Some suggestions on a mod idea.....

[enoy21]

Since getting into the Mechanical Keyboard realm .... I got to thinking about the thousands of Keyboards my current company and old company have gone through and just tossed aside.


So I went through some old inventory and found one ( and probably many more to be found ) WYSE WY60 Terminal emulator keyboard.     I could tell by the feel right away that it was mechanical , and sure enough.... Cherry MX black switches inside.


The issue at hand is that it's connector is an RJ11 connector.

Two questions.

A : Is it possible to convert this to a USB/PS2 conectable board ? ( Is the power flow different ? Desolder the connection and attach another ? Use current wiring to splice in a different connector ? Other ideas ? )
 
B : Does what my old CIT teacher told us 1.5 decades ago still hold true ? That the best way to clean a Keyboard is in the Dish Washing machine ?

 This thing has been through a couple warehouses and is FUNKY.  But the switches still feel nice.  I was thinking that this could make a good dedicated Gaming board, or Laptop connecting board if I find the blue switches to be an issue.

[Lanx]

had great success with that denture foaming tab stuff for keycaps.

[Pylon]

A. Most likely the electrical signaling isn't compatible with USB/PS2. You want a new controller. There's two ways:
1. You can use a Teensy controller and solder it onto the existing key matrices. Issue is that programming will probably be a bit tricky if you're new and especially if the keyboard is 2KRO (no diodes in switches). If you need help ask PrinsValium or Soarer (or other members) who know much better about how to do this.
2. Find some cheap USB controller from a rubber dome keyboard. This is what I did for my mod here. You cut the traces on the keyboard PCB, and examine the rubber dome's membranes and copy the matrix onto the PCB with wire. Issue is that the wiring tends to be messy, you lose NKRO if the keyboard originally had it, you might run into bounce issues since the controller was designed for a rubber dome keyboard, you can't program custom keys into your controller, etc. The main advantage is that it's cheap, but you lose a ton of possibilities.

B. Depends. Bad idea with a mechanical IMO.

[Findecanor]

A: Is it the same type of keyboard as on this page, owned by Sixty?
Then it is not PC compatible, and there is no adapter readily available. To use it with a PC, you need to replace the controller circuitry inside with one that you have made yourself .. or figure out the protocol that it talks and build your own adapter, with your own programmed µ-controller. Neither is anything that many people do.

The keyboard and the key caps are of high quality though. There could be demand for the key caps on this board. There has even been a group of enthusiasts who have tried to make replica key caps for their modern PC boards in the likeness of WYSE's.

B: No. You should unscrew it and clean the parts separately.

Case: This you can clean in the dishwasher, or by hand with dishwashing fluid.

Metal plate and circuit board: Vacuum it to get rid of dust. Remove crud with q-tip dipped in alcohol.

Key caps: Remove (easiest to do with a "key-cap puller" tool) and put them in a high bowl with 5 "denture cleaning tabs" (should be available at a larger supermarket or the pharmacy). Add hot water to cover the caps and let the tabs do their work. Let sit for an hour or a few. Rinse in a sieve under the tap. Let them sit and dry for a few days in the sieve.

If any part has yellowed, then you could bleach it -- search the forum for "retrobrite".

[enoy21]

Thanks for the awesome tips.  I can't see that link due to business filtering:

This is the same model number though : http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?18402-WYSE-Terminal-Keyboard-840338-01-WY60-ASCII-w-RJ-11

 but perhaps I'll just salvage as much as I can (Keycaps and switches )  as I strip it apart and learn some more ins and outs.

These blacks really do feel nice.   Who knows how old this board or the switches in it are. It's REALLY filthy.  lol

[enoy21]

I see wut you did thur....... you rascally devil you !

*Wildy inappropriate and exaggerated wink*

[enoy21]

Ok , So here is an update.    I pulled the board apart and saw that the key caps are the two piece caps. They are dingy and a dull color , but I've cleaned them and now have them soaking in some denture solution.

Man these keys really felt good compared to my domes.   Really made me think I could be very happy with blacks or reds.   Very smooth.  

So now onto my next question. I have the Plate and PCB board with the switches on them. How exactly does one tell which way they are mounted ? What is the best way to remove them if soldering iron is not needed ?

