Keycap replacement and compatibility

[skippylou]

I wat to get an APL keyboard (PS/2).  Looked into complete keyboards (100 pounds sterling), stickers (virtually nonexistant) and replacement caps.  Found caps available from Unicomp for US$35 which I assume will fit any Unicomp keyboard.   They seem to only sell USB but I can probably pick up an old PS/2 used. 

I have good mechanical and electrical skills but I am also very good at breaking plastic things. 

Been using keyboards for 50 years but I have never opened up a keyboard.  Do I need any special tool to change caps?   Any useful videos or instructions out there?

Also, are there other brands of keyboards on which Unicomp caps would work?  I would really like to put them on my old 486 machine, a Dolch Pac 60 which I think are Cherry caps.  That would be too good to be true.

Any advice appreciated. 

[skippylou]

I'll give this one bump. 

[rowdy]

Unicomp APL keycaps are either one piece or two piece.

If they are two piece and your buckling spring keyboard already has two piece keycaps, swapping them over is as easy as popping the tops off the existing keycaps and putting the new APL tops on.

If either set is one piece, you'd just need to carefully remove each keycap including the lower half, then replace with the new APL keycaps making sure that the spring is properly seated.

That's not as difficult as it sounds, and once you've done a couple of them it will seem very, very easy.  There is no need to disassemble the keyboard at all.

Unicomp keycaps are not compatible with Cherry MX switch keyboards.

A keycap puller will probably make keycap removal somewhat easier, you can either make one yourself out of paperclips, or get something like one of these: http://techkeys.us/collections/accessories/products/keycap-puller

[skippylou]

Thanks, Rowdy. 

[rowdy]

Been looking for this too - a picture illustrating the one and two piece keycaps:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=45327.msg949831#msg949831