Flamingchook's Model M Cleanup Pictures

[Flamingchook]

A few years ago I found an IBM Model M in the shed and got pretty excited. I knew what it was because when researching mechanical keyboards the year before when I brought my Filco I came across Model M references everywhere. It was a bit of a shock because I wanted a Model M and there was one sitting right under my nose! This Model M was given to us along with a computer that was the first computer my family ever owned. It served it's years and then got replaced with rubber domes like so many other unfortunate Model Ms. Anyway when I pulled it out of the shed it was pretty dirty. The keycaps had a layer of dirt, dust and god knows what else on them and felt fuzzy to type on. The Buckling Springs felt awesome, the caps did not. So without much thought to it I plugged it into a server computer we had and went back to my Filco. Since joining here I've wanted to breathe some new life into it and today my 5.5mm Hex screwdriver arrived so I could finally finish it.

Took a few pictures as I was taking it apart:

Before:


Gross keyboard fluff.




The caps after being soaked in denture tablets. Fuzzy begone!


I was a bit sad to find this when I opened it.

I should be able to epoxy this back on but if I'm honest I don't think I'll bother as there's no movement in the plate once the top of the case is on.


The controller. No super rare MANDOLIN CRYSTAL on this one 


Long dead bugs.


We're both '93 kids

I ran out of light before I finished it so I'll take some pictures of it all cleaned up tomorrow.

Typed this on my nice clean Model M. How will I ever go back to browns now?  )

Edit: Took some pictures of it all cleaned up this morning, was a bit rainy last night and overcast today.

After:


All clean 


It's mostly clean. There's a little bit of dust left on it but I'm happy with how it turned out.

You can see in the corner there where the mounting point was broken.

Keycaps scrubbed up amazingly well thanks to the denture tablets.

Only lost 4 rivets. I'd consider doing a bolt mod except that there's a crack in the black plastic plate that runs the full length of the board and I don't want it to break in two.

You can see the crack running from left to right under the Insert/Delete block here.

Nawwww :3

Am I #LEGITBALLINPHOTOGRAPHER Yet?

Hope this isn't too many pictures 

Well there you have it. I couldn't be happier
If that wasn't enough pictures for you there's a few more that I didn't post here: http://imgur.com/a/jTA5E

Tanks for looking 

[divito]

No pics of the final job?

[Flamingchook]

I ran out of light yesterday before I could take pictures. I'll put some up today

[Flamingchook]

Updated OP with the pictures after the cleanup!


:3

[Michael]

Dat board chow. Nice work

[Flamingchook]

Thanks!

I tried compressed air but that hardly lifted it and qtips were giving me hand cramps so I ended up putting the qtips into a power drill and using that to clean... Worked amazingly well )

[rowdy]

"too many pictures" and "Model M" should never be in the same sentence.

Mine scrubbed up pretty well, but I think you have better lighting.

[divito]

Nice job, looks good.

[snoopy]

Looks good

I got two very dirty space savers here... Can you come to germany and clean them for me?

[Flamingchook]

Looks good

I got two very dirty space savers here... Can you come to germany and clean them for me?

If you pay for my plane ticket then sure 

Thanks for the kind words guys!

[ninjadoc]

Looks nice, you did a great job. About to drill mine for the bolt mod.

[bazemk1979]

Updated OP with the pictures after the cleanup!

Show Image

:3

doggy digs the clean look :)

[Flamingchook]

Looks nice, you did a great job. About to drill mine for the bolt mod.

Thanks. Good luck with the bolt mod! I'm certainly not brave enough to try it myself.

Updated OP with the pictures after the cleanup!

Show Image

:3

doggy digs the clean look :)

Haha he sure does  :D

I got a 1986 1390131 in the mail recently from an eBay purchase. The insides need a lot of work to get it feeling nice again and I'm still tossing up whether or not to bother trying to fix it... It had a nice (almost complete) set of caps though which cleaned up really nicely. I was really surprised at the quality difference in the legends between the 1986 board and the 1993 board. The legends from the 1993 caps are much blurrier around the edges and are nowhere near as black as the legends from the 1986 caps. Needless to say I'm using the '86 caps on my '93 board. I might try and snap a few side-by-side pictures of the legends tomorrow when I have better light.

[Chau]

Looking really good. The more i see model ms the more i want to try one.

[rowdy]

Looking really good. The more i see model ms the more i want to try one.

There is no other keyboard quite like it.

[Chau]

I dont have desk space so it would have to be an ssk, but the prices are crazy. Have tried thrift shops here but no luck.

[rowdy]

I dont have desk space so it would have to be an ssk, but the prices are crazy. Have tried thrift shops here but no luck.

They are a bit big - I alternate between a Model M and a HHKB at home, would you believe (using the HHKB at the moment).

Keep an eye on Classifieds - SSKs pop up every now and again.

Also on eBay (for which Great Finds can sometimes point you towards).

[Flamingchook]

I dont have desk space so it would have to be an ssk, but the prices are crazy. Have tried thrift shops here but no luck.

They are a bit big - I alternate between a Model M and a HHKB at home, would you believe (using the HHKB at the moment).

