deskthority

+1 for an F77 - just placed my order


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Great gazza341!

So now that its past 3/31/17, what exactly happens now?

Does the early bird date get pushed again?

Yes earlier this year the expected shipping dates for the early birds were pushed to the mid-2017 to year end range due to factory delays. They are still working on some of the first run parts. They expected to mail them by last month end but are running behind schedule again. Hopefully we get them by mid-month.

There is no set early bird deadline. I have ordered extras to cover late orders and they will be included in the early round. The round will be "closed" when keyboards run out (I will update www.modelfkeyboards.com as soon as that happens).

I managed to get an order in for the early bird round. Now comes the waiting game

Great duynguyenle!

451 F62/F77 Keyboards ordered so far - over $210,000!

F77 216
F62 166
Industrial SSK Blue Keys 61
Front-printed keys F1, etc. 49
Extra steel spacebar tabs (pair) 43
Extra inner foam (F62, F77, F62 split shift, F77 split shift, F107, F122) 40
Compact F77 40
Extra Set of Brand New Production XT-quality one-piece keys 38
FirstAidKit 36
Compact F62 29
Extra F77 Case 21
Extra F62 Case - 'Kishsaver" 21
Apple/Mac Command-Option Keys 21
xwhatsit Beam Spring or Model F USB controller 17

The factory is waiting on a subcontractor/supplier for finishing some of the first run parts (hard anodizing, etc.) and another national holiday is this week so that has caused some delays (Tomb Sweeping Day).

I also bought 2 original clear relegendable caps with my F77 order

mana wrote: Ellipse I am sure you are familiar with this thread of old: workshop-f7/spherical-buckling-spring-t ... 11186.html - rsbseb does seem to have stopped being able to do this though, anyone by any chance happen to get those design files off him?

I'm back in pursuit of this goal with the spherical caps for IBM. By all means jump back over to my thread and follow along.

We are running low on Compact F62 and Compact F77 keyboards and spare cases - please get in your order soon if you'd like it to make the early bird cut!

Currently all original and compact case orders are expected to ship with the early bird round.

Also another reminder that I am offering free shipping if you'd like to add a First Aid kit to your order - just choose free/other shipping. The First Aid kits come with spare parts that will be great for repairs long after production ends this year.

Ellipse wrote: We are running low on Compact F62 and Compact F77 keyboards and spare cases - please get in your order soon if you'd like it to make the early bird cut!

Currently all original and compact case orders are expected to ship with the early bird round.

Also another reminder that I am offering free shipping if you'd like to add a First Aid kit to your order - just choose free/other shipping. The First Aid kits come with spare parts that will be great for repairs long after production ends this year.

Just out of interest, are the original style and modern compact cases interchangeable? (e.g. If I buy an extra compact case alongside my existing order for a classic style case, can I freely change the guts of the keyboard out between the two cases at will?

Yes you can! It requires disassembly and reassembly though of the inner assembly because the bottom inner assembly is shorter for the compact case (you'll get this extra part included at no extra charge if you order a spare compact for an original case keyboard or vice versa).

How much does a completed F77 weigh btw?

I hope this post will catch everyone up for those who have not been following the threads and blog posts as closely, and also if you are interested in how things are made.

The turnaround time for the factory is longer than expected for correcting issues before the run starts but it is understandable given my quality standards and the unique aspects of bringing back 1980s production parts. They have been very patient working with me for going on 3 years now.

The factory timeframe I believe was based on expectations of standard parts requests and finishes - they didn't know how challenging this project would be for the nonstandard requests, nor did I.

The factory is actually building or adjusting their tooling for the special characteristics of this project. For example they are building a machine that curves the PCB to match that of the originals as there was no equipment that could delicately deal with PCB curving without damaging the copper traces. There is also tooling that precisely makes the inner assembly parts to the IBM Model F curve.

The parts requiring the most amount of work, the die cast original style cases, took 3 months for die casting, final machining, and powdercoating. Before then was maybe 3-4 months for making the molds and adjusting the powdercoating and texture.

The die cast case powdercoating process took months because the factory had to experiment with different paints and textures to match the original bumpy Model F 4704 texture - using standard powdercoating for the prototypes did not take long. The kind of texture and paint color did not exist (no Pantone color!) so everything had to be custom mixed until the colors were a perfect match to the 4704 case sample from 1988 that I provided. Then the powdercoating for some of the paint they tried did not stick well to the zinc so they had to switch to another type of paint. They ended up having to mix the custom made texture into the custom color powdercoat paint to get everything perfect.

The flippers and barrels were made from different proprietary materials (options had to be researched by the engineers) that were close approximations of the original plastic formulations that were never precisely disclosed back in the day (they work and the flippers perfectly convey the capacitive signal).

Here I recap examples of first try prototype adjustments needed - the passed parts are listed in the OP "finished production" section:
- Original cases - powdercoating color and texture needed a few tries to get right and accurately match the originals (which they do now). Their earlier samples were very well made (and without much delay) to high modern standards but did not match the texture and color of the originals.
- Barrels - some measurement errors on my part of fractions of 1 mm caused the barrels not to interface with the keys like the originals; had to have them adjust the molds
- Keys - one critical dimension of the keys was not to my spec, probably 0.5mm off spec which made the keys not buckle consistently.
- Springs - they tried a number of materials; also the spring measurements were not accurate enough, under 1 mm difference but it is noticeable and could prevent a key from buckling
- Inner assembly plates - they were not to spec, maybe under 1 mm too large (the width of space between the top and bottom inner assembly plates. The first ones had holes that were too small to fit the barrels and some of the powdercoating was flaking.

