Hi
A few months ago I bought some Mathias ALPS keys from 7bit and I looked for somehing to do with them. I decided for a TKL keyboard.
I had in stock a Dell AT102W and a few USB rubberdome keyboards.
I found a Dell USB KBD which wiring is very similar with the AT102W. A logitech could also do the job but it was a bit more different.
The alpha keys are wired exactly the same way but there are some differences for function keys.
I replaced the black switchs with the tactile ones and cut the pcb and the plate. I also opened the pcb to include the USB chip.
For the case, the easiest way was wood. I had a board of oak of the good size.
(dwg file to be uploaded)
I did it quite fast and I'm not very happy with the result. I will propably do it again whan i will get a better saw.
Thanks to similarities of chips, wiring is not too difficult (not finish yet for some function keys).
I will add an undercover, probably of fabrics, and 4 small foam feet.
I should have paint the plate. But fortunatly it more visible on picture than in real life.
Turn a Dell AT102W into an USB TKL keyboard
- scottc
- ☃
- Location: Remote locations in Europe
- Main keyboard: GH60-HASRO 62g Nixies, HHKB Pro1 HS, Novatouch
- Main mouse: Steelseries Rival 300
- Favorite switch: Nixdorf 'Soft Touch' MX Black
- DT Pro Member: -
This is a really cool one. I've been meaning to do something similar with one of my several AT102W for months now, but never really gotten around to it.
-
- Main keyboard: TM2030 bépo
- Main mouse: Kensington Expert Mouse
- DT Pro Member: -
I will not have time to use it a lot for a while, maybe a better feedback later.
Case and switchs are OK but keycaps are very very light. Something stronger should be better for both feel and sound. In fact the only things I would keep from AT102 are plate and PCB. But ALPS keycaps are not easy to find (moreover a bépo set), so...
Case and switchs are OK but keycaps are very very light. Something stronger should be better for both feel and sound. In fact the only things I would keep from AT102 are plate and PCB. But ALPS keycaps are not easy to find (moreover a bépo set), so...
-
- Location: UK
- Main keyboard: Filco ZERO green alps, Model F 122 Terminal
- Main mouse: Ducky Secret / Roller Mouse Pro 1
- Favorite switch: MX Mount Topre / Model F Buckling
- DT Pro Member: 0167
indeed someone needs to make thick PBT dyesub caps for alps , i know many people would buy several sets i know i would
as cool as doubleshot is PBT is far superior to ABS imo
as cool as doubleshot is PBT is far superior to ABS imo
- scottc
- ☃
- Location: Remote locations in Europe
- Main keyboard: GH60-HASRO 62g Nixies, HHKB Pro1 HS, Novatouch
- Main mouse: Steelseries Rival 300
- Favorite switch: Nixdorf 'Soft Touch' MX Black
- DT Pro Member: -
The stock Dell caps are really horrible. I recently got ahold of some nice AEK2-style PBT dyesub caps, which are amazing. As a result, I'll probably do this mod to an AEK or something similar so that I can fit the caps on it.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
wow that´s awesome! I have a couple of AT102´s somewhere in the basement. I need to get into projects like this!