New Model F: how to remove space bar?

[jknight]

After ordering a New Model F about 4 years ago, it finally shipped in July.

It then sat in Portuguese customs for the last 3 months and at last arrived today!

My first question is: how do I remove the space bar?
It isn't working and I assume a spring slipped during shipment.

(I've searched the tech manual and the internet with no luck)

[Maledicted]

Hi jknight. You can remove a spacebar on a Model F like you would any other keyboard. I like to use the plastic ring type cap removers on longer stabilized keys since the wire ones are really only meant for square-ish caps. I popped mine off of the F107 I have nearby with nothing more than a twist tie (as I often do).

The trick is putting it back on. You want to make sure that the stabilizer wire seats into the tabs for it on either side and only press the cap back down with the cable end of the keyboard facing straight down (keys pivoted 90 degrees with the space bar higher than the rest of them). Watch to make sure that the spring is relatively centered in the barrel (from side to side, it will droop with gravity) and doesn't appear to be bent or kinked in any way. Then you should be able to snap the spacebar back into place and test it out.

What's going on with the spacebar as it is?

[jknight]

Thanks Maledicted, got it ! There's a scary looking bar thing that I thought was going to be problematic but it turned out ok.

I had to take the whole thing apart and redo it to fix dead keys but it's working now !

[Maledicted]

Thanks Maledicted, got it ! There's a scary looking bar thing that I thought was going to be problematic but it turned out ok.

I had to take the whole thing apart and redo it to fix dead keys but it's working now !

That's great to hear. The spacebar is probably the most finicky part of the Model F, but good luck ever breaking a Model F at all. I own 4 from the 80s and I haven't done a single thing to them besides, as you mentioned, tweaks to how everything is seated after shipping (or aggressive driving). I imagine the foam in at least 2 of them is basically just a powder at this point but everything works, so I don't even care.

Even thinner Costar or Alps wire stabilizers are relatively bulletproof, and definitely more annoying to take apart and put together.