deskthority

Deskthority doesn't have a steady income anymore. The club helped in the past, but that's ancient history. We still have expenses though and so far they are covered by an absconding webwit just out of his good heart. Hence I'm hereby asking for your support in the form of: A) Put your forgotten or ...

Thanks! When I get a little free time I may give it a try.

Here is a presentation of a Packard Bell keyboard with blue Alps switches, US ANSI layout, and uncertain model number.... Being impatient, I started searching for other ways to color the case. I tried vinyl wrap, with disastrous results. I was a one-man Laurel and Hardy movie. Another fine mess I'd...

Wait...... optical acoustics? I think we can all see that!

Very good, an Edward G Robinson reference That keyboard goes to 11.

No import taxes for keyboards from Europe to the US. No VAT, no customs fee, none of this. Have the sender complete the customs declaration as they would anyway. Source: multiple keyboards received from Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany, the UK. Thanks XMIT. BTW, I love those Hall effect switchs :-)

I can only speak of my experiences in the UK but incoming parcels will usually be held hostage until relevant import duties, local taxes and "handling fees" are paid. The exact mechanism depends on the courier who does the last leg, which is whoever the originating shipping company has a contract t...

Blue Alps have become a minor obsession with me, I have several boards with those lovely switchs. I blame Chyros for sparking this mania...thanks Tom!

In Europe, generally we get an invoice to pay from the customs. I am a bit surprised that you are buying a keyboard from Europe and having it shipped over to the US. I would expect it to be the other way round, there’s tons of retro stuff that I’d rather buy from the US....which are impossible to g...

An European company must ship it to you without VAT. You will pay price without VAT at the time of ordering. If here are any import duties for keyboards in USA then you will be paying them when the keyboard arrives to USA. There is no VAT in USA so you will not pay any VAT but import duties may be ...

The title says it all I'm negotiating the purchase of a keyboard from Europe into the USA and there is concern about VAT and customs, etc. Any advice would be much appreciated. The plan is to pay by paypal.

Peers....it that still for sale? I haven't gotten myself an outlandish birthday present for myself yet

It is a pity to keep them closed in their postal boxes. I think you have enough room in that corner to set a Ikea BESTA up as I made with mines. What do you think of my Ikea low cost solution? Consider anyway that I slightly modded it adding some extra shelves, some of them were also further modded...

Very nice! How Dust proof are the IKea type units? It's pretty dusty here so one reason I favor the boxes is to protect the boards from dust. I might think of getting one of those units and putting the very best boards in it...the beam spring, one of the model Fs, one or more of the blue alps boards...

Some in the Master bedroom, some in the hallway between the bedrooms https://imgur.com/a/g2CBL5P ....five or six stashed in drawers...another five or six at the office in the filing cabinet...the one I'm I'm using at home in front of my computer, likewise the one being used at the office, big wicker...

andrewjoy wrote: ↑

20 Aug 2019, 14:44

If you send it to me i will retrobrite it and send it back in about 40 years or so

lol I'll get back to you on that

I just ended a two week period with an AEK and must say the orange alps were just terrific. I swapped it out with an AEK II, this particular one has dampened cream alps. The experience is totally different but very pleasant. There's not much typing noise, and it sort of feels like what you'd get if ...

Are you willing to open the keyboard up? Try to see if the non-working switches are all connected as either a row or a column. I had this same keyboard and had a similar problem with a handful of keys not working. It turned out to be a dead diode of all things. To repair it, I desoldered the diode ...

I wouldn't mind doing the actual switch replacement, though cleaning a plate is pretty tedious unless you desolder all of the switches first which is much more time consuming. I don't quite recall NB's rates for repair, but I think it was something like $20 plus a certain amount per switch for gene...

Thanks for the pointers guys. When the start of semester craziness subsides I'll give Northgate Bob a call :-) Did you tried cleaning switchplate. - First use a fine precision tweezer and remove the metal leaf from the switchplate - Blow some compressed air at the switchplate. - Use a q-tip and alc...

Thanks for the pointers guys. When the start of semester craziness subsides I'll give Northgate Bob a call

Hey folks. Recently I obtained an ANSI Blue Alps board made for Packard Bell. The switchs seem in good shape but about 8 of the keys don't work, including both the enter key and numpad enter. I kludtzed around and managed to get numpad enter working, but the experience convinced me that my soldering...

https://imgur.com/a/Iujheiq Forty bucks shipped >:) I should feel ashamed of myself but I don't :-) The key feel is very good but eight of the keys don't send signals to the computer. Time to buy more canned air :-) Or maybe an actual project if I can convince myself that my feeble soldering skills ...

Thanks Grampa

I should write a rambley thing about keyboards and I. I'm far older than most of you folks, I'll be 60 at the end of August, but even during the early 80s I had a real thing for how all the different keyboards looked/felt/sounded, and none of them were compatible with anything else :-) I drifted awa...

You'll like that blue Alps comparison video I have planned ;) . It's true though, the differences are huge. I've been told by people that own both that the DC-3014 doesn't sound AS good as the DC-2014, either - but this is subjective, of course. Just recently I acquired a DC-2014. It apparently had...

A late addition. So I got another 5160 with the thought I'd just do a case transplant. It got here with Futaba MA switchs. I don't know.... they are so weird that I may keep it as is. Very odd... like typing on jars of home made jam. So odd, yet I kind of like it.

Free F? Major score Congratulations, I'll look forward to the updates.

Hey! I think I got that board off ebay the other day :-) Serial number and little smudge close to the broken clip are the same. The seller (or someone) wrapped the top case in some sort of cammo.....doesn't look awful, but that's why I was thinking of transplanting the innrards into a model F case....

Bottom looks very similar to this 5160...? Hey! I think I got that board off ebay the other day :-) Serial number and little smudge close to the broken clip are the same. The seller (or someone) wrapped the top case in some sort of cammo.....doesn't look awful, but that's why I was thinking of tran...