IBM 3101 Industrial!

lot_lizard · 01 Jun 2016, 02:33

Muirium wrote: ↑Yup. That's why I rock mine commando style. Simply no substitute for pure feel.

Bingo... Moral... Get rid of that factory nonsense. You'll soon see why it was never meant to be there (at least in that form)

photekq · 01 Jun 2016, 02:37

I'm sure it would have been alright when the keyboard was new, but I'm yet to see a single shield in good enough condition to keep in tact.

Definitely remove it! Whether or not you replace it is up to you.

lot_lizard · 01 Jun 2016, 03:11

This was the best one I have ever seen (pre-cleaned) in person. The rubber was flawless, close to as I would have imagined it new, but after using the others without (and thinner replacement) barriers, I still hated it. Too thick, and made the switches heavy and thunky. I saved it, but it has been replaced

pr0ximity · 01 Jun 2016, 03:53

The shield on my 5251 was completely intact and came off nicely. Still left it off, it really does just completely ruin things. Lots of keys affecting other keys. I haven't had any sensing issues, though I haven't had it more than a couple of months.

Stabs came off mine without too much issue as well, but it's from 1980 -- older models might be more brittle:

emdude · 01 Jun 2016, 03:58

lot_lizard wrote: ↑
Muirium wrote: ↑Yup. That's why I rock mine commando style. Simply no substitute for pure feel.
Bingo... Moral... Get rid of that factory nonsense. You'll soon see why it was never meant to be there (at least in that form)

Hm, but if the switches are as vulnerable to dust and crud as Parak said in his GH thread.. My main priority for my beam springs is preservation, and it does seem possible to apply plastic wrap so it won't affect the switch feel too much.

y11971alex · 01 Jun 2016, 08:39

After I took all the keys off to clean them, I discovered that the stabilizer wire on the spacebar doesn't work so well. It works properly (the whole key sinks) if you push it on the left; if pushed on the right, only the right side goes down fully, while the left only goes down half. Does this have anything to do with the fact that the spacebar's switch is actually on the right and the switch on the left is a dummy?

seebart · 01 Jun 2016, 09:07

y11971alex wrote: ↑But the presence of the shield really makes the whole keyboard feel, well, very unclean. When you press down on one button, the buttons around it get pulled towards it.

Your shield makes the keyfeel that way which is why you can toss it. Anytime you see...

the buttons around it get pulled towards it.

you can be sure your shield is long overdue! A proper shield will not change the keyfeel at all. With all this in mind I'd say Beamspring is easily the one of the most "delicate" and elaborate keyboard constructions I have even seen. When the setup is right the payoff is phenomenal.

While the shield on my 5251 looked OK at first the full extent was only visible after I pulled the caps which everyone should be careful with on Beamspring. In certain areas the behaviour was exactly the same as you describe y11971alex.

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y11971alex · 01 Jun 2016, 16:31

I had just Parak modded my 3101.

andrewjoy · 01 Jun 2016, 17:50

You should roll without a contamination shield, you get much better feeling. Not unlike other contamination shields people wear on there plungers

lot_lizard · 01 Jun 2016, 17:57

andrewjoy wrote: ↑You should roll without a contamination shield, you get much better feeling. Not unlike other contamination shields people wear on there plungers

Hahaha... Well said

seebart · 01 Jun 2016, 18:14

y11971alex wrote: ↑I had just Parak modded my 3101.

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y11971alex · 01 Jun 2016, 19:09

But, like I say, the spacebar isn't very well stabilized after the mod. :O

y11971alex · 03 Jun 2016, 04:43

I just noticed that the board doesn't have a solenoid installed.

Is it just missing or it's meant to be used without a solenoid?

lot_lizard · 03 Jun 2016, 18:45

y11971alex wrote: ↑I just noticed that the board doesn't have a solenoid installed.

Is it just missing or it's meant to be used without a solenoid?

