Box of Acorn/BBC Micro keycaps

harvvvvv · 17 Aug 2015, 14:26

(more images http://imgur.com/a/q7ZmJ)

I have all these Acorn Electron/BBC Micro key caps, a whole box of them! They even came with a few switches. The question is, what shall I do with them all?

Initially I was hoping they would fit on MX switches, but they are just too small to fit. They would need some heavy filing down (would this even be possible?). Ideally I'd like to make some kind of 60% keyboard with them.

Maybe I should just turn them all into keyrings? Anyone have any better ideas?
I can take more pictures if anyone has any requests.

andrewjoy · 17 Aug 2015, 14:33

Do they fit MX ?

ramnes · 17 Aug 2015, 14:37

Can you read?

7bit · 17 Aug 2015, 14:55

They are a great collectible item!

Take some pictures and add them to the wiki.

seebart · 17 Aug 2015, 15:41

harvvvvv wrote: ↑I have all these Acorn Electron/BBC Micro key caps, a whole box of them! They even came with a few switches. The question is, what shall I do with them all?

Just give them all to me.

Muirium · 17 Aug 2015, 15:42

And generally don't damage them. They could be just what a BBC Micro enthusiast needs.

harvvvvv · 17 Aug 2015, 19:21

So do you guys not think it'd be possible to mod these to fit on MX stems?

Muirium · 17 Aug 2015, 19:28

Enormous amount of painstaking, fiddly work. And every mistake you make will leave them sitting at ugly angles.

MX caps are everywhere anyway.

harvvvvv · 17 Aug 2015, 19:38

Muirium wrote: ↑ MX caps are everywhere anyway.

True, but none like this...

Muirium · 17 Aug 2015, 20:07

Oh, I wouldn't say that…

http://deskthority.net/photos-f62/round ... 10938.html

Halvar · 17 Aug 2015, 21:12

Maybe they fit older cherry switches like M9? 7bit is offering these like sour milk, and they might make for a nice diy project.

7bit · 18 Aug 2015, 23:12

I've tried and M9 fit perfectly!

BTW: I will make some PCBs and mount plates for M9 switches really soon.

scottc · 19 Aug 2015, 10:41

7bit wrote: ↑BTW: I will make some PCBs and mount plates for M9 switches really soon.

this is exciting!

harvvvvv · 19 Aug 2015, 10:56

7bit (and Halvar) to the rescue! Thanks guys.

vvp · 19 Aug 2015, 11:57

7bit wrote: ↑I've tried and M9 fit perfectly!

Is that true or are you joking?
Because the M9 stem is the same as MX stem. The only relevant difference is that M9 stem will not sink into the switch when pressed. If the keycaps fit well M9 then they can be filled down to fit MX and there would not be a danger of the filled keycaps sitting on ugly angles since you would not need to remove material from the inside of the cross.

Halvar · 19 Aug 2015, 12:43

harvvvvv wrote: ↑7bit (and Halvar) to the rescue! Thanks guys.

I'm not sure if 7bit is serious on this either. How should he have tried? M9 fit perfectly, maybe, but to what?

seebart · 19 Aug 2015, 13:05

Fit to what? The Acorn caps supposedly fit on the M9 mount as I understand this! Am I missing something here?

vvp · 19 Aug 2015, 13:35

seebart wrote: ↑Am I missing something here?

It is likely there is a contradiction between Muirium's claim and 7bit's claim.
If they fit on M9 then the inside of the cross does not need to be modified.
If you do not modify the inside of the cross then it is hard to modify it in such a way that they would fit in ugly angles.

Muirium · 19 Aug 2015, 14:15

I think 7bit's just shitting with you. He'd really like to get rid of those switches. Much to his surprise, demand for huge, kinda sorta MX ancestors is low. Has anyone bought any of them?

As for the caps: don't do this you vandal! But what I mean is you could swap the entire mounting pole (name?) and swap with a donor. This works okay on PBT caps I think I've heard. Not so sure about good vintage doubleshots though. Could be brutal, and fatal.

Halvar · 19 Aug 2015, 14:43

What makes 7bit's M9 switches kind of sort of interesting is their tilted mount, which could be used with SA sphericals (or maybe with these BBC caps?) to get a nice more stepped profile. I'm not sure though if I'd want to build a keyboard just to try that...

The reason I thought M9s might be worth trying is that I don't understand the OP as to what it really is that is "just too small to fit".

7bit · 19 Aug 2015, 14:43

Halvar wrote: ↑
harvvvvv wrote: ↑7bit (and Halvar) to the rescue! Thanks guys.
I'm not sure if 7bit is serious on this either. How should he have tried? M9 fit perfectly, maybe, but to what?

Muirium wrote: ↑I think 7bit's just shitting with you. He'd really like to get rid of those switches. Much to his surprise, demand for huge, kinda sorta MX ancestors is low. Has anyone bought any of them?

As for the caps: don't do this you vandal! But what I mean is you could swap the entire mounting pole (name?) and swap with a donor. This works okay on PBT caps I think I've heard. Not so sure about good vintage doubleshots though. Could be brutal, and fatal.

Total nonsense!

I've tried and it fits. I did not need to force it on.

I've tried the orange F0 and today the brown W and both fit perfectly!

They do not fit on MX becuase the stem goes into the case and the mounting stem of the key is too thick to fit into it!

In a nutshell:
The M9s I have, are the switches made for these keys!

seebart · 19 Aug 2015, 14:58

No nonsense, no shit!

7bit · 19 Aug 2015, 15:05

I've shipped these switches usually with each switch order.
There must be somone who got one and also has such a keyboard to give it a try!

seebart · 19 Aug 2015, 15:22

I wonder if they fit my Clare Pendar switches, probably not.

Halvar · 19 Aug 2015, 15:58

Sounds good!

7bit · 19 Aug 2015, 23:17

I've tried to add the M9 footprint. It is no problem if we ditch support for LEDs in the switches.

Otherwise it is possible to have them on the backside of the PCB with a shift to the right by 3mm. This would mean that a universal case must have room for the PCB to be shifted over to the right side by 3mm. This isn't much of a problem I think.

This goes for the Hyper7. Forget them in the ErgoHype. These are designed for mounting Alps and Cherry MX on both sides so the trick will not work here, unless we ditch the LEDs.

It comes down to "CherryMX in the switch LEDs" vs. "one PCB for M9, MX and Alps".

In any case: It is always possible to have Alps with LEDs.

Conventional keyboards: The Hyper7 has quite limited alternatives for mount-positions, not sure if this would work with keyboards like HyperMacro etc. I've got to try that out ...

7bit · 20 Aug 2015, 10:33

I'm down to 1.651mm vertically and 1.27mm horizontally!

Hyper7 -- the first keyboard PCB to support 3 different switches!!!

scottc · 20 Aug 2015, 10:35

The ErgoHype sounds very interesting... I hadn't heard of it before. What will it be like?

7bit · 20 Aug 2015, 10:41

scottc · 20 Aug 2015, 11:15

Why is it superior to a plain old ErgoDox? More switch types?