Salvaging Plates from old cherry boards ?

[Tiramisuu]

Is there any reason not to salvage old cherry keyboards and cut them down for the plates and salvage the switches?

I'm just looking at flea-bay and in a few cases it would be cheaper to buy and old cherry, tear it down and cut the plate down to 60%.   Switches could be used for prototyping or passed on to whoever likes that kind of switch.

I don't see this commonly done so I'm wondering where the "gotchya" is.

thanks,
t

[phoenix1234]

Is there any reason not to salvage old cherry keyboards and cut them down for the plates and salvage the switches?

I'm just looking at flea-bay and in a few cases it would be cheaper to buy and old cherry, tear it down and cut the plate down to 60%.   Switches could be used for prototyping or passed on to whoever likes that kind of switch.

I don't see this commonly done so I'm wondering where the "gotchya" is.

thanks,
t

I assume that you're talking about Cherry MX. If it is the case, mostly, Vintage Cherry MX boards come with PCB mounted switch (no plate) so you may only have switches harvested. In fact, many people are doing this.

[dorkvader]

Is there any reason not to salvage old cherry keyboards and cut them down for the plates and salvage the switches?

I'm just looking at flea-bay and in a few cases it would be cheaper to buy and old cherry, tear it down and cut the plate down to 60%.   Switches could be used for prototyping or passed on to whoever likes that kind of switch.

I don't see this commonly done so I'm wondering where the "gotchya" is.

thanks,
t

I assume that you're talking about Cherry MX. If it is the case, mostly, Vintage Cherry MX boards come with PCB mounted switch (no plate) so you may only have switches harvested. In fact, many people are doing this.

Lots of wyse keyboards, which are extrememly common are all plate mounted and cheap.

@op: I think the reason nobody does this is that you have to mod the plate to make room for screw holes, as well as desodler the keyboard. There's just too much labor involved for it to be worthwhile to many people.

[Findecanor]

Very few of Cherry's own boards have plates - they have PCB-mounted switches, but almost all other keyboards with Cherry MX switches have plates.
It will take a bit of time to desolder all switches from a board, though.

[dorkvader]

Very few of Cherry's own boards have plates - they have PCB-mounted switches, but almost all other keyboards with Cherry MX switches have plates.
It will take a bit of time to desolder all switches from a board, though.

but there are loads of vintage boards with cherry switches and plates. Wyse for example. So the question is indeed valid.

When the OP says "cherry board" I think he means "board with cherry MX switches" not "board with cherry logo on PCB/case"

Desoldering isn't too hard, depending on a number of factors, but drilling a precise hole in that steel plate might be an issue, unless you have the proper tools. Some cases this won't work with and you'll need to precisely cut the outside of the plate which is even worse. Depending on your PCB, you might also have to drill or widen holes in the plate for stabilizers.

And I can't believe I forgot the biggest issue: most vintage keyboards with plates have layouts incompatible with modern PCBs and cases.

[Findecanor]

Yep. I've stripped two vintage Cherry MX switch keyboards with 7-unit wide space bars. The stabiliser mount spacings are different from each other and from Cherry's own.
To be able to reuse one of their plates, I would have to drill new holes for the stabilisers to work with better keycaps.

[Tiramisuu]

A veritable cornucopia of ideas.   I'm specifically looking for a board I can cut down to 60% ansi for my winter project.  May just order gon's universal plate.   The Tiramisu 60% (wireless, programmable, ansi, teensy)....  Will be acquiring a hobby grade  solder/desolder/hot air setup in the next few pay cheques.

After the keyboard I want to try an Objective 2 amp & odac.

[jacobolus]

I recommend an Apple Extended Keyboard M0115. Gives you a more usable key layout as 60% than most keyboards from that era (3 modifiers on each side of the spacebar), and you also get much nicer keycaps and switches than you’d find on an MX board.

[CPTBadAss]

I have a spare Ducky Shine plate that I plan on bending and filing so I have a switch lube/swap station.