I would say it is missing the solenoid because the assembly has the necessary cutout (to the right of the controller) for this small of form factor to have one, and the lower shell/case has the "spring holder" cutout as well. This really is a very interesting beamspring because it shares so many characteristics of both the 327x and 525x. It is obvious it was "the missing link"

Question though, does anyone have a picture (or documentation) of the template that would have gone in the indentation on the top shell? I have one coming from a Cindy find, and would like to reproduce that part. Also, I'll chime back in about whether mine has a solenoid

y11971alex · 08 Jun 2016, 01:43

lot_lizard wrote: ↑
y11971alex wrote: ↑I just noticed that the board doesn't have a solenoid installed.

Is it just missing or it's meant to be used without a solenoid?
I would say it is missing the solenoid because the assembly has the necessary cutout (to the right of the controller) for this small of form factor to have one, and the lower shell/case has the "spring holder" cutout as well. This really is a very interesting beamspring because it shares so many characteristics of both the 327x and 525x. It is obvious it was "the missing link"

If so, where should I try to find a replacement solenoid? xwhatsit mentioned that the solenoid driver is capable of providing up to 9 volts of power, and there are plenty of 9 volt, spring loaded solenoids on eBay and other sources. Would these solenoids suffice? It seems to me that they have a pretty uniform width and height.

lot_lizard · 08 Jun 2016, 02:16

Give me a few more days (up to a week) to get mine in from Cindy, and I can verify. 5.5v seems like it was the magic number (without validating). I would like to enable the FSSK/FEXT for a solenoid as well via xWhatsit. So the research timing is perfect.

y11971alex · 08 Jun 2016, 15:49

I just realized that I may have purchased the youngest of the beamsprings... Jun 15th, 1984. Its 32nd birthday is coming up! Powder coating is taking longer than expected, and I hope to assemble in good condition before that date.

y11971alex · 10 Jun 2016, 04:47

My keyboard's back with a little surprise! It turns out, it probably had a little cutout for the door as on chzel's board, but was subsequently welded back, for some reason. The sticker at the back mentioned that this keyboard was actually used by IBM... so perhaps it was an IBM mod or something.

I remember distinctly that I had asked for beige powder coating, but the guys that did it were either forgetful or colourblind! Here's a comparison with the Model F. Since it is now silvery grey, I guess it makes this an industrial beam spring.

And here's a comparison with my XT from another angle. It's definitely "low profile and ergonomic", like Muirium said.

chzel · 10 Jun 2016, 09:11

That's funny about the door, it's plastic on mine, so they had fabricate a plate to block the gap?

y11971alex · 10 Jun 2016, 19:58

chzel wrote: ↑That's funny about the door, it's plastic on mine, so they had fabricate a plate to block the gap?

Maybe it's an OEM mod.

Touch_It · 11 Jun 2016, 23:49

Despite the wrong color, I think it looks good, maybe better. Should ask for a discount or redo though if you aren't happy.

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orihalcon · 12 Jun 2016, 00:35

This was the first 3101 that I'd seen without the door on it. Definitely not the norm which I think makes it quite unique

y11971alex · 12 Jun 2016, 04:38

Touch_It wrote: ↑Despite the wrong color, I think it looks good, maybe better. Should ask for a discount or redo though if you aren't happy.

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Honestly, I think they blasted off the colour before thinking about matching the new colour. I pointed to the case and told them to match the colour of the old paint.

Interestingly, they said the case was more likely to be aluminum, given the "corrosion", which is the rectangular mark around the door. That's definitely a strange way for corrosion to spread!

lot_lizard · 16 Jun 2016, 11:59

lot_lizard wrote: ↑Give me a few more days (up to a week) to get mine in from Cindy, and I can verify. 5.5v seems like it was the magic number (without validating). I would like to enable the FSSK/FEXT for a solenoid as well via xWhatsit. So the research timing is perfect.

Just to report back... I got the 3101 from Cindy, and it does have a solenoid. Mine has all white legends though. I love your two yellow 6's and 3 left control keys. Makes you think their need could be tied to the welded door over the dips? A special configuration for sure