Northgate Omni Key 102 Gold Label (gold keyboard)

[snacksthecat]

It's a great keyboard but it's more yellow than big bird. I'm going to mess around with some different retrobriting ideas that I've had recently.

Here are some before photos:

[ZedTheMan]

Damn snacks, you've really got quite the collection going on!

Any previews on your idea for retrobrighting?

[snacksthecat]

Not sure yet what I'll do for retrobrighting. I've been moving towards a technique that's not as cool (or fast) as a sous vide... actually, it's probably more like a slow cooker in that respect

About to take some new photos. I'll post them in a bit

[snacksthecat]

[snacksthecat]

The technique I use for opening Alps switch tops:

[snacksthecat]

Scrub a dub dub

Pre Cleaning

Spoiler:

Post Cleaning

Spoiler:

[snacksthecat]

First round of retrobriting the case. It's coming along very nicely, but I'm surprised the function key insert and the lock LED cover havent brightened up like the rest of the case.





By the way, I did this in a day using 3% peroxide sprayed on with a spray bottle and put under a UV light. It works surprisingly well! Has anyone else tried it this way before?

[Hypersphere]

Interesting. What is the make and model of your UV lamp? Do you need to keep spraying the case with peroxide during the process? If so, would it work to wrap the peroxide-moistened case in plastic film to prevent the liquid from evaporating?

EDIT: I think I found the brand of the lamp -- "QUANS". Apparently, they make 4 varieties:

20 and 50W waterproof plus 10 and 20W non-waterproof. Yours looks like the non-waterproof model. Is it the 20W?

[snacksthecat]

Yes, mine is the 20W model made by QUANS.

You do need to babysit it quite a bit to spray the peroxide every 30 minutes or so. I'm not sure about wrapping it in plastic film because I'd be afraid of uneven results. But it might work great. I'll need to try that on a keyboard some time. It certainly beats dealing with the standard retrobrite goop!

[snacksthecat]

Could anyone in the know help me make sure I reassemble the switches in the right orientation?

[Hypersphere]

Check out the DT wiki article on SKCM Alps switches.

Briefly, the notched side of the slider should face the switchplate side of the housing. The grooved face of the top housing goes over the switchplate. The smooth side of the top housing is for the flat side of the click leaf.

[snacksthecat]

Check out the DT wiki article on SKCM Alps switches.

Briefly, the notched side of the slider should face the switchplate side of the housing. The grooved face of the top housing goes over the switchplate. The smooth side of the top housing is for the flat side of the click leaf.

You're a lifesaver. I was kicking myself for not taking note of how they were before taking all of them apart.

[Hypersphere]

Glad you've got it sorted out. The DT wiki is a great resource.

[snacksthecat]

Okay, I'm trying to do papa //gainsborough proud with this Omnikey. Which brings me to the topic of lubricants.

This is the current state of my sliders:



I have two lube choices on-hand:


I'm wondering if I should ultrasonic the sliders like I've done with the tops. Pros: get rid of any lingering dust. Cons: lose the factory lube.

Then, if I lube them, I'm wondering which lube would be best.

Teflon Pros: Fast/easy to apply, just spray it. Cons: I've found it difficult to coat the sliders evenly.

Smooth Koat Pros: Needle applicator give a high degree of precision for getting the lube into the slider rails. Cons: Time consuming and it's black.

I initially wanted to leave them as they are, but after seeing how much dust got into the actual switches, I'm leaning towards cleaning them. If I clean them, then I need to lube them for sure. I'm leaning towards using both types of lube because I like going overboard with things.

What do you guys think?

[//gainsborough]

Okay, I'm trying to do papa //gainsborough proud with this Omnikey.

I'm flattered

This is a really cool picture!

As far as lubricant goes, if it were me I would definitely use the dry lubricant with teflon. The way I do it is actually probably the least effective way to lube sliders also...but I'll tell you my method anyway! I spray the lube into a small tray - like a little plate for soy sauce when you're eating sushi, that kind of tray - and then use a q-tip to apply the lube to the outside of the sliders and also on the slider rails of the top housing. I'm 100% certain there is a better way than this, but it's what I'm comfortable with now

[Hypersphere]

The black stuff is likely molybdenum disulfide suspended in a solvent. I have been wanting to give this a try.

[ZedTheMan]

I personally use the //gainsborough method for my Alps, so that's what I recommend also.

[orihalcon]

I've used reptiglo 10.0 fluorescent tubes which are supposed to put off a decent amount of UV and just submerged the casein the hydrogen peroxide. The trick is that the edges don't get very good light to them though and trying to shine through a clear container from the side I don't think works because plastic blocks UV. I did try ozone + Sun once and that didn't work at all and items actually got yellower during like the 2 hours they were out there. Could have been the specific plastic type I was using them on which doesn't normally work with retrobrite. There's a lot of posts about retrobrite, but not a lot of good comparisons between different methods. I have a few keycap sets I've been holding off on retrobriting so that they don't get messed up by the dreaded "blooming" that can happen in certain instances.

[Hypersphere]

Would it help to line the container (bottom and sides) with aluminum foil (shiny side up/out) to refelect the light in order to direct some of the light to the sides of the keyboard case? I recall seeing this done in a post not too long ago.

Reptiglo -- conjures up images of radioactive dinosaurs rising from the depths of the sea!

Regarding ozone vs hydrogen peroxide, it turns out that the quantum yield of hydroxl radicals from the UV photolysis of ozone is about 0.5, whereas for hydrogen peroxide, it is about 1.1. For the mixture of the two, the yield is about 0.5. So, hydrogen peroxide alone would be the best generator of hydroxyl radicals, which appear to be the active agents in whitening yellowed ABS plastic.

[snacksthecat]

I was able to fill about 80% of the keyboard with keycaps from a Zenith SuperSport. I love these keycaps because they're such nice doubleshots. The remainder of the board (mostly the key pad) I filled up with the Omnikey caps (which I retrobrited a bit but may do another round of it). I'm pleasantly surprised that the keycaps don't clash at all in terms of appearance. You can hardly tell it's two sets put together!

[//gainsborough]

Looks great! Thicker doubleshots are the way to go for blue alps - at least, in my opinion =)

The spacebar stab. wire sticking out like that looks kinda funny - like it has little feet, hahaha.

[snacksthecat]

Finished product. I tried to highlight some of the idiosyncrasies and imperfections because I think they make the board cooler. Let me know what you think!

[ZedTheMan]

Damn snacks, that thing looks beautiful. I really like those supersport caps on it!

[//gainsborough]

Have to agree with Zed. Also, that last pic is pure gold. Pun intended.

>When a sock inspires a vintage colorway.