deskthority

Hello everyone,

I've just received my 3727 Beam Spring and i felt in love. It is in great condition, complete with no rust, only little painting damages. I only had to remove the contamination shield.

The only real trouble is that I am not a good touch typist and i use Azerty. So right now, I cannot use this keyboard and it is a shame...

My two cents idea is to use my future french alphanumerics from Round 5 on the board. I am pretty sure that in term of harmony, it would be nice to keep the old black modifiers.

For the moment i have to ckeck if the size of 1u keycaps from SP could fit the keyboard. I don't know if they are tighter than the original ones, that would be bad to have big gaps between caps.

An other problem, is that the beam spring mount go really deep into the keycaps so it may be mandatory to add thickness under the keycaps.

And also, the real trouble is that i have to learn to use a 3D apps...

So, does somebody already start to work on something like that ? Do you think that it is feasible ? And most important do you think that it would look good to mix keycaps ?

Thank you and sorry for the english mistakes

You're talking about making adapters? I've tried popping SA caps straight on beamspring stems and they almost work, naked. Could definitely use some improvement though. I'm just not sure what.

The trouble with adapters is they always add height. That would be crazy on an already imperiously tall (and wobbly) beamspring! And adapters are no good for mix and match because of this added elevation.

I am worry about the height too.

Maybe the best solution would be to destroy the MX mount inside the caps and replace it by something similar to the original caps. I am not against loosing the compatibility between beam spring and mx mount.

In case you do not already know this, you can use keycaps from at least some models of IBM Selectric typewriters on beam spring keyboards. Beautiful double-shot sphericals in various colors.

Thank you for this advice.

These ones are good ?

http://www.leboncoin.fr/fournitures_de_ ... tm?ca=12_s
http://www.leboncoin.fr/fournitures_de_ ... tm?ca=12_s
http://www.leboncoin.fr/fournitures_de_ ... tm?ca=12_s

Layouts are far from modern but if i find one cheap i could try that.

Ah, I should have remembered that. Good point Hyper.

The first one doesn't look promising, but the other two could be worth a shot. The only downsides to sourcing from typewriters are (as you guessed) weird layout inconsistencies, and of course shipping. Sellers get attached to these things and only some of them are willing to strip the caps and recycle the rest! Shipping keyboards is nothing compared to Selectrics!

I used a Selectric II, 1980s vintage. Look closely to be sure it is an older variant with the nice double-shot spherical keycaps. I was fortunate to find a nearby seller so that the shipping costs were low. The typewriter itself was only $14.95. After I had harvested the caps, I took the remains to a recycling center. These things are HEAVY! The caps are also very firmly attached. I used a wire keycap puller with lots of wiggling while applying a steady upward force.

Indeed. Beam spring caps are very much attached to their home of 30+ years! But they get easier after the first time. Think of them as middle aged, suddenly finding themselves on the market for new partners, after what seemed like a life long relationship! (Not autobiographical. I still haven't found my, uh, switch…)

What's the actual key mechanism like in a Selectric? Ignoring all the typewriting. I know beamspring was designed to replicate its feel. Perhaps there's good stuff in there.

I am gonna try to negociate the two typewriters with probable DS keycaps.

New idea : I could destroy the selectric keycaps, keep the mount and try to adapt it into a MX keycaps (after destriying the mx mount). I don't know if i could do something clean.

Little update i will post pictures later.

Using typewriter keycaps was a great idea. I find one for 20€. Even after cleaning the keycaps are in average condition, they presents some friction marks. But it is really cool to see Azerty keycaps on this old board.

I didn't have enough caps on the typewriter so i had to keep the two original blank keycaps. The size seems to be identical but it is not the exact same grey and the texture is rough.

So thank you for your help.

Could someone who has a Selectric and/or a beam spring board please measure the little metal keycap mounts with a caliper, and add that info here, and ideally also to the Deskthority wiki? Thanks!

I could do that this week end.