IBM Model F XT Restoration [In Progress]

[livingspeedbump]

I was lucky enough to be given a Model F by neverused thanks to this giveaway:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=76884.0
I had no idea it was even going on, as I was away most of the week it was happening, but it was quite a wonderful surprise when he PM'd me and told me that I had won it!

I used to have the exact same keyboard that I gave away, and I always missed it, so I was very excited to get another one. I wanted to make this keyboard something special that I would actually use daily!

I will document my restoration and post pictures as I go!


The IBM Model F's may be some of my favorite keyboards ever. Unlike the more popular Model M's that are Buckling Springs over membrane, the Model F's are Capacitive Buckling Springs. They are rated for ~100 million presses per key, while the Model M's are rated about 1/4 of that. The sound of a Model F and Model M are also drastically different. The Model F's are much higher pitched, with more "ping." I do like the sound of my SSK slightly more, but both sound quite nice.

The layout makes the XT a little difficult to use as a daily driver, but it is better than a lot of vintage keyboards as well. The ENTER and left SHIFT keys are both harder to reach than I'd like. The big saving grace is the position of the "CTRL" key, as it is exactly where CTRL should be (the real estate that CAPS LOCK normally takes up).


Here is a few shots of the keyboard as I received it. Dirty, but nothing wrong with it otherwise, and generally in fine condition.



Opening her up, I noticed the plate was also quite rusty



Finally, the internals were anything but stock. Engicoder really, really got excited about what kind of voodoo was happening in here. It appears a previous owner was trying to fix some noise issues. Engicoder ended up swapping me with a stock pcb, so he could oogle over this one further..




Now that I knew what I was working with it was time to start cleaning her up. The case came first. I cleaned the case in a tub of warm water, and put some of the peroxide creme that I use for retrobrigthing on a kitchen sponge to scrub off the scuffs, permanent marker, stickers, etc.




The case cleaned up well. Next up was tackling the rusty plate. Engicoder suggested giving it a bath in vinegar for a few hours. I went down the street to the grocery store, got 2 gallons of white wine vinegar for $4, and gave the plate a soak for ~2hrs. Then i used the rough side of my kitchen sponge and got this..



I decided to go a little crazy and give this keyboard a red theme, starting with the plate



Heres a picture of the red plate (complete with eyelash  ), you can see the USB cable in the background.



And here is the keyboard thus far. The "ESC" was custom printed by Unicomp. Not a perfect match to size of the font, but definitely happy enough with it for $1.

[inanis]

How exciting! I can't wait to see the end result. There is something amazing about restoring an old board. One day I hope to do the same myself.

[livingspeedbump]

How exciting! I can't wait to see the end result. There is something amazing about restoring an old board. One day I hope to do the same myself.

Thanks! I will be finished soon hopefully. I have completed all the work for the most part as of now. Currently typing on it Finished soarers mod a few days ago, so now just waiting on the new keycaps and cable

[Lurch]

Oh man, the Model F is strong with you, LSB.

Great pics! Can't wait to see the end result, and hopefully, even a typing video!

[livingspeedbump]

Oh man, the Model F is strong with you, LSB.

Great pics! Can't wait to see the end result, and hopefully, even a typing video!

I'll have to do both!

So i wanted to have a bit of fun with this one. I have since painted the plate with a nice red, have a coiled red cable on the way from techmattr that he graciously gave me, and some new Unicomp keys on the way. Hopefully it looks good in the end

[neverused]

This is great! I really like the way through red plate turned out (it was posted on the other thread before the rollback). I look forward to seeing the rest.

That's interesting about the pcb. I wish I had opened that before I sent it to you, do you have any pictures? The owner before me what compgeek on DT, maybe he has some knowledge about the pcb voodoo?

[livingspeedbump]

This is great! I really like the way through red plate turned out (it was posted on the other thread before the rollback). I look forward to seeing the rest.

That's interesting about the pcb. I wish I had opened that before I sent it to you, do you have any pictures? The owner before me what compgeek on DT, maybe he has some knowledge about the pcb voodoo?

i forgot i had already uploaded that picture. added! yeah engicoder is going to post more after he tinkers with it. His buddy is really into old capacitors and noise and may know a bit more about it as well.

