Author Topic: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!  (Read 2593 times)

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Offline Rob27shred

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Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« on: Tue, 13 March 2018, 17:29:47 »
I finally got my hands on a decent ALPS board & a good ole" Model M! :cool: Picked up this black Dell AT101W with black APLS in it that was in pretty good condition other than being a little dirty (pics of the boards after cleaning),
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Then this Model M, that is in pretty good condition also other than missing a few caps & being a little dirty,
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191483-3

They were both a little dirty & need so TLC, but as you can see they cleaned up well. I bathed all the caps from both & sliders from the Model M in denture cleanser with warm water. Let them soak while I went at the boards with Q-tips, cotton balls, rags, etc. with ammonia free window cleaner. Pretty happy with the results, particularly the Dell board! The fact the legends were very lightly wore on the caps gave me hope that the switches were fairly clean inside since I know ALPS are very sensitive to dust. All the keys feel decently smooth & consistent so I'm assuming they are pretty clean switches. Although I will be eventually opening them just to be sure they are clean & possibly lube them if that's a thing with ALPS. Got do my research on them now as I intend to get into ALPS a bit more here.

I paid $125 for the lot which is pretty close to the going rates on e-bay, so I can't say i got lucky & found them dirt cheap at some thrift store. Although I was happy to pay the market price to get my foot in the door collecting vintage MKBs & am happy overall with the transaction considering they were both in good shape & work perfectly. Already got a bunch of caps ordered from Unicomp to replace the ones on my Model M, a two tone 101 key APL set, a printed RGB mod pack, 3 different colored space bars, & 4 GH keys for good measure! ;) Also got a active PS2 to USB converter on Amazon I'm hoping will work with both. Soarer's converter will be coming soon for the M, but probably next pay as I've tapped the MKB funds & then some for this one LOL!

Anyways, I intend on starting to hit the local thrift shops & electronic recyclers more often, plus looking into more old school boards for sale. So hopefully these are the first of many for this side of my collection! :thumb:
« Last Edit: Tue, 13 March 2018, 17:33:07 by Rob27shred »

Offline Blaise170

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 14 March 2018, 08:40:08 »
Nice. I've never actually owned one of those Dell boards but I did have a NeXT with Black Alps and I actually quite liked them. Unfortunately the controller died on it when I swapped in Green Alps so I just removed the Green Alps and have a bunch of NeXT parts now.
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Offline Rob27shred

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 14 March 2018, 12:12:19 »
Nice. I've never actually owned one of those Dell boards but I did have a NeXT with Black Alps and I actually quite liked them. Unfortunately the controller died on it when I swapped in Green Alps so I just removed the Green Alps and have a bunch of NeXT parts now.

Thanks, yeah the black tactile ALPS do have a fairly unique feel to them I am liking as well. Sorry to hear about your NeXT board, although I would've tried the swap myself to. Green ALPS are pretty close to a holy grail switch, what did you end up doing with them? I'd love to find a board with them in it, gonna start hitting the thrift shops & recycling centers a lot more often now. I'm really starting to become enamored with collecting vintage MKBs & switches. Just picked up one of those NIB, IBM pingmasters with Chinese legend caps on ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Chinese-Lettering-Keyboard-Typing-102-Keyboard-Letter-Type-Model-6113442-NIB-/381019318430) for $35 shipped! ;D

Offline BobCarltheThird

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 14 March 2018, 12:17:13 »
I really need to get around to cleaning my model M. The things absolutely revolting and I've been avoiding it like the plague.
***loads of Vaseline for my meme TMO50 -- Acereconkeys


Offline Rob27shred

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 14 March 2018, 12:30:49 »
I really need to get around to cleaning my model M. The things absolutely revolting and I've been avoiding it like the plague.

LOL, it was quite a chore to clean mine so I definitely understand that! :))

Offline Blaise170

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #5 on: Wed, 14 March 2018, 13:39:58 »
Thanks, yeah the black tactile ALPS do have a fairly unique feel to them I am liking as well. Sorry to hear about your NeXT board, although I would've tried the swap myself to. Green ALPS are pretty close to a holy grail switch, what did you end up doing with them? I'd love to find a board with them in it, gonna start hitting the thrift shops & recycling centers a lot more often now. I'm really starting to become enamored with collecting vintage MKBs & switches. Just picked up one of those NIB, IBM pingmasters with Chinese legend caps on ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Chinese-Lettering-Keyboard-Typing-102-Keyboard-Letter-Type-Model-6113442-NIB-/381019318430) for $35 shipped! ;D

My Green (and Black) Alps are sitting in a plastic bag in my bin, eventually I want to do a custom build but need to resell a lot of stuff first to get the money for it. Actually used a couple to repair other boards with Green Alps so at least that is nice. The doubleshots from that NeXT board are pretty amazing, with a great Portuguese layout. I used to go to thrift stores all the time in search of keyboards, but I've never actually found anything other than a Brother typewriter with Topre tripleshots (sold for like $20 a few years ago). I still go to thrift stores today but I don't ever see anything besides rubber domes. I collected a lot of vintage boards in the past and still have a few, but I've really cut the collection down and I'll be cutting it down further soon. I just recently bought a vintage board with PBT dyesubs and Green Alps for $30, what a steal! I actually bought two, but the recycling center said the other one didn't work so they just threw it in the shredder instead of sending it to me anyways.  :mad: 
I proxy anything including keyboards (キーボード / 鍵盤), from both Japan (日本) and China (中國). For more information, you may visit my dedicated webpage here: https://www.keyboards.es/proxying.html

