from Hacker News

Restoring a 37 Year-Old IBM F Mechanical Keyboard

by opsdisk on 11/8/20, 10:09 PM with 75 comments

• by lqet on 11/8/20, 11:12 PM

  Around 12 years ago, I bought a used Model M. It uses a slightly different technique for registering keypresses but looks about the same on the inside as the Model F. It worked great. After 3 days, I decided to clean it up and open it. I then quickly destroyed it by using a bit too much water during the cleaning. It got into the plastic tubes with the springs [0] and that was the end of most of the keys. I tried drying it with a hairdryer, but without success. The black plastic visible on the image is attached to the board by melted plastic joints, so removing it without destroying it is not possible. Congratulations to the author for not making the same stupid mistake as me.

  Of course, you can still experience the clickiness of the Model M without owning one with the great emulator [1]. It's available on Debian and Ubuntu dev-releases:

    sudo apt-get install bucklespring
  

  [0] https://blog.opsdisk.com/images/keyboard/preclean.jpg

  [1] https://github.com/zevv/bucklespring

• by 1-more on 11/9/20, 1:39 AM

  There is a project to get new ones made. I've met the dude behind it at a few keyboard meetups around NYC. I guess they are finally shipping! An absolutely herculean effort on his part.

  https://www.modelfkeyboards.com

• by slipheen on 11/8/20, 10:43 PM

  What a wonderful restoration! They really are lovely keyboards.

  I am sure many people already know, but just in case-

  There is also a dedicated enthusiast who has worked to painstakingly reproduce the model F keyboard, and make them available for sale at https://www.modelfkeyboards.com

• by voldacar on 11/9/20, 2:06 AM

  I have this exact keyboard, an '83 XT! Built like a tank (seriously, you could bludgeon someone to death with it) and the smoothest, most pleasurable keyswitch out of the dozens I've tried. The F keyswitch makes all cherry clones feel like cheap Chinese crap, sadly this is why I had to part with my ergodox. The only downsides are the loud typing and the nonstandard layout, which you might prefer once you get used to it (ctrl key to the left of a).

  If you're looking for a serious keyboard to last you the rest of your life, I highly recommend the F.

• by nullc on 11/9/20, 4:55 AM

  I use a model-f terminal keyboard with a small microcontroller to convert it to usb. It's pretty great.

  I used to use model-ms but they became hard to get, and I gave away far too many of them back at a time when they weren't scarce. (I still have two, but can't replace them at a reasonable price if they fail)

  The extra keys on the model-f terminal keyboards are handy too.

  There was a window where I worried that my two remaining model-ms were going to have to last me the rest of my life.

  Fortunately there are now a lot of mechanical keyboards available at reasonable prices. I like the model-m and model-f keyboards somewhat better, but many other mechanical keyboard choices are pretty good too.

• by accrual on 11/9/20, 3:58 AM

  I wonder if it would be worth putting a layer of black paint or a clear sealant over the metal plate that was exposed? I'd just worry having freshly exposed metal like that might eventually rust.

• by Ndymium on 11/9/20, 8:41 AM

  I've done two keyboard "restorations" if you are interested in seeing similar posts:

  * Restoring a Cherry G80-1000 from the late 1980s (new switches + cleanup): https://blog.nytsoi.net/2018/05/16/restoring-cherry-g80-1000

  * Converting an IBM Wheelwriter keyboard (similar to IBM Model M) to USB: https://blog.nytsoi.net/2018/11/28/ibm-wheelwriter-usb-conve...

  I've been looking around for a Model F which would really be the crown jewel of my collection, but unfortunately they are very rare and everyone who owns one really knows its value. As for my own use, after I got an Ultimate Hacking Keyboard I have no longer used the Cherry or other keyboards for real work. Getting a split keyboard "ruined" me from others, so they are now just novelty items.

• by Zhenya on 11/9/20, 2:10 AM

  I daily drive an original 80s model m that I found in the trash and restored.

  Almost everyone that comes into my office comments on it, some engineers are truly giddy. Funny enough our ultra-high spec engineering workstations have native ps/2 ports, no adapters necessary!

  I left it at the office over the pandemic, it's one of the things I miss the most at home .

• by jwr on 11/9/20, 10:55 AM

  I am a big fan of old-style mechanical switches. In fact, I recently restored my old NTC keyboard from the 80s. But having tried to use it, I just can't get over the fact that these keyboards were seriously lacking modifier keys.

  I need at least Ctrl, Alt and Command to work comfortably, and ideally also have Fn and Super. You can get away with remapping right-side modifiers to do something else, but you can't add a key that isn't physically there — so if the left side of the spacebar does not have at least three modifier keys, the keyboard is not very useful for me…

  Also, having gotten used to the UHK (Ultimate Hacking Keyboard), I find that the huge space bar is a waste: I only ever hit the space key with the right thumb, and I'd much rather have an entire row of modifiers than a huge spacebar key, which mostly goes unused.

