maybe "experienced" users rarely visit that one, as I didn't get any answer... So I guess I'll try my luck here.

I'm thinkng about selling my Siemens.To be fair, it's rather hard to find it's current price range on the market Maybe you can suggest something guys? Or maybe it's a waste of time - no one's really interested in this kind of postapocalyptic stuff?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Is that something you could send overseas by parcel, or would it need its own boat?

[niubio]

Lol, i guess i'll try to negotiate a standard shipment @ the post office

EDIT: In case of failure... we're gonna need sth. bigger than a boat... A barge maybe?