deskthority

This sale is based on an idea I had to let go of some of the keyboards I got from the recycling center.
Since I have come across a fair amount of Alps, Model-M and Cherry boards, I thought it would be funny to bundle one from each kind and offer them at a fair price to new DT members (Club membership _not_ required)

If you are not deep in the keyboard game yet and want to get into the various popular variants of vintage keyboards, this is your chance to go deeper into the rabbit hole.

Please write a short post explaining why you would like to have a kit. Together with the other DT club members, we will pick the best submissions who are then entitled for a DT Rabbit Hole kit.

A few unusual conditions for this sale:
- Every keyboard is labeled as a Deskthority Rabbit Hole Kit keyboard
- Flipping/Reselling these keyboard with a profit will be sanctioned
- The keyboards are sold "as-is" like I found them
- IBM SDL Cables will not be included should they be detachable. I can add a ProMicro for a USB conversion for another 5€

The experience of cleaning/restoring/converting these keyboards is part of the experience. If is highly encouraged to document the process and post about it here. This will be a great experience for everyone

The price for one set will be 50€ + shipping (more than 5kg!)

Example kit:

I want one! I haven't had the chance to test any of them, my only keyboard so far is a Lenovo rubberdome...
I promise to clean them up and paint them pink and mauve and decorate them with glitter glue!
I'll put blue alps on the Dell and nixdorfs on the Cherry and convert the IBM to it's RD variant!
They will find their forever home with me!
Please???

A super good value 'kit' indeed especially for those who are looking for German / ISO layout.
Thanks Wodan!

Edit: my first and last personally owned Model M costed me definitely north of $150 (an M13), my first Alps board costed me 60€ + shipping across the Atlantics, my first Cherry board... I don't have a board made by Cherry or GMK yet! :\

Great idea! I would jump on this, if I was newer into the hobby.

I must also say its a really good idea and a good way to get into the hobby. Thanks wodan for doing this.

Great concept for sure. Introduction to three major switch families at a friendly price. And the name is perfect, this is just the beginning!

Oh! Oh! Something I might qualify for! Haha, seriously though - this is a great idea and serves as further proof that you guys have a great community here. I'm fairly new here and also quite new to mechanical keyboards, but when that switch flicked on this past summer, it certainly wasn't a gradual thing! I've always been into building my computers and have spent a ton of time on them since I was young so I guess it's not that surprising.

So, I bought my first board - a Corsair Strafe with Cherry MX Silent - sometime in September I believe, then got one with cherry MX blue a few weeks later. Since then I've added a Coolermaster Novatouch TKL (Topre), a NIB 96 UK Model M (Buckling Spring, as if anyone didn't know), a Ducky One (Cherry MX White) and I just got a Chicony 5181 in the mail today with SMK Monterey Blues, which are great. Oh and an elusive NIB Zenith SWA 4300 with ITW Magnetic Valve switches is on its way and just cleared customs...so that should be here early this week - hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday. God I think I'm already going down the rabbit hole..

I've definitely learned a ton on these forums and also GH and r/mechkeyboards. Chyros, I think I've watched just about all of your keyboard reviews now - fucking great job on those man, so informative and entertaining to watch. OMNOMNOM.

So yeah - I know you said short, but I tend to ramble, and who the hell wouldn't when it serves as an excuse to type more on all of our precious keyboards? Also - I'm from Canada, so I'm not sure if this is more of a vote for people on the other side of the pond, and I have a feeling the shipping for the weight of 3 vintage keyboards to Canada from there would be as much or more than the price of the boards, but I still thought I'd say hi and share a bit about my love for the mech keys! (and hybrid capacitive )

I think I have a chance here.. I jumped on mech keyboard world just a year ago with corsair K65 as a starter. Having used rubber dome all my life before, this board really indulge my finger. It feels so nice that I overlooked other keyboards, nevertheless curiosity brought me to my second keyboard with brown switch which is a leopold fc750r. Pbt keycaps won my heart, even though I haven't tried gmk, I look at them as a "meh, it's an abs." but each day I learnt a whole new things. Now I feel ashamed that apparently gmk is a pinnacle of a keycaps, vintage black is like bread and butter to your switch and buckling spring is the loudest switch u can ever have. If only I could feel it with my own fingers..

