Anyone know who made the "Fluke Y1700" keyboard?

[Tarzan]

Looks like mechanical switches of some kind, almost like Cherry stems, but shorter?  Beautiful vintage dish-top double-shot key caps, price is still a bit steep for random key-sets.







I'm assuming the keyboard uses an obsolete terminal dialect, but maybe it could be made to work using an adapter.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390530375220?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

[Tarzan]

NVM, answered my own question. 

http://sandy55.fc2web.com/keyboard/y1700.html

Apparently an older Cherry variant.  Interesting stuff...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Online translation sucks with Japanese, but even Google Translate will disavow you of that notion.

It's more like NMB than anything, which Sandy mentions. The only confirmed NMB switches are "Space Invader" switches, which use the principle of two metal leaves held apart by a bar in the slider. There are older switches that use this design, including the ones Fluke used, but no proof.

I've e-mailed NMB numerous times about their switches, no reply. I also e-mailed Fluke about the keyboard above, and they were going to see if they could find anything out, but no word yet (it's been a while, and since they initially responded, they're not in my to-chase-up folder).

A cruciform-mount slider is not specific to Cherry — they have been used by Futaba, Alps, SMK, Marquardt, BTC, Monterey, Aristotle and various others besides Cherry, many of which are MX-compatible.

[rootwyrm]

It's entirely possible it is a Cherry assembly. That's an old board - back when Fluke equipment was proudly made in the US. And Cherry? Same deal. But I don't know whether it's genuine Cherry or NMB or (entirely possible) Fluke in-house.

What I can tell you is that it goes to a Fluke 1700 family data acquisition instrument controller, which is - no surprise here - a complete microcomputer. In fact, here's an example from eBay. I believe it uses a modified XT or AT set, as the 1722 is post-8086 based on specifications. (1MB - 3MB user accessible RAM, CGA/EGA equivalent graphics, 5.25" floppy based.)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It's not a known Cherry switch. In 1973, they only sold the M6x-series (colloquially "M6", but it had no name, as it was Cherry's single keyboard switch series), per Catalogue C-73. By the early 80s, M6 was replaced by the almost-identical and now officially named M7 series¹, and supplemented by low-profile² M9, and the super-low-profile M8. MX, MY and ML followed. I guess ML replaced M8, and MX replaced M9, though M9 is exceptionally rare.

Even "M6" was gold crosspoint, so this would suggest something pre-73.

On the other hand, NMB are specifically known to use a switch of that precise contact mechanism.

¹ My theory is that M6 and M7 differed only by a redesigned static contact plate, but this is pure speculation — all we know from the catalogues is that the switches were externally identical. Picture comparison here: http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_M7#Comparison_with_M6

² Cherry's idea of "low profile" in the early 80s is what we now consider normal profile for a switch. It's just that the M7 was huge.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

PS I've just sent Fluke another e-mail, and asked them also for the date of introduction. They said last time that it was last sold in 1993, but that's not in itself enough of a clue owing to uncertainty of switch stock and product stock.

[rootwyrm]

PS I've just sent Fluke another e-mail, and asked them also for the date of introduction. They said last time that it was last sold in 1993, but that's not in itself enough of a clue owing to uncertainty of switch stock and product stock.

Not sure on the date of introduction, but 1993 might make it one of the more obscure microprocessors. Especially with that 3MB memory. That's the part that's more interesting to me, TBH. There's not exactly a lot of devices of that vintage that supported that much memory, especially not rugged equipment like Fluke. Could be a Z8216, but seems unlikely - precision requirements are too high. And it predates the Intel i860, and the Intel i960 CA and MC families.

I do agree seems like an NMB, but it wouldn't be unheard of for Fluke to manufacture them in-house under license, or to have someone else manufacture to spec.

[Tarzan]

That is a pretty burly keyboard, the case looks like painted aluminum.  Key caps look like an older Dolch, very thick-walled doubleshots.  Beautiful coffee-and-cream color scheme, two keys seem to have transparent insets; caps lock and "page mode."

I'll see if the seller is open to offers, although the cap stems look a little short to fit a MX switch.  There seem to be a few of these floating around, as has been noted.

http://www.tucker.com/product.aspx?Item=16772&Cond=R

[DavinDidIt]

Very interesting layout, I like it!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Necropost with a bit more info:

I have no reason currently to believe NMB designed any mechanical switches.

The "Space Invader"/"Fury Bear" switches were designed and patented by Hi-Tek Corporation, which became NMB's Hi-Tek Keyboard Division. Someone here recently photographed the PCB of a Hi-Tek space invader keyboard, and the PC lists both NMB and Hi-Tek on it, which suggests that NMB acquired Hi-Tek before the exterior labelling was updated to say NMB. (It's not the first keyboard I've seen where the label claims that the keyboard is from Hi-Tek and not NMB.) Did Hi-Tek sell any space invader keyboards before their acquisition? We don't know. I've tried to obtain the date of acquisition, but no luck so far. For now I'm keeping the term "NMB Hi-Tek" on the DT wiki for convenience, as the switch is so clearly associated with keyboards with "NMB" written on the PCB. There are suggestions that other companies bought the switches for their own keyboards, but this is not yet proven.

The "prayer leaf" switches have been patented by several companies, including Hi-Tek Corporation, Stackpole Components and ITW, who worked together. The closest patent to the Fluke switches is from ITW, but someone from Cortron suggested that Fluke made their own switches. Even if so, considering the date on the keyboard, they have to be based on the ITW design. The oldest patent filing that I've found to date, though, is from Hi-Tek.

[Tarzan]

I was just looking at the two Fluke keyboards on eBay at the moment; there is an older (?) Y1700, and a newer-appearing 1720A with a nice two-tone key set. 



Prices are staying low, when I was looking at a Fluke keyboard back some months ago, the seller was asking $50.  Now the Y1700 is on offer for $19.95, while the asking price on the 1720A is $79.00.  A bit much for an impulse buy, but I'm keeping these on a watch list.  If I do end up getting one I'll post pics of the switches and innards. 

[Daniel Beardsmore]

You think that one has different switches to the one Sandy has?

[Tarzan]

You think that one has different switches to the one Sandy has?

It's probably just an updated color scheme for the keycaps, the layout/case/connector all look identical to the older (my assumption) model.

[Kagusaki Wolf]

*drools*   Sexy keycaps.  I love the old spherical smooth and shiny keycaps.  Are they made of bakelite or something similar?