deskthority

I've been trying to get a Juki keyboard for a long time. I think I've had a word filter notification setting for 'DATUM' and 'Celavi' (the Juki Topre keyboards) for about 2 years now and for the first time, about 2.5 weeks ago, I finally got the e-mail. A full Juki DATUM data entry system for ~$200. I only wanted the keyboard really but I figured it would be cool to own the system, especially given their rarity. It turns out that shipping a full system including CRT monitor from Japan is very expensive, but I really don't want to talk about that

Some of you probably know that Juki make sewing machines. I didn't know that until I knew that they had Topre keyboards and started doing some research on them. Janome were always much more popular over here. Juki's DATUM data entry machines were superseded by the Celavi some time in early 2000s. The first appearance of a dedicated data entry page on their website was in November 2002 and detailed some of the benefits of Celavi over the previous DATUM systems. I think the DATUM was probably around since the early to mid 90's, similar to the Hatsucoh data entry machines.

Anyway, enough history -- here's the keyboard. *Warning* some images might be a bit gross to some









Some sort of funk left over from adhesive? Originally I thought it was burnt but it seems that it can be chipped off.


Funk close-up






Vintage Japanese lint from the pockets of the soul crushed data entry girl.

Looking at the state of the keyboard, I guess Juki is japanese for Junkie

What are the switches at the top of the keyboard used for?

Is it something Japanese board specific?

Grond wrote: Looking at the state of the keyboard, I guess Juki is japanese for Junkie

Haha! I am pretty confident I can restore this thing, although it looks bad. The "crust" at the top comes off, as does the carbon on the caps, and the case can be retr0brighted.

Uncleleech wrote: What are the switches at the top of the keyboard used for?
Is it something Japanese board specific?

I think so although I haven't looked into it yet. They are likely related to aspects of data entry and I am guessing they serve similar purposes to the ones on the Hatsucoh: http://deskthority.net/wiki/Hatsucoh_El ... escription

Very cool board. Nice photos too!

So Topre HiPro isn't something new at all?

Thanks man; your photos are always great so it's nice to hear that from you.
The Hi-Pro switch has indeed been around for a long time, at least as far back as 1995. The sticker on this one is a '5' too which would suggest that the board was made then. The first I knew of the Hi-Pro switch was in the [wiki]Nissho KB106DE[/wiki] and I think that the Nissho was the last Hi-Pro board before Topre started putting the switch on their Realforce keyboards for the 104UG, etc.

It's a great looking board with some tri-colour dyesub action happening on some of the keys. Definitely one of the jewels of my collection

Oh wow.. Now that Nissho is a beauty! Those dyesubs are amazing, especially the blue/green side-print.

Interesting board and great photos! Take some more during restoration.

Taking the caps off this evening I found something I didn't know.
Normal Topre switches for the bottom row. I never bothered to check this on the Nissho or the Hatsucoh. I wonder if the modern Hi-Pro boards have the same thing?

'G' key cleaned up nicely too -- check it out in the original shots

What's the difference between normal and Hi-Pro? The switches seem to be the same size, so is the slider just better supported with Hi-Pro to reduce wobble with taller caps?

Hopefully it does indeed add some support, because the downside of the buggers is they really get in the way of using non HiPro caps:



Mind, I essentially use high profile caps on the Novatouch with low profile slider housings, and have found no problem with wobble there.

I would surely be interesting to do some switch weight testing on heavily used Topre board like this.

I can confirm normal height switches in the bottom row of the Realforce Hi-Pro. The arrow cluster and numpad have tall switches though.

Sorry for the potato pic.

Kurk, do you find those keys any different in use? Any wobbling going on? A difference in sound?

Thanks Kurk. If you're feeling up to it some time, I'd also like to know if they are still putting washers around the space bar's stabiliser sliders.

A little progress update on the cleaning:

Before: After:

Very effective. What did you use to get that intense crap off?

A laundry basin, hot water and about 2 caps of BioZet Attack.
I let it soak for about 20 minutes then had at it with a nylon brush. The smell was very offensive ...
Replaced the water and repeated the process twice until only very stubborn flecks remained which I used my thumbnail to remove.

That's more or less my bike derailer cleaning procedure. It has the excuse to be filthy of riding just above the road, while the Juki, well, let's not dwell on it…

002 wrote: Thanks Kurk. If you're feeling up to it some time, I'd also like to know if they are still putting washers around the space bar's stabiliser sliders.
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No washers to be seen in my 104UG HiPro.

OOF lets wake the dead, what happened next to this board? is 002 still around? if yes please contact me, i need some of your help