Beam Spring 104+SSK Reproduction Project! First Batch In Stock, Shipping early next year after New Model F Project

[genericusername57]

The problem to me - aside from the fact that my fingers know where to find the F-key to do all sorts of things in a mainframe application on a 122-key keyboard without my having to think about it - is that you wind up playing unnatural chords to get to some things I use often. How many keys do you have to hold to get to alt-PgDn? Or shift-keypad enter?

It's not really an issue to be honest. It's one extra key per each as mentioned, and since you have the unused Caps Lock-key to switch layers you don't have to change your hand placement to use them, unless you use your index finger for alt or shift but to me that seems a bit annoying since you have to lift your hands away from the keyboard to use it then.

[jmaynard]

since you have the unused Caps Lock-key to switch layers you don't have to change your hand placement to use them

Good points, but I must quibble with this one: you may not use Caps Lock, but I do, especially when, for example, entering JCL to build a job to run on the mainframe.

[Muirium]

The placement of the Fn layer-switching key is crucial. Long ago, when I was first defining my own layers, I put it on "Caps Lock" as well. Didn't last long, though, as I prefer it on the right hand.

The best place for it, for me, is right of Right Shift like on the HHKB. The second best, which I use on my Kishsaver, is directly under that at the right end of the bottom row. This spot's reachable from my usual typing position and lets me fly through combinations, like these:

60% really speaks to me because the alpha block is by far the biggest part of a keyboard, even for 120+ key battleships. Layer it and you’ve got an enormous palette for placing your extended functions. All in a neat, portable and symmetrical package.

The problem to me - aside from the fact that my fingers know where to find the F-key to do all sorts of things in a mainframe application on a 122-key keyboard without my having to think about it - is that you wind up playing unnatural chords to get to some things I use often. How many keys do you have to hold to get to alt-PgDn? Or shift-keypad enter?

Three keys each. Alt Fn . for the first and Shift Fn Return for the second.

The Fn layer is everything. If you can settle on one across all your keyboards—regardless of their own ideas!—then you're gold for sub-fullsize layouts. Certainly, I prefer it to having a full suite of keys individually exposed in hardware. Space saving is one thing, but my own extensive use of consistent keyboard macros really makes the 60% block sing for me, wherever it is.

[shampoo]

Hello

My F77 has started to spam or ghost.. That is, I get extra key presses. I have added tape (I can't recall the name, but a clear-ish brown tape) over the solder joints on the back of the PCB.. As well as anything metal like the screws etc.. But I am still getting them. I haven't been able to locate which keys are causing this.. Anything else I should be looking at ?

[Ellipse]

(I replied over on the New Model F thread)

[turbosquid]

Hi Ellipse, I was wondering if we could get an update on the Round 2 boards? Thanks!

[Ellipse]

Project update:

The Round 2 boards still need to finish production and assembly, so I hope that they can arrive to me later this year, around mid-year. As mentioned before things have been delayed from the original hope that they be completed earlier. Like with the Brand New Model F Keyboards project, no one aspect has bottlenecked the project and caused the delay but a number of aspects have taken longer than expected. The factory has their new year break for the next few weeks so things will continue after then.

If anyone prefers not to wait and wants to switch to a Round 1 beam spring board please let me know by email as I still have some units remaining.

Beam modules parts A and B:
Recently completed. These took over one year to produce the molds and approved parts, much longer than expected. Over a hundred thousand parts of each type were produced.

Beam module part B's assembly with its metal part has been improved for a nicer looking rounded assembly finish on the nub that is below the metal part. The factory has made thousands of these as part of the updated beam modules (all the ones with the press fit washers on top) and they are nice.

Metal parts for the modules:
The new modules using the older metal part for beam flipper sound great and are very close to the IBM originals. The tooling for the metal part for the beam flipper was updated last year but the updated tooling designed to get things even closer needs some work to get the modules as good sounding as possible.

The updated press fit washer mold for the beam modules:
Has been completed and approved, and I believe the factory has finished production of these parts if I remember correctly. This is an update over the original glued metal washer design; it allows for quick and toolless disassembly and repair of the beam modules.

Cases:
All but the beige and industrial gray case colors were approved (I want the colors to be even more accurate to the IBM originals so I rejected those two samples). The paint texture finish is not yet finalized.

Capacitive and controller PCBs:
wcass and Rico have finished the PCBs for the various beam spring models and I will be ordering samples in the next couple weeks. Rico's Leyden Jar Rev 3 controller is so far working flawlessly in my testing and these will be the default controllers for the B104 and B122, though the controllers will hopefully have firmware for all the various Model F and Beam Spring models. As mentioned before, after the ATMEGA32's run out I expect everything to have the Leyden Jar as the factory-installed controller.

