is it because UNicomp isn't really interested in getting the membranes made, or because it's genuinely impossible without investing a huge amount of money into the machines?
I think this is an issue worth thinking about. If the revival project requires membranes, and nobody makes these membranes anymore and you have to pay the factory $20 million to get the membrane machinery, then the revival project won't work because even though the demand for SSKs is very substantial (eg maybe 10000 people will buy on Massdrop), even if they pre-paid $200 each that won't be enough to pay for more than 10% of a $20m investment in machines.
But if it's only a question of minor adjustments to existing machinery, say a cost of $50,000, then getting support for that is a cinch. Within a few hours of posting on Massdrop, you could probably get 500 people to prepay $100 each.
I don't believe Unicomp doesn't want to make money. I believe it's because they don't know how to, and don't want to take any risks. They prefer to make these ugly conservative old keyboards and sell to businesses and schools. A business or public institution would snap up hundreds in a single order, enough for Unicomp to customize things like business logos and keycaps if they wanted.
If somebody organizes 1,000 or more people to offer a $100k deposit to Unicomp it becomes a serious business proposition.
Seriously, I think the demand for SSKs is probably at least 10x that of Ergodoxes. If Ergodox can meet MOQ of 200 within a few weeks four times, surely a mass order that collected responses over a year can garner a few thousand responses for SSK. We just lack a catalyst - a group buy organizer. Nobody is crazy enough to organize that kind of group buy. Can you imagine the logistics?
built by Unicomp in 2002 under IBM license. <-- why don't they make more 
as it's been said they can't I'm told the reason is they cannot get the membranes made.