I think it's plate mounted as it seems that the PCB only has some small black tips sticking through holes there. But then I haven't really attempted removal or separation from the plate yet.  

I didn't take any before pictures , but I plan to take the plate and switch pictures in a few to upload once the caps are ready.

[enoy21]

I went back and read/watched this :

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Cherry+switches+and+boards


I believe this is a plate mounted board. ( Metal plate between the PCB and top of the switch)  Does this sound about right ?

By Desoldering the switches..... would I be able to transplant them to another board ? Like an old rubber dome board or something ?


Ok , After reading this :

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:8308

Making the controller is definitely beyond my electronics experience ( it's been 15 years since I took it in HS )

Connecting the points as he did in the images wouldn't be too bad.  But I'm guessing at this point I'm wondering what I can do with this relic.  

The double injected keycaps are nice and all of the switches themselves seem to be in good working order. I would like to be able to use the switches and caps in another board somehow.  Just no idea how to go about it and what would be the most convenient method.

[N8N]

If they are Cherry MX switches, keep an eye out for a Cherry G80-3000 or similar; you could transplant the keycaps, stems, and springs into it.

Alternately, the keycaps will fit any Cherry board with the same layout.

Finally, are these beige/grey doubleshots?  If so, and you give up on the project, drop me a line!  (I was eagerly awaiting the Deskthority GB on some of these, and now it looks like that isn't going to happen, and I'd really like to have a set of old school doubleshots or dye subs.  I'm currently typing this on one of my Model Ms and the keycaps just look so much better than anything I've ever seen on a Cherry keyboard.)

[enoy21]

I don't know if you would call them grey.... Due to the age they are a bit yellowed, but yes they are doubleshots.  Here are some pictures to give a better idea.  ( Sorry for poor lighting and fuzzy)

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[enoy21]

I'm kind of digging that last picture in a geeky arts kind of way..... lol     Another thing is that strangely there is ONE key that is not a doubledshot.  I think it's one of the Ins keys.  Just randomly , out of all of them it only has the single layer although it seems to have the marking of a previous two layer. I'm assuming someone swapped the key at some point in time.

[N8N]

I meant beige alphanumerics w/ grey modifiers... just like you have

unfortunately, it looks like that keyboard is not a 100% standard layout so those keys would not be compatible with,say, a Filco 104 (the two things that jump out at me are the short RShift and 1x backslash/pipe.)  Which is sad because I really like the big old school font.  But you could still "restore" that keyboard and use it as is, assuming that it functions (although based on previous comments, it sounds like it's not an AT compatible board?)  Those are in fact plate mount switches which is good and bad - good for feel, bad if you want to disassemble/clean/lube the key switches (you'll have to desolder them.)

I love the colored arrows and home keys too... awesome find.

[enoy21]

Thanks N8N   I thought that I may end up just holding on to the keys and switches as part mods to another board at some time.  I hate that I don't have the technical patience to mod it for use though.  It's a great feeling board and keys.
Really makes me wonder how many of these We've just tossed over the years.   lol


I've got some images,   Lighting wasn't awesome and due to the severe angle it was hard to balance the D key for the pic.  Did you want me to upload full size here or put them on Tinypic ?  Full size is 2048/1536 I believe

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These are on a WYSE WY60 board , ASCII  Part No. 840338-01

[N8N]

Oh wow, are those BLUE lettering?  Do want.  Unfortunately I don't really have any interest in trying to steal them from you since they're unusable on any board that I'd actually like to use for day to day use, but those keycaps are indeed awesome.

Just because they are so freakin' cool, it might be worth keeping the board all together and seeing if you couldn't do a custom controller for it.  I'm a total hypocrite because I'd run screaming from such a project, but it might be a cool end product.

[enoy21]

Technically they are blue , but in normal light they look black. The Arrows keys as seen above are in Yellow.

[dorkvader]

I must say I'm a big fan of WYSE's keycaps. I'm waiting for some to go on sale on eBay. Those arrow keys are really excellent (in my opinion)

Though I'd probably take a knife and scrape off that godawfut dot on the F and J keys, It's clearly the one weakness of the design.