• by ianbooker on 11/9/20, 11:59 AM

  HN introduced me to mechanical keyboards and especially the Model M, way before the renaissance we see now. So I sourced some Model Ms (before it was pricey) and Apple Extended Keyboards. For the sake of my office mates, I ended up using external but oldschool Thinkpad keyboards for silence and office peace.

  I had high hopes for an external Apple butterfly keyboard, since it basically fulfills the promise of mechanical keyboards in providing haptical and audible feedback, combined with a shorter key travel. Additionally it would have been socially accepted far more easily than anything mentioned above;)

  Since that will not be happening anytime soon, I have to wait 10 years until the virtues of the butterfly mechanism will be rediscovered by a small group of enthusiasts and hackers. :P

• by Bayart on 11/9/20, 3:14 PM

  Thanks for the article, that really hit the spot. I've been on a Chyrosran22 [1] binge lately (he's got a general Model F review [2]), and I'm toying with the idea of making a 75% with ALPS switches, once I manage to find switches or a board at an acceptable price.

  [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22

  [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Jds326gks

• by UYChuH on 11/9/20, 1:35 PM

  I brought (a 34 year old one) a few years dirt cheap ago off eBay. It came speckled in someone's blood, who'd apparently died on top of it.

  A good (and very thorough) wash later and its as good as new. The best (and loudest) keyboard I use. Its best feature is the little ridge to hold your pencil on top of it---why don't more keyboards have one?

• by wrs on 11/8/20, 11:55 PM

  CMU had rooms full of IBM PCs for student use in 1983-4. You practically needed to wear ear protectors with all those keyboards going!

• by tartoran on 11/8/20, 11:03 PM

  Intersting position for the ctrl and caps lock keys. Is that the original position of these keys or was this keyboard customized?

• by icedchai on 11/8/20, 11:53 PM

  Those keyboards were nice. Very clicky! Around 1985 or so my dad had an IBM PC/AT at his company. They had purchased a real time stock quotation service that needed a satellite dish on the roof. It was cutting edge for the time. I remember not only that keyboard, but learning about stocks for the first time...

• by lettergram on 11/8/20, 11:49 PM

  I used to have companies pay me to dispose of their old terminals. We then converted the keyboards to USBs and sold them ($100-$300 per board).

  Was easily one of the best little business ventures I had. Was making hundreds to thousands an hour, course there’s limited supply and demand so it wasn’t sustainable.

• by wombatmobile on 11/9/20, 11:36 AM

  Great project and terrific write-up.

  The only thing I could suggest for improvement is the part when a YouTube ad spoils the flow:

  "This tank of a keyboard weighs in at over 6 pounds, sounds like [. . .]"

  It would have been nice to just hover and hear the clack clack clack of the ancient beast. But - advertising - sigh.

• by beervirus on 11/8/20, 11:44 PM

  This is timely, I just bought a Model F off eBay. It will need some work, but it should be a great keyboard.

  Here’s the video that inspired me to buy one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Jds326gks

• by dawidw on 11/9/20, 4:48 PM

  Is it possible to buy "sample keyboard"? Kind of couple of keys to hear and feel? I know it's possible to buy switches themselves with all the colours, however I'd like to try how they work with keys before I buy the full keyboard.

• by drivers99 on 11/9/20, 3:39 AM

  I still have this keyboard along with my first computer, a second-hand IBM PC (5150). The Alt key has some inconsistency registering so I was hoping for some detailed fixing but looks like he just did some deep cleaning and ended up with some bad keys as well.

• by _nickwhite on 11/8/20, 11:36 PM

  Years ago I bought a huge box of old IBM Model-M keyboards- not model F's like here, but pretty close. I planned on refurbishing and reselling on eBay, but quickly discovered the cost of shipping ate any profit I hoped to make on them. Life lesson learned.

• by macjohnmcc on 11/9/20, 12:07 AM

  Remember when these came out and how similar they were to the terminal keyboards of the time. For a long time I preferred these over the model M that defined our modern keyboards.

• by 1MachineElf on 11/9/20, 2:57 AM

  Recently I scored a Packard Bell M7US02X-20 keyboard. It's switches are a simpler design than the Model F, but typing feel and key placement are very similar.

• by Aloha on 11/9/20, 1:36 AM

  You know I'm not sure I'd pick the Model F as the keyboard I'd want on my desk, simply because of the non-standard layout.

• by WalterBright on 11/9/20, 3:30 AM

  I still have the one I bought in 1982 or so somewhere in the basement.

• by beamatronic on 11/9/20, 5:17 AM

  I loved typing on those. Sheer joy.

• by iammru on 11/9/20, 12:41 AM

  So satisfying to look at...

• by every on 11/8/20, 10:56 PM

  Clicky, I bet...

• by FpUser on 11/8/20, 11:45 PM

  I have keyboard from 1992. Still works fine