[0100010]

Where are pics of the mystery PCB?

[livingspeedbump]

Where are pics of the mystery PCB?

Caps everywhere  (threw this in op as well)

[neverused]

Where are pics of the mystery PCB?

Show Image

Caps everywhere  :eek:

Holy crap

[livingspeedbump]

Where are pics of the mystery PCB?

Show Image

Caps everywhere  :eek:

Holy crap

ill take a pick of the stock PCB when I get home. The difference is drastic. Engicoder called the original a "glorious abomination" haha.

[neverused]

I tried a soarer's convertor with that pcb, maybe that explains why everything freaked out on me. I thought my wiring was off somehow.

[livingspeedbump]

I tried a soarer's convertor with that pcb, maybe that explains why everything freaked out on me. I thought my wiring was off somehow.

Could very well be the case. it works absolutely fine with the stock pcb, even with the ratty old teensy i had lying around.

[yomammary]

The end result looks great though.

[livingspeedbump]

The end result looks great though.

thanks, its definitely getting there

[livingspeedbump]

added some more pics. Getting closer and closer! Really all that is left is the red cable I will make a typing video soon as well!

[neverused]

added some more pics. Getting closer and closer! Really all that is left is the red cable I will make a typing video soon as well!

Looking really great. Any shots of the USB connector and/or internal converter?

[stoic-lemon]

Looks fantastic. Man, those are really really sweet looking boards.

[heedpantsnow]

Thank you soooo much for posting this!  I was recently gifted a Model F as well and am thinking about doing this type of thing down the road.  Did you have to deal with foam, etc. on the bottom of the plate?

[livingspeedbump]

Thank you soooo much for posting this!  I was recently gifted a Model F as well and am thinking about doing this type of thing down the road.  Did you have to deal with foam, etc. on the bottom of the plate?

Yeah, I was lucky though and my foam was in perfect condition!

If not, you'll have to cut some new foam. not hard, very time consuming 

[heedpantsnow]

Thank you soooo much for posting this!  I was recently gifted a Model F as well and am thinking about doing this type of thing down the road.  Did you have to deal with foam, etc. on the bottom of the plate?

Yeah, I was lucky though and my foam was in perfect condition!

If not, you'll have to cut some new foam. not hard, very time consuming 

I'm a total noob with IBM boards. Did the vinegar not affect the foam at all?

[livingspeedbump]

Thank you soooo much for posting this!  I was recently gifted a Model F as well and am thinking about doing this type of thing down the road.  Did you have to deal with foam, etc. on the bottom of the plate?

Yeah, I was lucky though and my foam was in perfect condition!

If not, you'll have to cut some new foam. not hard, very time consuming 

I'm a total noob with IBM boards. Did the vinegar not affect the foam at all?

Ah, so there is a top plate, foam, pcb, and a thin sheet of plastic, then the bottom plate. The foam is free standing, so it comes right off on its own. I only soaked the plate itself.

Also, the top plate requires that you bend a little metal clip slightly (i can upload pics when i take pics of the internals tomorrow). Then gently hammer the two halves apart.

Another thing to note is that when putting the space bar back on, you have to have the space bar attached before you put the plate halves together. This creates a problem when setting the pcb in place as you put the halves together. The best thing to do is tie a small string around the spring pivot plate (I used floss) and tie a heavy object to the end of it, running the string through the hole where the space bar is.

I'm sure this has been documented somewhere before, Ill try to look it up and post a link here for you! When you take it apart, you'll know what I mean though!

[losing_ctrl]

This thread is such a treat! Model F's are the coolest! 

[neverused]

This thread is such a treat! Model F's are the coolest! 

It's like watching a child grow up for me

[mobbo]

I was glad to see you got it, because I was looking forward to exactly this post

Looks amazing.

[harlw]

GrrrRRRRREAT!


So great.


I can't handle it.

[pr0ximity]

Awesome work! I love the layout, it's a great example of the variation in computing history. The Geekhack set is a really nice touch, I've seen them around but I don't think they'd go well with either of my IBM boards.

