Here's some photos of the board that was in the reconditioning time lapse video I posted. Enjoy!























More photos and info here!

Looks like some PS renders very impressive.

Very nice. You should add a Reconditioned _____________ line on the sticker and initial there.

Exactly. Matt signed his SSK when he did its bolt mod:

workshop-f7/restoring-my-first-ssk-t6324.html

Are all Model Ms supposed to have their model number on the barrel plate under F11 and F12? I've been inside every one I own (okay, so that's only three…) and never even noticed!

Muirium wrote:Exactly. Matt signed his SSK when he did its bolt mod:

Are all Model Ms supposed to have their model number on the barrel plate under F11 and F12? I've been inside every one I own (okay, so that's only three…) and never even noticed!

Hehehe! I do sign them, but I'm sneaky about it. It's engraved on the underside of the barrel plate, usually accompanied by a smiley face sticker.

I might get fancy and official and make my own sticker eventually.

As for the model number on the barrel plate, I'm pretty certain that's the model/revision of the plate itself which doesn't seem to show up on the blue labeled boards.

(Now that you mentioned it mtl, I'm probably going to get fancy the next time I have to re-create a label and add a "Reconditioned by ____" line in it then. )

Wow, that's quite a transformation.

Great job on the cleaning, you're making want to go back and clean mine up some more :L.

Oh golly... what a beauty! In BOTH photos! So fantastically filthy. That's so my kind of board.

Cleaning instructions? Looks like you got some serious dirt off these babies.

What are the blue side legends?

I think I've seen those before. If they're the same, they're actually just stickers for WordPerfect or something.

Wow this is an awesome cleaning job! Although the process can be a real pain in the ass, the outcome always makes me really happy.

Monkay wrote:Wow this is an awesome cleaning job! Although the process can be a real pain in the ass, the outcome always makes me really happy.

Thanks! There always seems to be a very pretty board under all that gunk!

Icarium wrote:Cleaning instructions? Looks like you got some serious dirt off these babies.

Laundry detergent, warm water, lots of soaking, various implements of cleaning, elbow grease, and a healthy dose of OCD. ;P

I'll get around to some cleaning tips one of these days.

wheybags wrote:What are the blue side legends?

I'm gonna take a stab at Lotus 1-2-3.
(I still love how filthy that board looked...)

Lotus 1-2-3 is correct. Cleaning the caps is the longest part as I don't want to loose the stickers, they aren't something you see often.

You guys are so funny - getting excited for old, dirty, scummy-faced Model-M's.

Of course once you clean them they look so different compared to anything else out there. So glad that there are people who find restoring these old babies as an enjoyable venture.

Doesn't anything make you want to reach for the sick bag when you open up one of these dirty keyboards?

I guess it's because those used ones come in as a project. At least that's it for me. It's the same as buying an old wreck and restoring it for a nice oldtimer classic car, it's the work of creating something by yourself that is nice, not that much the actual finished product. And you'll worship the reworked keyboard even more as you put some effort in it.
Where's the point in simply throwing cash at someone for a soulless, finished, polished product, you miss out all the fun and sweat and tears this work inherits. And of course, cleaning others people dirt, and swearing over it is part of that.

kint wrote:Where's the point in simply throwing cash at someone for a soulless, finished, polished product, you miss out all the fun and sweat and tears this work inherits. And of course, cleaning others people dirt, and swearing over it is part of that.

I know, but if I had enormous amounts of time to myself I would love to do it, but as always a week goes fast (shift work) and when you finish shopping, paying bills, fixing things around the house and doing some alone time with the mrs there is very little left for any possible Model-M restos.

The life we lead now is so devoid of any "me time" you just learn to accept what it's like to live and work in the 21st century.

kint wrote:I guess it's because those used ones come in as a project. At least that's it for me. It's the same as buying an old wreck and restoring it for a nice oldtimer classic car, it's the work of creating something by yourself that is nice, not that much the actual finished product. And you'll worship the reworked keyboard even more as you put some effort in it.
Where's the point in simply throwing cash at someone for a soulless, finished, polished product, you miss out all the fun and sweat and tears this work inherits. And of course, cleaning others people dirt, and swearing over it is part of that.

Well said - I couldn't agree more! There's definitely something inherently gratifying about the transformation process.

For cleaning plastics I highly recommend MELLERUD (http://www.mellerud.de/shop/mellerud/ku ... -5-l.html). This stuff will clean almost anything