Olympia Carrera Typewriter with Marquardt Linear Switches

Compgeke · 14 Mar 2014, 07:33

Picked this thing up for $5 non-working at a thrift store. Thought the linearness of the switches was odd and had to grab it.

I'm unsure of the specific type of Marquardt switch as it doesn't match up with any of the three on the wiki but it is a fairly smooth switch, more so than Cherry Red or Black in my opinion.

The caps do fit MX switches and vice versa. They appear to be dye sub caps, I believe ABS but I haven't confirmed yet.

Closed off nice and pretty:

Opened up:

Oh look, switches!

A single switch showing the logo.

But...will MX caps fit? Of course.

Will the caps fit a MX Switch? Sure.

Is that a LED switch for capslock? Nope.

And the cap for capslock.

The keyboard itself.

Back showing PCB.

Main PCB (Motherboard?) of everything.

And it does work after a bit of oiling the rails.

I'll take more pictures this weekend as I'll have a Canon 650D over my 300D meaning none of that ISO 400 noise. In the mean time anyone know what switch this is specifically?

002 · 14 Mar 2014, 07:58

I like the caps. For some reason they remind me of a Nestle Milkybar.
They look a bit like the bigger caps on the μTRON, too.

Daniel Beardsmore · 14 Mar 2014, 22:30

Compgeke wrote:I'm unsure of the specific type of Marquardt switch as it doesn't match up with any of the three on the wiki but it is a fairly smooth switch, more so than Cherry Red or Black in my opinion. … In the mean time anyone know what switch this is specifically?

It turned up on Geekhack last August:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47597

It's mentioned on the wiki under [wiki]Marquardt Two Finger[/wiki] (the "regular" Marquardt switch) under the assumption that it's the same inside, but the insides are yet to be documented and there are no photos on the wiki of this alternative version.

The name is a mistake because it turns out that the [wiki]Marquardt Two Fingers Typewriter switch[/wiki] also has the same contact arrangement, suggesting that the one in your typewriter has the same contacts and is therefore likely to just be a "[Normal] Two Finger" variant.

Interestingly with the Geekhack photos, you can see the integrated diodes in the switches.

dorkvader · 16 Mar 2014, 09:07

Compgeke wrote:The caps do fit MX switches and vice versa. They appear to be dye sub caps, I believe ABS but I haven't confirmed yet.

To my knowledge you cannot dye-sublimate ABS keycaps. I suspect it has to do with ABS not being porous enough. Though I think I have seen dyesubs look uneven, they sort-of look lasered in this picture.

excellent fine nonetheless!

kbdfr · 29 Mar 2014, 08:20

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8 ... t1316.html

Daniel Beardsmore · 29 Mar 2014, 13:16

dorkvader wrote:To my knowledge you cannot dye-sublimate ABS keycaps. I suspect it has to do with ABS not being porous enough. Though I think I have seen dyesubs look uneven, they sort-of look lasered in this picture.

The Q keycap is more telling: you can see the concentric circles used to engrave the shape, and the way they've tackled the stroke through the circle without any overlapping or butting lines.

foxtrott · 06 Apr 2014, 19:34

abs or pbt ?

vsev · 07 Jul 2014, 12:16

Hi ,
I did find this one last we in a second-hand shop

: carrera_all.jpg (168.78 KiB) Viewed 6074 times

Its FR azerty version as you can see, but something very different inside...

: carrera_switch_detail.jpg (450.92 KiB) Viewed 6074 times

Cherry switches !
Strange that they seem to be clears as they don't click on bottoming but they feel linear so I'm not sure about this kind of switches..
It contains also special stab system with a spring for the enter key

: carrera_springed_stab.jpg (442.17 KiB) Viewed 6074 times

I can't open switch top normally bit I think its about plate so I'll first unsolder them before opening..

Kurk · 07 Jul 2014, 13:05

The switches probably are vintage Cherry Whites.
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_White

IvanIvanovich · 07 Jul 2014, 17:08

They may be linear clears. They did make such thing and I have seen them in typewriters before as well as a couple computer keyboard. It's not a white as there is no cam on the switch to denote a click type.

gogusrl · 07 Nov 2014, 18:56

Anyone figured out how to tell them apart ? I found one locally for ~30$ and I'd buy it for the linear whites.

Compgeke · 07 Nov 2014, 20:08

Ask to pull a cap. A Marquadt will have a lower profile switch casing and a circled M logo. The Marquadts themselves aren't too bad either and being MX compatible stems keycaps aren't too hard to find.