what makes this chicony worth so much?

[berserkfan]

OK, I didn't post it in great finds because the asking price seems out of the world

lousy, dirty, defaced, yellowed (aka poor quality plastic), AT connector (aka damn obsolete) keyboard with alps switches - and owner thinks people will pay $260 for it?

Can the wiser and more knowledgeable geeks enlighten us? Or is the seller just hoping to snag the average dumb geek?

[CPTBadAss]

If it has complicated blue Alps switches, that might be why. I really like Alps switches and those are hard to come by. I wouldn't be so quick to pass judgement if you've never tried them before. Also, people on eBay can price things ridiculously.

Edit: Yellowing means that the board is old and it can be cleaned by using the retr0byte gel.

[calavera]

You talking about this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Chicony-E8H51KKB-5160AT-84-Key-Keyboard-XT-AT-Switch-Green-Sliders-/150948653732?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item23253daaa4


Unless its NIB or mint condition no way in hell it's worth that much. Even if it were, it won't sell for that price. Also its linear green, not a lot of demand for them really. He'll be very lucky if he gets $80 and that one has been on ebay for awhile now so either seller doesn't know how to take a hint or is simply delusional.

Here's a leading edge model (also very rare and has blue alps) and in VERY good condition that went for $236: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330906516529

[llovro]

here on Bolha (slovenian ebay) there's a guy selling ****ed up chicony kb 5191 with cherry mx blue switches for 100$ ...

[absyrd]

You talking about this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Chicony-E8H51KKB-5160AT-84-Key-Keyboard-XT-AT-Switch-Green-Sliders-/150948653732?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item23253daaa4


Unless its NIB or mint condition no way in hell it's worth that much. Even if it were, it won't sell for that price. Also its linear green, not a lot of demand for them really. He'll be very lucky if he gets $80 and that one has been on ebay for awhile now so either seller doesn't know how to take a hint or is simply delusional.

Yeah... even $80 is being overly optimistic.

[berserkfan]

AHA! I am learning now.

Captain, mind telling me about blue alps? They sound rare.

Also, what about this retrobyte gel? Can it restore yellowed plastic? It sounds too good to be true.

If it has complicated blue Alps switches, that might be why. I really like Alps switches and those are hard to come by. I wouldn't be so quick to pass judgement if you've never tried them before. Also, people on eBay can price things ridiculously.

Edit: Yellowing means that the board is old and it can be cleaned by using the retr0byte gel.

[CPTBadAss]

Complicated blue alps are like clicky white alps except lighter I believe. The actuation is at the top and the click is lighter than MX blues. If you look in my sig at the wiki, my writeup of the Mr. Interface Switch Try Bag has my thoughts on the Clicky White Alps switch.

Retr0bryte gel, or however you spell it, is a mixture of oxy-clean, hydrogen peroxide (I think), and a gelling agent. It reverses the yellowing by removing/neutrallizing the chemical. You can get way more accurate info if you google it though.

[Mandolin]

No way!! )
I've got one of those!, like my attachment?, lucky day. It's indeed lighter than the white alps. I thought it was a  keeper but its a seller because I've got another alps that I'm comfy with. Gonna clean it later this week and put it some of those ridiculous prices on ebay.

[domoaligato]

Retr0bright
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright

a better site for Retr0bright recipes
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/Retr0Bright+Gel

I have a leading edge board with white alps and another board with omron yellows. I am gutting them both to create a GH60 Alps hardwired.
My little learn how to solder project before the gh60's come.

[CPTBadAss]

Nice get Mandolin! What board is that? I'm looking for donor boards to scavenge complicated blue Alps from.

[Mandolin]

I got sick from retrobright after some accidents, patches and "bloated" effect that I decided to submerge the entire pieces in a 20%<40% vol highly supervised bin. The most problems I got were with vertical or almost vertical surfaces and trying to get the gel to stick. I bought a 70% oxygen peroxide and I dilute it to the level I desire. If you get the highly concentrated stuff, you get more out of your money instead of buying those 20% peroxide bottles in the hair products supplier.

Nice get Mandolin! What board is that? I'm looking for donor boards to scavenge complicated blue Alps from.

MMM, don't know, its doesn't have model or FCCID on the casing. I remember opening it and was something like FORWARD/focus electronics or similar. Later I'll look it up.

Here is another pic:

It's in good health, nothing that some controlled enviroment peroxide couldn't fix. The stabilizers are not rusted or broken as far as I can tell and the switches are working. I'd swap those caps and put some doubleshots.
In the rear it has a black metal plate, kind of like the BTC's.

[esoomenona]

I don't think you're supposed to ingest the retr0brite.

[Mandolin]

I don't think you're supposed to ingest the retr0brite.

White turds are worth it 

[Mandolin]

I got sick from retrobright after some accidents, patches and "bloated" effect that I decided to submerge the entire pieces in a 20%<40% vol highly supervised bin. The most problems I got were with vertical or almost vertical surfaces and trying to get the gel to stick. I bought a 70% oxygen peroxide and I dilute it to the level I desire. If you get the highly concentrated stuff, you get more out of your money instead of buying those 20% peroxide bottles in the hair products supplier.

Nice get Mandolin! What board is that? I'm looking for donor boards to scavenge complicated blue Alps from.

MMM, don't know, its doesn't have model or FCCID on the casing. I remember opening it and was something like FORWARD/focus electronics or similar. Later I'll look it up.

Here is another pic:
(Attachment Link)
It's in good health, nothing that some controlled enviroment peroxide couldn't fix. The stabilizers are not rusted or broken as far as I can tell and the switches are working. I'd swap those caps and put some doubleshots.
In the rear it has a black metal plate, kind of like the BTC's.

I opened it and started cleaning process. It's a focus electronics fk-555-a form 1987.

[mbc]

There was a Swiss guy a while back who paid 250 euro for used mx blue chiconys

[davkol]

There was a Swiss guy a while back who paid 250 euro for used mx blue chiconys

Who? O.o I could sell him some.

[Grim Fandango]

I think the answer is just that they are rare. Collecting keyboards and keycaps is not unlike collecting stamps for some. There is some value in how they look, but just as much or even more value is pieces that are hard to get.

[Mandolin]

It has complicated blue alps, I confirmed it.

The downturn is that it wasn't as good as I thought internally. It doesn't turn on, not even the leds and my cable got really hot, I confirmed it has a couple of resistors poped up, and I fear the microcontroller is fried up (two or three legs were skewed outwards, doesn't know if that's normal, but I think not). I'm between swaping the blue alps as a last resort to another kb, after trying to change the resitors and test it thoroughly tomorrow.
If someone has a functional model, it'd be really handy if that person posted an image of the microcontroller (wanna see their legs) and everything above the mounting plate: resistors, capacitors, etc, etc from a top view.