Keys:
The PBT double shot keys and wcass xwhatsit controllers were completed last year.

Boxes:
The box designs have been finalized. The art will be just about the same as the Round 1 boxes shown on the project web site, but the boxes themselves will switch to a tab locking foldable design similar to the boxes IBM used for the original IBM Model F XT and AT keyboards. I have approved the box designs for production.

The outside protective foam:
Will be similar to the end cap style used on the final production round classic F77 Model F keyboards; after the keyboard samples are approved then they can make the cutting tool for this foam.

Inner foam:
The inner foam that goes between the tops of the modules and the top inner assembly will be evaluated with the forthcoming samples.

Working sample status:
The factory still needs to produce fully working samples of each beam spring keyboard model for my approval, and then mass production and assembly of the remaining case parts can start. The tooling for these cases took months longer than expected to complete. The sample cases and their TIA/BIA's are completed and are now waiting to be powdercoated and assembled.

[genericusername57]

since you have the unused Caps Lock-key to switch layers you don't have to change your hand placement to use them

Good points, but I must quibble with this one: you may not use Caps Lock, but I do, especially when, for example, entering JCL to build a job to run on the mainframe.

I bind it to caps lock+right shift for those rare moments where caps lock is actually used for something and I need to press it without having the option to rebind it. Maybe once or twice per year I guess. I would need to write a pretty long essay before I'd use caps lock over just holding down the left shift, but to each their own obviously.

[jmaynard]

Code: Select all

//RPFSETUP JOB (5161A020,1A11),'SET UP RPF MAYNARD',CLASS=S,MSGCLASS=X,
//             MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=MYNRJR
//RPFKEY  EXEC PGM=IEBGENER
//SYSPRINT DD  SYSOUT=*
//SYSIN    DD  DUMMY
//SYSUT2   DD  DISP=SHR,DSN=SYS1.PARMLIB(RPFKEY00)
//SYSUT1   DD  *
RPF.V1R2M0.SRPFPROF
HELP=RPF.V1R2M0.SRPFHELP

//

[Muirium]

DOESN'T WORK UNLESS TYPED IN UPPERCASE, RIGHT?

I would need to write a pretty long essay before I'd use caps lock over just holding down the left shift, but to each their own obviously.

Capitalisation is best done with styles in a document like an essay. That way you can change all of them at once, instead of hard-coding them all individually, in-place.

[jmaynard]

DOESN'T WORK UNLESS TYPED IN UPPERCASE, RIGHT?

You got it. JCL must be in uppercase, at least on versions of the IBM mainframe operating systems I work with. So yeah, caps lock is vital.

[genericusername57]

Code: Select all

//RPFSETUP JOB (5161A020,1A11),'SET UP RPF MAYNARD',CLASS=S,MSGCLASS=X,
//             MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=MYNRJR
//RPFKEY  EXEC PGM=IEBGENER
//SYSPRINT DD  SYSOUT=*
//SYSIN    DD  DUMMY
//SYSUT2   DD  DISP=SHR,DSN=SYS1.PARMLIB(RPFKEY00)
//SYSUT1   DD  *
RPF.V1R2M0.SRPFPROF
HELP=RPF.V1R2M0.SRPFHELP

//

Yep, that would be the shift key for me. Or if I had to do that all day, a Caps+Shift to actually lock it. There are no circumstances that I can imagine where I'd feel the need to have caps lock on the main layer. That I would, that is. If you need it, then by all means

[Muirium]

My own way to handle SHOUT MODE is to put Caps Lock behind a macro: press both Shift keys to press Caps Lock. It’s immediately obvious when you think about it, dead easy to remember, and lets me use that precious key just left of A for something a hell of a lot more useful to me.

Soarer told me this one long ago. Still my favourite macro for its elegance.

[Ellipse]

I am curious, for those who have been using the round 1 beam spring boards for at least a number of months, is there any feedback on the effect of dust intrusion on the sensing? Has anyone benefitted from opening up the board and cleaning it up, or is dust not much of an issue?

[dr_xadium]

I am curious, for those who have been using the round 1 beam spring boards for at least a number of months, is there any feedback on the effect of dust intrusion on the sensing? Has anyone benefitted from opening up the board and cleaning it up, or is dust not much of an issue?

I'm curious on this too... I am eagerly awaiting my Round 2 Beamspring and my environment gets dusty easily. My Model M does fine but I recognize it's based on a completely different technology, so any notion of how heavily I'll need to work to protect it would be great.