I also see you've joined the official Model-F-restored-with-matching-plate-cable-and-Esc-key Club. Welcome! 

[azhdar]

XT looking good sir !

[heedpantsnow]

Thank you soooo much for posting this!  I was recently gifted a Model F as well and am thinking about doing this type of thing down the road.  Did you have to deal with foam, etc. on the bottom of the plate?

Yeah, I was lucky though and my foam was in perfect condition!

If not, you'll have to cut some new foam. not hard, very time consuming 

I'm a total noob with IBM boards. Did the vinegar not affect the foam at all?

Ah, so there is a top plate, foam, pcb, and a thin sheet of plastic, then the bottom plate. The foam is free standing, so it comes right off on its own. I only soaked the plate itself.

Also, the top plate requires that you bend a little metal clip slightly (i can upload pics when i take pics of the internals tomorrow). Then gently hammer the two halves apart.

Another thing to note is that when putting the space bar back on, you have to have the space bar attached before you put the plate halves together. This creates a problem when setting the pcb in place as you put the halves together. The best thing to do is tie a small string around the spring pivot plate (I used floss) and tie a heavy object to the end of it, running the string through the hole where the space bar is.

I'm sure this has been documented somewhere before, Ill try to look it up and post a link here for you! When you take it apart, you'll know what I mean though!

Thanks for the details sir!

[compgeke]

This is great! I really like the way through red plate turned out (it was posted on the other thread before the rollback). I look forward to seeing the rest.

That's interesting about the pcb. I wish I had opened that before I sent it to you, do you have any pictures? The owner before me what compgeek on DT, maybe he has some knowledge about the pcb voodoo?

I don't know anything about the history of these boards, but it turns out I have at least a second one - an "XKB-3 Rev D" rather than E like the one in his thread. I'll make another thread with the pics of it.

I tried a soarer's convertor with that pcb, maybe that explains why everything freaked out on me. I thought my wiring was off somehow.

That's interesting. Unless I grabbed the wrong board for packing I tested it on an actual IBM XT. I'll have to test the one I have here an see if that works.

Edit: Thread link https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=77705.0

[neverused]

This is great! I really like the way through red plate turned out (it was posted on the other thread before the rollback). I look forward to seeing the rest.

That's interesting about the pcb. I wish I had opened that before I sent it to you, do you have any pictures? The owner before me what compgeek on DT, maybe he has some knowledge about the pcb voodoo?

I don't know anything about the history of these boards, but it turns out I have at least a second one - an "XKB-3 Rev D" rather than E like the one in his thread. I'll make another thread with the pics of it.

I tried a soarer's convertor with that pcb, maybe that explains why everything freaked out on me. I thought my wiring was off somehow.

That's interesting. Unless I grabbed the wrong board for packing I tested it on an actual IBM XT. I'll have to test the one I have here an see if that works.

It was very odd, I would trigger any key and 9 would begin repeating. Any subsequent keystroke would interrupt that repetition but only momentarily if the key registered.

[alh84001]

That vinegar tip will be really helpful!

For a n00b like me, exactly what steps are required to paint the top plate. This is off the top of my head (don't laugh):
1) sanding off existing black color
2) brushing the metal
3) applying the clear coat
4) applying the color
5) applying the finishing protective coat
6) polishing it

Can dremel be used for 1? 5 if there is a proper accessory? I don't have painting equipment, but I guess they can do this in a car paint shop?

[neverused]

That vinegar tip will be really helpful!

For a n00b like me, exactly what steps are required to paint the top plate. This is off the top of my head (don't laugh):
1) sanding off existing black color
2) brushing the metal
3) applying the clear coat
4) applying the color
5) applying the finishing protective coat
6) polishing it

Can dremel be used for 1? 5 if there is a proper accessory? I don't have painting equipment, but I guess they can do this in a car paint shop?

You could use a dremel but it will take time and be difficult to get a consistent result. I would try the vinegar bath/scrub first if I were doing it. As for the rest, a good rattle can and some preparation should get you good results. I know there are others on this board far more experienced in this.

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