Box of Acorn/BBC Micro keycaps
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- DT Pro Member: -
(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.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
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Just give them all to me.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?
- Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Enormous amount of painstaking, fiddly work. And every mistake you make will leave them sitting at ugly angles.
MX caps are everywhere anyway.
MX caps are everywhere anyway.
- Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
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- scottc
- ☃
- Location: Remote locations in Europe
- Main keyboard: GH60-HASRO 62g Nixies, HHKB Pro1 HS, Novatouch
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- Favorite switch: Nixdorf 'Soft Touch' MX Black
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this is exciting!7bit wrote: ↑BTW: I will make some PCBs and mount plates for M9 switches really soon.
- vvp
- Main keyboard: Katy/K84CS
- Main mouse: symetric 5-buttons + wheel
- Favorite switch: Cherry MX
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Is that true or are you joking?7bit wrote: ↑I've tried and M9 fit perfectly!
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
- Location: Baden, DE
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M SSK / Filco MT 2
- Favorite switch: Beam & buckling spring, Monterey, MX Brown
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I'm not sure if 7bit is serious on this either. How should he have tried? M9 fit perfectly, maybe, but to what?harvvvvv wrote: ↑7bit (and Halvar) to the rescue! Thanks guys.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
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Fit to what? The Acorn caps supposedly fit on the M9 mount as I understand this! Am I missing something here?
- vvp
- Main keyboard: Katy/K84CS
- Main mouse: symetric 5-buttons + wheel
- Favorite switch: Cherry MX
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It is likely there is a contradiction between Muirium's claim and 7bit's claim.seebart wrote: ↑Am I missing something here?
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
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
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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.
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
- Location: Baden, DE
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M SSK / Filco MT 2
- Favorite switch: Beam & buckling spring, Monterey, MX Brown
- DT Pro Member: 0051
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".
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
- Location: Berlin, DE
- Main keyboard: Tipro / IBM 3270 emulator
- Main mouse: Logitech granite for SGI
- Favorite switch: MX Lock
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Total nonsense!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.
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
- Offtopicthority Instigator
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No nonsense, no shit!
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
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I wonder if they fit my Clare Pendar switches, probably not.
- 7bit
- Location: Berlin, DE
- Main keyboard: Tipro / IBM 3270 emulator
- Main mouse: Logitech granite for SGI
- Favorite switch: MX Lock
- DT Pro Member: 0001
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 ...
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 ...
- 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 ErgoHype sounds very interesting... I hadn't heard of it before. What will it be like?