[Muirium]

I remember photos of people using cling-film (American translation: saran wrap?) on their OG beamers, once they'd taken off the crumbled contamination shield and cleaned them up inside. It looked pretty good, as you could still see the metal parts through the transparent film. You might want to try that, given the dustiness of your environment. There's nooks and crannies everywhere for dirt to go inside of beams, including in the places where it will mess around the signal.

[dr_xadium]

I remember photos of people using cling-film (American translation: saran wrap?) on their OG beamers, once they'd taken off the crumbled contamination shield and cleaned them up inside. It looked pretty good, as you could still see the metal parts through the transparent film. You might want to try that, given the dustiness of your environment. There's nooks and crannies everywhere for dirt to go inside of beams, including in the places where it will mess around the signal.

Yup clingfilm is Saran Wrap... that's a great idea I'll have to remember, thanks!

[mattaw]

Good afternoon, I have received my B104 Round 1 keyboard, keycaps et. al. Working great so far, just a few keys suffering from sticking and needing the wiggle method.

However, I think I may have to tune most of the keys as they do not have the snap sound I associate with the beamspring from your videos (and Wendell's). The keys all work, but have a more "clack" sound instead of a crisp snap/click. Several were very mushy and had bent beams as you covered in your video manual. Some more experimentation on a "test" module suggests that a spring gap very near the 0.5" spring gap is needed for the crispy snap, and that over or under compressing the beam leads to the clack sounds.

Ellipse, the installed keys all had plastic washers on top with an 'X' hole to fit over the key stem, while the spare keys shipped as 'standard' in the accessories bag had metal washers on top as in the youtube videos. However, the extra bag of spares you recommended we purchase for peace of mind and the future had plastic washers w. 'X' again. What should the keyboard have shipped with? I just read the press fit washers above, so I am fortunate to have a partial upgrade as my keyboard is a round one. Would it be possible to get four press fit plastic washers so I can get maximum use out of the 4 spare shipped with the keyboard?

As feedback on the press fit washers are far easier to work with than the glued springs, just invert the key module over a flat and hard surface, gently push down and the plastic washer comes off allowing for very easy disassembly and reassembly.

[Also one of the modules with a metal washer had a far stronger spring than any of the others - maybe for a space bar? But you included extra springs anyway so that is not a problem.]

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[Ellipse]

Glad your keyboard arrived mattaw! Everyone can easily use the press fit washers on both the first aid kit modules as well as the original modules, which is why there were no extra press fit tops included (but if you add an order note with your next order, I can send a few extra press fit washers with your next order but it is not really needed to use the extra modules and swap the washers).

As mentioned in the manual some folks do go all in and take apart each module to fine tune the sound as shown in the ~20 minute beam spring setup video.

[Ellipse]

Cross post: As an update I have posted the latest blog entry which rounds up all of the postings of recent months, including the status of this beam spring project. Apologies this one came out later than it should have.

https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/blog/

[Ellipse]

Here is a photo and mini-review of the brand new round 1 beam spring keyboard with the MT3 Dasher key set:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... t3_dasher/

[dodddummy]

I know it's not mid year but I'm curious of there's an update.

[Ellipse]

Yes, see the updates page on the project web site for the latest status of the various Model F and beam spring projects.

[caiko]

My round 1 B104 keyboard had arrived a good while ago, but due to a busy life I haven’t had much time to get it fixed up.

Gave it another go today after some new first aid kits arrived.

Unfortunately for me, this has been a frustrating endeavour.

Keyboard came with a couple of broken switches, unfortunately including the space bar where the white stem had snapped in two.
Removing some switches from the plate, they refused to go back in no matter what I tried. Several keys stick out more than others, several rattling springs.

Trying the new switches (with the plastic washers), they do actually fit and stay stuck on the plate unlike the originals I was fighting with so I’m guessing something went wrong with the production here. (Tried several original switches on the same spot on the plate, so I’m assuming the problem sits with the plate. Maybe the “gap” on the new switches is a tiny bit larger? Just guessing at this point)

Unfortunately the new switches feel significantly different from the originals with the metal washer, much lighter. Different in both feel and sound.

Not sure if I’ll ever get to completing the repair of this board. For me at least, this is getting to a level of finicky, frustration and unpleasant surprises I didn’t expect. But then in all fairness, some changes in my day to day have allowed me very little time to spend on keyboards.

I’d sell it off but since the store price dropped…

Oh well. Hope round 2 goes better! And wishing you the best with the rest of the project!

[Ellipse]

caiko I will note that there are a couple hundred new beam spring boards out there now and generally they are all up and running for those who have time to complete the setup. The vast majority of the feedback of the new beam spring keyboards is positive but privately emailed to me while the criticism is public, but that is how it goes!