In all cases I have held the factory to my standards and have rejected substandard parts.

Once they determine exactly what is needed, production is approved to start and there should not be much of a delay due to rejection of parts.

Matt the f62 original should be about 7.5lbs and the f77 original should be 8.3 or so pounds, (my original f77 is "only" 7.2 pounds!), 3.4lbs for the compact f62 and maybe around 4lbs for the compact f77.

Thanks for the update!

@Ellipse: Thanks for the update. This makes me appreciate all the more the incredible accomplishments of the IBM engineers in producing the original buckling spring keyboards.

The factory needs another week getting the key sample colors right. They expect to be done by end of next week. Then they can DHL all the final first run parts to me and we can hopefully start production soon after my testing.

We have a new premium color offering! Anyone else interested in International Orange (Aerospace) for your original style powdercoated case? Someone plans on ordering it for the final round (it would delay any early bird orders unless you'd want it as a spare case with separate shipping).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_orange

I really do want to order one, but can't afford to atm. Maybe soon.

vulup if your finances are tight I am happy to offer you free used Model M keys with your F62/F77 keyboard order, so you do not have to pay for the keys. That will save $40 to $50 on your order.

The factory is still finalizing the keys and putting on the powdercoating for the top inner assembly plates. They are fine-tuning the key molds to make sure the keys are made to spec.

Here are some photos of the machines that bend the PCBs (IBM used to bend the Model F PCBs). However with this project they are done in a manual process, one by one! The secret is to heat the PCBs gently and evenly first (see the first two photos of the heater) and then force a bend of the board to the radius I specified to the factory. These machines and tooling were not cheap!

That's pretty nifty! What are those machines used for when they are not resurrecting keyboards, I wonder.

pre-heaters for PCBs or LCD screen removal, typically.

Low stock notice on premium original style case colors: If you are looking for a True Red, Pantone 19-1664 or Silver Gray Pantone 14-5002 TPX Silver case please order one soon! I am almost completely out of the custom original style powdercoated case colors - more will not be made in the final round so that will be it for the project. First come, first served with the cases. A custom color is $75 extra. You can order a case separately if you'd like to add on to your order or just order the case for now and order your keyboard later.

Low stock notice on Compact Case early bird round keyboards: we are down to the last 4 compact F77 and the last 11 compact F62 keyboards. Knowing the rate they have been ordered, I recommend ordering one in the coming weeks if you want to be a part of the early bird round.

Also an interesting note and request: The first few months' of orders had a greater proportion of black powdercoated case orders and F62 original case orders compared to all orders since then (more other colors and F77 orders proportionately). This means for the early bird round I am unexpectedly likely to run out of Industrial Gray/Off-White Beige original case F77s before I run out of the others. If anyone wants to change their case from another color to black or from F77 to F62 please let me know This way we can keep the early round open a little longer "while supplies last."

HHKB style vs. regular style right shift: the breakdown so far is 60% in favor of HHKB style split right shift on the F62s and 40% in favor of HHKB style split right shift on the F77s.

Ellipse wrote: Low stock notice on premium original style case colors: If you are looking for a True Red, Pantone 19-1664 or Silver Gray Pantone 14-5002 TPX Silver case please order one soon! I am almost completely out of the custom original style powdercoated case colors - more will not be made in the final round so that will be it for the project. First come, first served with the cases. A custom color is $75 extra. You can order a case separately if you'd like to add on to your order or just order the case for now and order your keyboard later.

Also an interesting note and request: The first few months' of orders had a greater proportion of black powdercoated case orders and F62 original case orders compared to all orders since then (more other colors and F77 orders proportionately). This means for the early bird round I am unexpectedly likely to run out of Industrial Gray/Off-White Beige original case F77s before I run out of the others. If anyone wants to change their case from another color to black or from F77 to F62 please let me know This way we can keep the early round open a little longer "while supplies last."

Could you show us some pictures of these custom colours? I ordered a F62 model in Industrial Grey livery but I am quite intrigued about these colours you were talking about.

Yes - check out photos 42 through 48 or so from this comprehensive project photo album:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... h=26ba4870

So looking at this picture here: https://i.imgur.com/oqbBW0y.jpg

I assume that the two colours on the bottom are the custom ones right? How much will it cost extra for me to swap the case on my original order to the silver grey one? Could you add it manually to my order or will I have to get my existing order refunded and then make a new order?

P/S have you got any pictures of the custom grey colour next to the IBM Industrial grey colour? I don't think there's a side by side in the album

I will place a order when a knowledgeable Model F expert does a review and gives the thumbs up.

duynguyenle feel free to place another order for 75 units of the store item "$1 increments" and I will upgrade your current order.

Who else is waiting on a third party reviewer? Anyone who is planning on attending the Philadelphia/Villanova Keycon in June want to do a review?

I am waiting for a third party reviewer, preferably of the final production model.