Keep an eye on Classifieds - SSKs pop up every now and again.

Also on eBay (for which Great Finds can sometimes point you towards).

I keep smacking my thumb against the side of my Model M when I'm using my mouse since it's so much wider than my Filco. It's worth that minor annoyance though.

[Chau]

OK u 2 are making my itch for model m even worse and the thing is I dont even know why I have this itch. Its not like I have ever used one.

[Flamingchook]

That's why we call this place wallethack. There's some itches you just can't help but scratch )

[Flamingchook]

Took some side by side pictures of the quality difference between the 1896 1390131 (left) and the 1993 Lexmark 52G9700 (right). I took these with my phone camera so the difference doesn't show up all that well. I think the best illustration of the difference is in the /? key. It was also interesting to see the difference in the `~ key. The only fault I have with the older and generally better quality caps is the secondary legends on the number pad appear to be printed rather than dyed and are quite faded on my caps.

[Dubsgalore]

Nice job cleaning up!

I don't have the patience to clean up old boards..

[rowdy]

Aside from the legends, are the keys themselves the same colour?

I'm considering ordering a set from Unicomp to complete one of my Model M, but I only need about the left 1/8 of the keyboard, plus Backspace.

I supposed I could always just replace ALL keycaps with the set from Unicomp, but sometimes I am too lazy.

[Flamingchook]

I can't notice any difference at all in the pebble coloured keys (so mods, esc ect.) but in the perl coloured keys (alphas) the 1986 keys are ever so slightly darker. It's probably due to age more than anything and it's really hard to notice.

[rowdy]

I can't notice any difference at all in the pebble coloured keys (so mods, esc ect.) but in the perl coloured keys (alphas) the 1986 keys are ever so slightly darker. It's probably due to age more than anything and it's really hard to notice.

Age - in that case it might depend on how the keyboard was used or stored.  Clean environment and covered regularly would probably have the closest match to new Unicomp keys.

Dirty environment and/or too much sunlight might have yellowed the keys slightly.

Mine I have not idea - nothing to compare them with.

[Flamingchook]

The 1390131 I pulled them off certainly wasn't stored well prior to me getting it. There was a long abandoned spiders nest under the pause/scroll lock keys...

[JimByr]

I've found that the characters on the Unicomp keycaps are not a good match for old boards and look for old keycaps to match those missing on old boards. The Unicomp keycaps would only work as a full set for me.

I've also got a case that came with a broken right mounting post. Someone who didn't know what they were doing tried to clean the board and reassembled it incorrectly. This resulted in the broken mounting post. I'm going to use polystyrene cement and, if necessary, drill and tap and add a bolt shaft for strength. The last step shouldn't be necessary. Once the case is assembled, there shouldn't be any stress on the repaired post.

[terran5992]

Looks real good. Even looks like it was fresh from the factory

[Flamingchook]

I've found that the characters on the Unicomp keycaps are not a good match for old boards and look for old keycaps to match those missing on old boards. The Unicomp keycaps would only work as a full set for me.

I've also got a case that came with a broken right mounting post. Someone who didn't know what they were doing tried to clean the board and reassembled it incorrectly. This resulted in the broken mounting post. I'm going to use polystyrene cement and, if necessary, drill and tap and add a bolt shaft for strength. The last step shouldn't be necessary. Once the case is assembled, there shouldn't be any stress on the repaired post.

I can't imagine it would need that much strength but you can never go too far I guess. I haven't reattached mine yet and I'm not sure that I will any time soon since I can't notice any movement or weakness at all.

Looks real good. Even looks like it was fresh from the factory

Thanks!

[mr_schnrub]

The 1390131 I pulled them off certainly wasn't stored well prior to me getting it. There was a long abandoned spiders nest under the pause/scroll lock keys...

I too was cleaning up a model M the other day and a little spider appeared out from under the 0 numpad key!

Also you are right about the qtips and hand cramps!

[snoopy]

can you describe how you cleaned the barrel plate? I have a very dirty M here, where I currently don't want to do the bolt mod, but would like to clean it. So normally I would remove the rivets and soak it in water and so on... But without removing it, I have fear that water gets between the layers while cleaning it.

[Flamingchook]

can you describe how you cleaned the barrel plate? I have a very dirty M here, where I currently don't want to do the bolt mod, but would like to clean it. So normally I would remove the rivets and soak it in water and so on... But without removing it, I have fear that water gets between the layers while cleaning it.

Qtips, patience and hands cramps. I tried compressed air but that hardly lifted anything. For anything that needs help being coaxed of the plate a Qtip dipped in water seemed to help.

[mr_schnrub]

After the hand cramps I started using an electric toothbrush! Brilliant!

Also I have found a little iso or metho alcohol cleans those stubborn stains with ease 

[Badwrench]

After the hand cramps I started using an electric toothbrush! Brilliant!

Also I have found a little iso or metho alcohol cleans those stubborn stains with ease 

I used iso and a q-tip on mine.  Followed with hot water and q-tip to get rid of any streaking from the alcohol.   

Pretty sure the previous owner of mine spilled more than one soda around this thing. 

Oh, and beautiful job on yours op.