Everyone who is willing to go through the full setup process will not be left without a working keyboard. I have plenty of extras of beam barrel parts A and B if any do not function beyond the included 4. Please email me when it comes down to the final total of what you need of each part and I will send it over.

It was disclosed on the product page that it is expected that everyone needs to repair modules to get things up and running. It sounds like just a couple of switches were broken from what you are noting, which is completely normal.

Did you follow the latest manual on the project web site? If you are having trouble installing modules, you may not have seen how they should be installed. The spacebar and its module are tricky to reinstall and the video details how to safely install it. Since the spacebar's module is trimmed you cannot replace it with an entirely new spare module; instead you should transfer the contents of one of the spare modules while reusing the original part A (beam module housing). Otherwise the spacebar wire will not have space to move freely. This may be why you are having trouble reinstalling a module.

The modules should not have issues fitting the top plate, but if you force a module and accidentally bend the top lip of the module, then it will have issues and may no longer be usable.

If the part B's have broken you should not be using them; please replace them. If a key is sticking up too much, the beam module probably broke even though it still may function. As noted in the manual, you should not be pressing too hard when installing the keys.

Some of the original assembly switches may have been slightly heavier because of the factory assembly error described on the page, where they pressed the "ears" inwards too much. If you are extra particular with the press force of each key, the manual describes how you can adjust each module's ears nondestructively; it is not required to break the metal washers.

Rattling springs can often be improved by separating them from the washer by hand and/or by rotating them around so the spring end is in a different position.

[caiko]

Appreciate the response Ellipse.

Wasn’t necessarily meant as criticism - I did add this was from my perspective as priorities have shifted for me and it is an involved process, at least for me. Totally understand if I’m a bit more butterfingered than most.

My take, to be fair to the product - when it works, it’s hands down the best keyboard feel I’ve ever got to try. So if people have the time to maintain and tweak then this is a fantastic setup.

To be clear, the fitting issue wasn’t for the spacebar position. And as far as I can tell the modules aren’t damaged. Might still be a “user error” issue, but given the new ones fit on without much hassle - I’m sensing the fitting may have been too tight for some positions on the first run. (Plenty of positions fit without issue, 3-4 just won’t happen without the new modules - and as I recall a couple of these came loose without my intent)

Thanks again!

[wobbled]

Appreciate the response Ellipse.

Wasn’t necessarily meant as criticism - I did add this was from my perspective as priorities have shifted for me and it is an involved process, at least for me. Totally understand if I’m a bit more butterfingered than most.

My take, to be fair to the product - when it works, it’s hands down the best keyboard feel I’ve ever got to try. So if people have the time to maintain and tweak then this is a fantastic setup.

To be clear, the fitting issue wasn’t for the spacebar position. And as far as I can tell the modules aren’t damaged. Might still be a “user error” issue, but given the new ones fit on without much hassle - I’m sensing the fitting may have been too tight for some positions on the first run. (Plenty of positions fit without issue, 3-4 just won’t happen without the new modules - and as I recall a couple of these came loose without my intent)

Thanks again!

Don’t take it personally, Ellipse will take every ounce of constructive criticism as a personal attack and reduce your complaint to mere harassment.

In my eyes he should be sending you an outright replacement keyboard since this is due to his lack of testing, but you won’t find him paying out of pocket for anything.

[Ellipse]

Project update:

This week I approved production and assembly of the beam spring modules.

I approved the color samples this week for the Model F and beam spring cases, which will have the same color options. We still are waiting on the beam spring case sample, which should be completed closer to the end of this month. The case samples have taken much longer than expected to complete but I will not approve production of the cases until I receive a working sample.

Production and assembly are expected to start this month and continue into May, with completion expected in June. So as to avoid any delays with the new Model F models, the beam spring keyboards are expected to be on a separate container shipment in June, which means these boards should start going out in August.

[Ellipse]

Here are some photos of the updated sample case with the (hopefully correct) Industrial Gray powdercoating. They will be sending this board to me for approval later this month and then making samples of the other remaining boards. Mass production on the modules was approved last week. This board has a nice alignment of the keys and the top case from what I can see.

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[genericusername57]

Looks very nice to my eyes, and wow that's an impressive forehead on that guy. Would have loved to see it with the white alphas too but I can imagine how it will look and I'm thrilled for these to ship. I'm assuming these are the same keycaps that will be shipped with the completed R2 boards? Love how the profile looks. Love everything about this. So happy I waited for the second round even though the main reason for doing so was getting an ISO layout even though I've switched to ANSI since then.