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Offline Rob27shred

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #6 on: Wed, 14 March 2018, 14:45:46 »
Thanks, yeah the black tactile ALPS do have a fairly unique feel to them I am liking as well. Sorry to hear about your NeXT board, although I would've tried the swap myself to. Green ALPS are pretty close to a holy grail switch, what did you end up doing with them? I'd love to find a board with them in it, gonna start hitting the thrift shops & recycling centers a lot more often now. I'm really starting to become enamored with collecting vintage MKBs & switches. Just picked up one of those NIB, IBM pingmasters with Chinese legend caps on ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Chinese-Lettering-Keyboard-Typing-102-Keyboard-Letter-Type-Model-6113442-NIB-/381019318430) for $35 shipped! ;D

My Green (and Black) Alps are sitting in a plastic bag in my bin, eventually I want to do a custom build but need to resell a lot of stuff first to get the money for it. Actually used a couple to repair other boards with Green Alps so at least that is nice. The doubleshots from that NeXT board are pretty amazing, with a great Portuguese layout. I used to go to thrift stores all the time in search of keyboards, but I've never actually found anything other than a Brother typewriter with Topre tripleshots (sold for like $20 a few years ago). I still go to thrift stores today but I don't ever see anything besides rubber domes. I collected a lot of vintage boards in the past and still have a few, but I've really cut the collection down and I'll be cutting it down further soon. I just recently bought a vintage board with PBT dyesubs and Green Alps for $30, what a steal! I actually bought two, but the recycling center said the other one didn't work so they just threw it in the shredder instead of sending it to me anyways.  :mad:

Oh man if they only knew what some people would've paid for that non functional KB! :eek: Oh well it's all plastic shreds now unfortunately... :'( At least you were able to get two of them at a great price! I hear you about thrift store hunting, the finds are few & far between, but I have a few fairly close to my house. So as long as I'm not going way out of my I figure they're worth a look every now & then. I got more hope with my local electronics recycling centers. Although I can see myself slowing down the search once I get a decent vintage collection going like you did. Anyways GL with getting a custom build going for those loose ALPS you have! While I am more picking up vintage boards for my collection right now, doing a really nice 60% ALPS build is definitely something that drove me in this direction & hopefully I will get to do sooner than later. :thumb:

Offline ander

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 15 March 2018, 02:39:10 »
I finally got my hands on a decent ALPS board & a good ole" Model M! :cool: ...

Dude, congrats! You'll have a lot of fun with those boards.

The Dell's a real solid model. Lots of us like how it looks, too—and the unusual fact that it has Windows keys despite being a vintage mechanical. Not everyone is big on vintage Alps Blacks, but I like them fine myself, especially when they're in good shape (not highly worn).

It's up to you if you want to go to the trouble to open them, which can require some delicacy and patience. If you're basically happy with how they feel, you can just remove the keys and wipe a bit of lube around the visible part of the sliders; I've found that sped up even some Blacks that weren't working as well as yours.

Just be sure to use a lube that doesn't react with plastic (i.e. isn't petroleum-based). If you don't have one of the specialized lubes people go on about here, I've found this INOX power-tool lube is great for keebs. I just spray a bit in the cap and dab it with a Q-Tip. It's plastic-safe—in fact, it's so pure, it's considered food-safe (though it probably doesn't taste very good, LOL). It's a lot easier to find, too, at least here in Canada, where you can get it at hardware stores—maybe in the States too.

That said, AT101/101W's are great candidates for switch replacement too, if you decide to go in that direction.

Nothing can be said about your Model M that hasn't been said here many times. That big ol' beast should serve you well, not to mention driving anyone else you live with crazy.  :?)  You did a swell job cleaning it—but for what it's worth, should you ever get more, you may find that compressed air blows out debris much quicker and easier than trying to wipe it out of the barrel plate's nooks 'n' crannies.

It sounds like you got yourself a raft of fun keys for it, too. Feel free to post some photos when it's ready to go!
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Offline Blaise170

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 15 March 2018, 10:05:44 »
Oh man if they only knew what some people would've paid for that non functional KB! :eek: Oh well it's all plastic shreds now unfortunately... :'( At least you were able to get two of them at a great price! I hear you about thrift store hunting, the finds are few & far between, but I have a few fairly close to my house. So as long as I'm not going way out of my I figure they're worth a look every now & then. I got more hope with my local electronics recycling centers. Although I can see myself slowing down the search once I get a decent vintage collection going like you did. Anyways GL with getting a custom build going for those loose ALPS you have! While I am more picking up vintage boards for my collection right now, doing a really nice 60% ALPS build is definitely something that drove me in this direction & hopefully I will get to do sooner than later. :thumb:

Tell me about it. I emailed them and asked if they would be willing to sell scrap keyboards instead of dumping them, but no such luck.
I proxy anything including keyboards (キーボード / 鍵盤), from both Japan (日本) and China (中國). For more information, you may visit my dedicated webpage here: https://www.keyboards.es/proxying.html

View my current and past keyboards here: https://deskthority.net/wiki/User:Blaise170

Offline chyros

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 15 March 2018, 10:57:37 »
Excellent! You have just transcended to a higher level of keyboarddom. Watch out, the rabbit hole gets a LOT deeper from now on 8) .
Check my keyboard video reviews:


Offline ander

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Re: Finally expanding my collection beyond MX & Topre!
« Reply #10 on: Sat, 17 March 2018, 02:53:48 »
At this point I'm tempted to paraphrase a tuba player I knew and say, "Your bum is a rabbit hole", but I think you'd consider it a compliment.
We are not chasing wildly after beauty with fear at our backs. – Natalie Goldberg