Just about done!

[SneakyRobb]

IMG_20141020_184231.jpg (395.31 KiB) Viewed 2361 times

That moment you realize everything is upside down

[andrewjoy]

WOW amazing !

Tell me somthing if you can, does your bottom row ( the spacebar row) move about quite a bit ? mine move up and down in there holes 2 - 3 mm. rest are fine.

[SneakyRobb]

The bottom row does not move any different than the other rows.

Have you taken apart your keyboard yet? Usually IBM foam disintegrates after 20 years unevenly. So perhaps this may be the cause of your issue. Sometimes with Fxt or At you can get away with foam reusing.

This would be the first thing that I would examine if the whole switch assembly is able to move up and down irrespective of the key motion.

[Muirium]

Looking good… until you put the caps back on!

I agree about the foam. Always IBM's pre-Model M achilles heel. But at least we don't have to bolt mod these guys to get at it!

[cookie]

Looks like a 650g switch

[andrewjoy]

Yes its the whole switch that moves but only on the bottom row the rest are 100% fine, from what i can see of the foam its ok however i have not opened it yet as it looks like it has just come off the production line inside and i did not want to disturb it .

[snoopy]

more pics please

[andrewjoy]

the red looks amazing by the way , i would paint mine but it looks 100% mint and i would not want to cover up what is a plate in perfect condition.

[SneakyRobb]

Thanks for the kind words.

I have since corrected the orientation of the metal pins. They are backwards in the first picture.

I always end up painting my ibm boards with a red internal colour. The metal case on the beam spring though was much harder to remove the paint from. 1970s powder coat pain is (weirdest complaint) far too durable

Ill be putting on the case soon.

I just need to now to adjust the pins so the keys aren't misaligned.

Edit: Also the 7 and 8 keys don't have the writing on the front because the seller thought they would be helpful and clean it before shipping, they were the only two pure white keys to arrive. He thankfully stopped trying to help.

[Halvar]

Red looks nice, much better than the brownish supposed metallic paint I used! Looking forward to seeing your outer case paint job.

So what did you use as a foam replacement? 2 mm art supply store rubber foam like the others who showed their restoration so far?

[SneakyRobb]

Yeah. I basically spent about an hour just cutting out the foam with an xacto knife. 2mm is about how thick it is.