Picked up a nice SGI Keyboard for 10 bucks

[stratmaster458]

So I went to the last MIT swapfest of the season in cambridge MA and I picked up a granite SGI membrane switch keyboard for 10 bucks! I did not know it was membrane switch until I took it apart to clean it! Honestly felt like a mechanical keyboard somewhat similar to my Apple Extended II but a little lest tactile but still be clicky and more tactile than your ordinary run of the mill keyboard.


I started pulling it apart and it was filled with bits of food and grease, really nasty! I soaked the keys in a bowl of soapy water for like 4 hours then I poured the bowl into a strainer and scrubbed then rinse them. I have them soaking in a bowl of clean water all night to make sure all the soap comes off. Tomorrow I will wash them in rubbing alcohol. While I was letting the keys soak I took apart the rest of the keyboard and cleaned it. Cleaned out the plastic piece that holds all the membranes down, its was nasty.

This keyboard is of an interesting design for a membrane board, its not like others I have ripped apart. The membrane is not one piece, each key gets its own circular membrane! Its really weird and going to make reassembly take longer but its all worth it because this keyboard feels nice and its gonna be a lot nicer when its clean. I am most likely going to dye it but I havent decided on a color scheme, I kinda want an old 80s style hacker/phone company type color layout but I am having trouble locating one on google images anyone know of any cool color layouts I can dye it with?

My Apple Extended is alreaday done in the Portal 2 Adrian Shepperd keyboard so don't bother suggesting that lol

[Findecanor]

Was it one of these, but in US-ANSI? Yeah, it is not bad.

[stratmaster458]

Was it one of these, but in US-ANSI? Yeah, it is not bad.

Yes it is! But mine is US and has no yellowing! I am in the process of cleaning the keys, I finished cleaning the black plastic that the keys mount in and I reassembled everything except putting the keys back in. I think I might wait a few days before I put it back together and dye the keys, thinking green, yellow, purple and leaving the grays gray, not sure what I'm gonna do yet. I really want to find a vintage color layout to copy.

[stratmaster458]

Pictures of the restoration:

[cinch]

looks good ^^ thanks for the pics

[daedalus]

The shape of those things (with the hump at the back) reminds me of the Unicomp Endurapro...

Nice find, were they getting rid of any SGI systems with the keyboards?