deskthority

My newest acquisition has arrived. It's my second Bulgarian board with magnetic reed switches. This one came without a case and I knew it would be in rough condition. I had planned on using it for parts in a custom build as I really like the switches in my other Bulgarian keyboard, however these are completely junked. I think they may have been under some muddy water at some point based on how scratchy they are. It may just get a quick cleaning and set aside for now.

The caps a very different from my other Bulgarian keyboard. They are spherical but just barely. They keys are almost flat which I'm sure was done to make engraving them easier. The engraving is actually very nice and not all raspy as I have seen on others.

Other than that, the assembly has a lot of corrosion and a new switch color I haven't seen before - olive green ones.

That is quite the spartan board. Love the RETURN key though

Some of these old keyboards have crazy compact layouts. Nice! I see in your first pic some of the switch housings have a different color?!? Are those function keycaps engraved?

Yes, all the caps are engraved, except the spacebar (unless scratches count)
Here is a better shot of the keys, and the return key is pretty cool.

Here a couple more pictures of the mess this P-82M is in. There is also an LED on either side of the spacebar, I don't think Ive seen that before but it has me thinking about incorporating that in a future project.

seebart wrote: Nice! I see in your first pic some of the switch housings have a different color?!??

It's due to recycled plastic in the Eastern Bloc. You get all manner of colours in these, and some very bright colours in IZOT 0125D.

I can't tell if these switches are IZOT or not — some have the IZOT logo on top, and others are wholly unbranded.

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:

seebart wrote: Nice! I see in your first pic some of the switch housings have a different color?!??

It's due to recycled plastic in the Eastern Bloc. You get all manner of colours in these, and some very bright colours in IZOT 0125D.

I can't tell if these switches are IZOT or not — some have the IZOT logo on top, and others are wholly unbranded.

Yep, clearly recycled material. Pull the caps off one of these boards and it it looks like 50 shades of beige with a dash of color here and there.

These are unbranded and they are definitely full of dirt, some of them barely even move. I'm already working up a rebuild / upgrade kit in my mind to restore these switches to better than new.

There is a lot of this keyboards:
https://www.olx.bg/ad/prodavam-stari-kl ... 1c29b36a71
He wants 2euro for one of them

Mupo wrote: There is a lot of this keyboards:
https://www.olx.bg/ad/prodavam-stari-kl ... 1c29b36a71
He wants 2euro for one of them

Everyone of those switches is certainly junked, but those white keycaps! I would love to get my hands on those. I've not seen them before