Mind The Gap - Unicomp NOS Industrial case

[ddrfraser1]

After a bit of procrastination, I’ve finally assembled my “$750” model m for $30. (Any takers? No?)

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I have to say, the case looks and feels kick ass, really smooth and shiny. Kind of makes me want to get a nos model m.

For curiosity, I weighed the empty cases. I expected the grey one to be lighter since it’s from the mid to late 90s era presumably when Lexmark began making thinner cases. Either that or it would be much heavier as it’s an industrial.

To my surprise, the grey one was actually heavier, but strangely, hardly by much.

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[hellothere]

I'll give you $35 for it. You'll be making a profit .

[Tritian]

My God... it's full of stars...

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[Hanslau]

I would actually buy that "fake" industrial model m, because buying the different parts and shipping it to my country would kill me with shipping fees!

[BadCommand]

To add to the knowledge base and answer some of the OP's questions, I dropped the guts of a 2017 Unicomp into one of the 1995 grey industrial cases. End result: mine has the same accumulating play. It's clear that they used the left side of the board as reference.

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What can be done is to file down the plastic post on the lower half of the case so that the entire plate can be moved a little to the right (I myself haven't bothered with that). It used to annoy me but it at least no keys make contact with the case. I've gotten over it by now.

What I haven't gotten over - see that dimple (now crack) in the upper right corner? - that's where the screw comes in from underneath. I didn't think I had even tightened it that much... And on the left side of the cover, one of the screw supports flat out broke off! If I could do it all over again, I would work the screws gently into the virgin holes while holding the supports with the other hand before assembling anything. But I won't do it again, so, anybody have tips on gluing things back together? I've done a bit of research but thought I would ping the community too.

Clearly this keyboard is not an IBM industrial imposter I've even transplanted the Unicomp sticker to the grey case to be sure there was no mistake. Never mind the Windows keys!

[1394946]

My Model M arrived from ebay - a 1401 from 1990. Nice cosmetic condition - 8 rivets missing.

Anyway, I also bought an Industrial Gray case from Unicomp for $30 with a proper lock lights sticker. (cool black logo w/ silver IBM in the mail)

It arrived and looks almost-great, however there is a problem that I'm sure others on this forum already know about, however I will give some background.

The problem doesn't exist on the left side of the board, but as things go towards the right, an increasing wider gap forms between the case and the various key clusters, culminating at the numpad where there is a rather sizable gap on the left, and virtually no gap on the right side.





My questions:
1. I don't see how anything could reasonably be done to solve this, but.... uhh, can something reasonable be done to solve this?
2. Is there a version of Model M that better fits this case that I can be on the look out for?
3. How about the Unicomp innards?

I did notice a similar issue on my 1990 stock white 1401 case, but it was less pronounced.

This is normal the real one has it.
Picture of my 'real' one, 1995 made P/N 1394946. This is a normal occurrence with lexmark era model m's. I have noticed the later models have bigger gaps. I think the industrial colour also highlights the gap somewhat and makes it more apparent. Late reply but i hope i could help nonetheless