deskthority

I've added a force curve here -> photos-f62/marquardt-keypad-1989-t15100.html

ramnes PM'd me a long while back, saying he'd send me something "interesting". Anyways, it arrived. Lo and behold, it's that interesting Marquardt Keypad thing! (https://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f64/unknown-marquardt-switch-t11659.html). https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5812/30896566251_33d00420ec...

This is one of the "harsh-environment" options Honeywell has had in their catalog. It seems to use same sort of rubber domes as used in this later keyboard (https://deskthority.net/photos-f62/ugc-74-keyboard-t8749.html). https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5667/30949751176_f53e5aace4_b.jpg DSC07619 Fortun...

You know what's awesome, military keyboards :mrgreen: https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5198/30153869501_3dbd5bd875_b.jpg DSC06460 You know what's totally awful, the number of parts in military keyboard :cry: It took me a couple weeks to will myself up to put this thing back together. Probably spent aro...

Truth be told, I don't really know anything about this keyboard. The only identifying code is "OTK 28". I'll just let my imagination go wild and assume it was used in some Soviet military installation for launch ICBMs :lol: Those orange keycaps are just awesome. https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5746/30...

When I picked up Atex keyboard, I wasn't really hoping for much. Turns out I was in for a surprise :mrgreen: https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5559/30563072100_7c093d0269_b.jpg DSC07528 The inside of the keyboard was made by a company called Digitran (seems they still exist too, http://www.digitran-swit...

Neat!

Just because a keyboard is clicky, doesn't mean it's any good... This keyboard feels *AWFUL*. Half the time the switches don't click when you press them. It doesn't even have to do with pressing them off-center. Sometimes they just don't click :| https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5705/30748281822_e4dd34...

Yep. One part I might add, which Parak pointed out to me is this part.

DSC06714

This top cap is probably the secret to the very high bottom out force. As it would also act like a low travel spring if enough force is applied.

I dismantle a lot of keyboards, and I mean a lot of keyboards . Usually they are pretty boring, sometimes I have an interesting pcb. To me the really interesting keyboards are the ones that have switches I’ve never seen before. Even when uncovering these mysterious switches, the discoveries are kind...

XMIT wrote: ↑Oh, and - when are you going to post some Alps switch force curves?

I measured an Alps-like clone just today...will be posting the keyboard in the next day or two.

Remember that Topre keyboard a while back that I used to show off the new force gauge? https://deskthority.net/photos-f62/topre-39-aa-0101-t14607.html Well, this seems to be it's older bolder big brother, made by OEM'd by NEC. And in older, I mean by about 1 year. If I'm reading the dates correctly ...

Posted: photos-f62/robotron-k7673-09-t14992.html

While not new to our glorious wiki, it's a rather nice looking keyboard that hasn't been posted in quite a while. The serial number seems rather early as well, 529. Built some time in 1989, East Germany, before the wall fell. https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5521/30498617310_dc0506671b_b.jpg DSC06966 T...

DSC06842

Posting the keyboard shortly.

Yeah, this is probably the last cost savings Fujitsu did on this mechanism. I have a bunch of keyboards using it from the early 90s.

And now for something clicky! An Olivetti L1 ANK 1426. A rather interesting switch in that it doesn't require soldering for the switch, but is still tactile/clicky. The keycaps...seems to have yellowed inconsistently though. https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8496/29676023926_05a608ffcf_b.jpg DSC06250 ht...

Basically, it shows lack of testing during designing the keyboard. It's also more prone to failures depending on the quality of the rework (because it has to be done by hand).

You can also see the white/green cut marks of where they modified the pcb...

Here's something I don't usually post, a USB keyboard! Picked this up pretty randomly on ebay as something with Cherry ML switches. Not sure I'm a fan of the layout, but that's a personal preference thing. Looking at the case, it seems these were first made sometime around 1992 (case data stamps), b...

It's a new week! And I'm still here! :mrgreen: Remember, that force curve I was taunting some months back? https://deskthority.net/photos-f62/a-switch-has-been-d-is-c-o-v-r-d-t13496.html Figured it's time to unveil this piece of Soviet Goodness. https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8739/27682410774_cb53811...

I showed this force curve a long while back. But here's an example of Actuation Force . https://plot.ly/~haata/194.png sgpi-zfGb9M Bottom out force really isn't factored into the calculation of Total Force . Since this event happens so suddenly, I have to stop the force sensor a soon as possible (so...

Haha, yep. It's not torque, just amusing nonetheless. Not sure if you've used Topre, but they do not require bottoming out. For contact switches I have a second measurement "Actuation Force". Which while interesting, isn't super accurate because no one stops perfectly at actuation. Once I start meas...

Updated the graphs with my first set of new analytics. This is something I've been wanting to do for a really long time.

See my latest post for details, and some more Topre graphing goodness

photos-f62/total-force-t14614.html

As I'm sure you're all aware, comparing switches by actuation force, tactile force, bottom-out force is rather inconclusive when comparing different switches. But if we can't use those what can we use? After thinking long and hard, really what we want is the Total Force of the press. But what does t...

002 wrote: ↑

Spoiler:

Zoom into the bottom-center keyboard...it's not plugged in
Also seems like there's some sort of cover/tape over the volume control.

What's the first date in the graph? The first date is when I took the measurement :? Yeah, I've had the data quite a while, though the graphs weren't quite ready yet. As I tweak the template and the centering algorithms, I need to update all the graphs so they all look the same. If you click on the...

Another day, another keyboard :mrgreen: Let's see how long I can keep this going! Here's something that makes OO2 jealous, an OEM 45g uniform Hi-Pro Topre keyboard from 1991. Probably my only complaint about it was all the newspaper ink all over the keyboard. I spent quite a long time cleaning this ...

Here's something I've been looking out for a really long time. A *keyboard* with Tokai MM9-3 switches! Has a pretty interesting force curve. Seems to be some sort of control panel made by Tokyo Electron. Tokyo Electron is a sort of VAR (Value Add Reseller) from what I've heard about them through my ...

I finished the force curve gauge back in March/April. However, it took me quite a while to get all the post-processing math working well enough. For those that are interested, all the messy code is here -> https://github.com/kiibohd/force Building one is sorta expensive, in the thousands for just ma...