Fixing the $10 Industrial M13

[Compgeke]

$10 Industrial M13? We all wish we could be so lucky...or do we?

Here's what I'm starting with. It doesn't look horrific here, just a bit dirty.


It's a Maxi Switch manufactured M13, dating from 1996. I want to say that's the newest Model M I own.


So does it wo-oh, that cable. Yeah, I'm going to need to sort this out but that's not too hard.


Well then, now that we know that cable is NFG, let's crack it open and see what'd be needed to replace it. Oh shit, stuff's falling out.


Ya know, that ain't very straight.


Pretty nice crack right there on top too. Shoot, there's no winning here.


That tab to hold the mouse buttons in? Also cracked.


Mouse buttons? Also cracked (and the left mouse button is almost linear, the tactile bump is long gone)


How about that keyboard assembly? Well, the springs on the positions missing their caps are rusty.


Well then. There's a lot wrong here. Let's start trying to work on something.

Step 1 is going to be getting all the snapped off pieces back together. if I can't even assemble a keyboard into a complete unit, there's no reason to try and clean it up. The good news is the case is entirely PVC which is pretty easy to glue back together with superglue. Should I decide "Oh, I don't like that" it'll clean right up with acetone, which does nothing to PVC.



More to come later...and with better lighting.

[PlacaFromHell]

Dude, what a brave restoration. What you gonna do with the missing badge? Good luck with that fucked up beast.

[fohat]

I would consider using a Dremel to create a hole for those trackpoint switches.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/1394942

[snacksthecat]

Oh shit, stuff's falling out.

my sides

Good luck Compgeke! You've clearly got your work cut out for you.

[Monster-Toys]

Nice project, it looks like a lot of fun (i do not mean it ironic).

Did you ever hear of "Kintsugi":
Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as Kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

I always wanted to have a similar or even more damaged nice board to try this style of repair (not with real gold tho, i am not that rich^^). It would look dope with a industrial grey M board imho.

[Compgeke]

Alright some cable update. Went ahead and lopped the cables off an old ball mouse and a random trashed Unisys POS board. A little work later, they're sleeved together.


The next step was strain relief. I didn't want to just leave a cable hanging out a gaping hole in the back so a little creativity was needed. I chopped the original cable off both sides of the original cable gland, drilled it out and with a bunch of fighting later managed to get both cables through.


After that I needed to hook up the new cables to the controller PCB. Some multimeter work, soldering and heatshrink later that's done.


And finally, all completed. New cable in the bottom casing and tbh for a hack job, it's not looking too terrible.


The ultimate question though, does it work? Not sure yet. I haven't got anything with PS/2 ports at hand and my USB -> PS/2 adapters are hiding from me. It does not work on my Belkin adapter to let me use PS/2 devices on a Sun workstation, but I have no idea if it even works with a regular Model M.

[Darkshado]

Nice job with the cable, but I wonder, do you intend to use it on machines with a pair of PS/2 ports and no USB?

[Compgeke]

I've got a *lot* of old computers with PS/2 so it's easier to just throw an adapter on the end when I need it.

So update: It works! The keyboard side of things works absolutely fine. On the other hand, the trackpoint isn't auto centering. It's just stuck racing to the bottom of the screen no matter what.

[DGmc]

Hello, I want to ask what the 6-pin line order is, I also want to rewire, thank you

[Compgeke]

It's not quite as straight forward as a 1-6, but here's what I made as a personal note when doing it:


The left column is the only one you'll need, the right was just my reference for cables I was I was using as replacement.

[DGmc]

Look at it, which color is the corresponding number?

[Redmaus]

Shame about the case and logo, those aren't hard to fix. If you need any type of model M donor parts I have plenty.

How rare are the industrial M13's?

[wobbled]

I have a brand new black coiled replacement cable for M13's, would've sold it to you had I found this thread sooner

[Compgeke]

Look at it, which color is the corresponding number?

Mouse:
Green: PS/2 Pin 1
Black: PS/2 Pin 3
Red: PS/2 Pin 4
Yellow: PS/2 Pin 5

Keyboard:

White: PS/2 Pin 1
Black: PS/2 Pin 3
Red: PS/2 Pin 4
Brown: PS/2 Pin 5

I have a brand new black coiled replacement cable for M13's, would've sold it to you had I found this thread sooner

Sometimes half the fun is looping cables off things, tracing them out with the multimeter, soldering a bunch of small connections and praying it works!

[wobbled]

I'll take your word for it nerd