Good deal for beam spring?

[MECHGAMER]

I found a 5251 on eBay for $200 plus $59 for international shipping. It is missing 3 keys and is dirty. Is it a good deal?

[Muirium]

$200 is about right for a beamspring. Be sure to see some pictures, mind.

[Redmaus]

Idk man, its gonna be hard to replace those keys...

[XMIT]

MECHGAMER: Please, put your country of residence in your profile.

Unless you are close enough to Cyprus for the shipping to be cheap - that keyboard is a ripoff. I wouldn't pay that price with missing keys. /Maybe/ scottc can help you with some spares.

[chzel]

Is it the one from Cyprus?
If it is, I'd say no, it's going to be hard to restore.

[MECHGAMER]

Who else is selling a beam spring in good condition for a similar price then?

[Muirium]

Patience.

Missing beamspring caps are pretty bad news (Scottc's spare caps are all deep dished J keys, so you're hosed for anything not on the homerow) and I've had trouble restoring one in a rusty state myself. I can't remember what's up with the Cyprus board in particular, but if everyone's seen it already and nobody's bought… you can tell the message.

[chzel]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-525 ... 5d5c56019e
Check the pics Mu, 3 keys missing, and one of them is the HUGE Numpad 0! It doesn't seem to be in a bad state otherwise.

[MECHGAMER]

I think If I can get the seller to lower the price of the keyboard to about $160, i might buy.

[Muirium]

Thanks for the link.

Hmm. I've got to admit that I don't like the fat Displaywriter boards, and that one's Father of XT layout is a negative as well in my book. Aaand the price is more than I ever paid for a beamspring.

But! Realistically, they don't show up in Europe often. And that one's in pretty good shape. A few missing caps is always annoying, but it's only a few and they're on non-essential keys. I'd try talking the seller into a lower price, depending how long it's been kicking around ebay. It's overpriced, but these boards are in fair demand compared to the supply, especially over here.

But if Mechgamer's in America, forget about it!

[chzel]

But if Mechgamer's in America, forget about it!

Aaaaand that's why everyone should....
http://deskthority.net/help-f53/please- ... t1386.html

[Muirium]

Oh I know…

http://deskthority.net/club-discussions ... 11352.html

Anyone know how to phpBB?

[MECHGAMER]

It just so happens that I am in America. anyways, if you or anyone you know is selling a beamspring, tell me about it.

[elecplus]

It just so happens that I am in America. anyways, if you or anyone you know is selling a beamspring, tell me about it.

Check your PM

[romevi]

got some questions about beamsprings.

Is the 5251 a UK board? I see the Euro-style Enter key, along with the pound symbol, so I wasn't sure.

I know nothing about beamsprings or how to hook them up to modern keyboards. Is it worth it? I admit I've gone down the rabbit hole thanks to GH and DT, so I'm interested in beamsprings. The 3278, 3727, and 5251 look the sexiest, but I'm not sure which of those would be the "best" to use nowadays, and if the modifiers would input signals corresponding to today's layouts.

Sorry for the newb questions.

[MECHGAMER]

@elecplus that's a bigfoot F.

[elecplus]

Yep, so I see! Google gave me that listing when I was looking for DisplayWriter keyboards. I should have looked up the PN on the archives first!

[MECHGAMER]

will post something on marketplace.

[snuci]

Sorry for dredging up this old thread but I just wanted to mention that I bought this 5251 plus his 5291 keyboard. The 5251 is only missing one key (the long "0") but other than the rubber membrane needing to be removed because it is tattered, it is in fantastic shape. Not sure if I should post a Photos thread because I think it's almost exactly the same as my Displaywriter keyboard save for the key layout.

I worked out a deal for both keyboards at a very good price!

[seebart]

Great snuci, I know they will be in good hands with you!

[MECHGAMER]

How did you get a deal out of the cyprus seller? He didn't respond to any of my emails.

[snuci]

How did you get a deal out of the cyprus seller? He didn't respond to any of my emails.

Timing, bundling, evidence and respect.

I waited until he had a discount on all of his auctions (meaning he hasn't sold much lately, I'm guessing) so I know there was motivation. I then sent one message that showed a previously sold auction for the 5291 ($50) and offered that plus a decent price for the 5251 because of the three missing keys (there were no comparables for 5251). We agreed on a price and he had two of the three keys which he threw in. While I paid less than the asking price of the 5251 for both keyboards combined, we both walked away happy.

[seebart]

How did you get a deal out of the cyprus seller? He didn't respond to any of my emails.

Obviously snuci made him "an offer he could not refuse"! No honestly snuci, did you send the seller pictures of your museum?

[snuci]

Obviously snuci made him "an offer he could not refuse"! No honestly snuci, did you send the seller pictures of your museum?

That's funny because my parents are from Italy If you are referring to the one room I took pictures of, no I didn't. You will probably notice that most of the stuff I posted (I think) is not in that particular room

[seebart]

That's funny because my parents are from Italy

Whops, well I was kidding as you know. That seller had several offers online for a long time, I contemplated a buy several times myself but went for a Scottish offer instead.

[Muirium]

Most Italians aren't mobsters. And most Scots aren't kings. But ask an Italian or Scottish American about their ancestry…