Do I qualified now?

And, it's happening Just as a reference:
- my first mech was/is a 1987 ANSI model M which I bought in the US for $60 + $20 shipping, and then hauled it back
- my first Alps boards were m0115 and m0116 for $40 each + shipping to US, hauled to EU by my cousins from US

So to all the newbies in Europe, this is a nice deal on a vintage set. They should clean up properly, without too much effort. Maybe Alps boards will be an issue, but that's also part of learning the ropes

@Wodan, did you advertise this thread anywhere else? You should probably post it to /r/MK if there are leftover sets.

Ha I am so happy to see some submissions already, thanks a lot. I don't mind shipping internationally and would try everything to keep the weight down, be aware that almost all keyboards I can offer have a German layout!

So far I have not shared this on MM or GH since I was going for a DT branding on this offer. Promoting this on other platforms as myself might be considered recruiting. Feel free to share it though if you find this interesting. We are looking for people who have some posts on DT and look like good potential contributors here

This sale is one wicked idea.
I am currently hanging from the top of the rabbit hole, barely finding strength not to let go, and you propose to clobber me on the head not with one, but with three perfectly lethal boards.

I have grown up knowing that old IBM keyboards are the thing. Later I learned that Cherry switches are also the thing and that all other switches are measured by how close they manage to get to Cherries (none of these are necessarily true, but I wouldn't really know because I never had the opportunity to actually use a mechanical keyboard so far). For me, mechanical keyboards were always something I secretly wanted but could never afford. Later, when I started earning and could actually afford one, I still had this subconscious idea that they are too expensive and that I should make do without one.

And then recently my boss mentioned something about old keyboards and switches (magnetic reed switches) and how good they were so I went googling for a bit. And stumbled upon Massdrop and XMIT's Hall effect keyboard. And before I knew it, I was entering my account details and signing up for a drop.

Obviously, I have a dormant addiction problem because while I still do not own a single mechanical keyboard (waiting for XMIT drop is killing me), I am already scouring all over DT looking for replacement keycaps, trying to catch some model M bargain, seriously considering buying a Dasher keycap set although it costs as much as a keyboards. Heck, I even ordered two of those Pro Micro boards with the idea of building a Soarer's converters. Clearly not a completely sane thing to do since I neither own, nor can afford vintage keyboard to use a converter on. Much less two of them.

I'm writing all of this so you can get some idea of my reaction when I saw your post. It must have been devil himself who gave you the idea to lure me in such a way and push me into addiction

On a more somber note, I actually do not know how much leeway my wife will allow, so depending on the actual cost of the postage, I may be forced to skip on the offer. But I *am* interested and will try to make it work. Is there *any* chance that at least one of the boards is in US layout? I tried to use German layout couple of times but never managed to get used to it If I'm going to buy this addiction kit, I would like to be able to justify it by using at least one board as my main keyboard.

@Wodan, kudos to you! This is a great way to share with new comers to the mechanical world!

Wodan wrote: ↑Ha I am so happy to see some submissions already, thanks a lot. I don't mind shipping internationally and would try everything to keep the weight down, be aware that almost all keyboards I can offer have a German layout!

So far I have not shared this on MM or GH since I was going for a DT branding on this offer. Promoting this on other platforms as myself might be considered recruiting. Feel free to share it though if you find this interesting. We are looking for people who have some posts on DT and look like good potential contributors here

I'm sure I could roll with the German layout - I would just switch the 'z' and 'y' caps and use a US layout in WIndows and I'd be set. At least I assume it's supposed to be that easy!

Nope!

Each row is differently shaped. Those Z and Y keys will be torture. Mwahahaah!

A friend of mine recently (foolishly without asking me) made exactly the same mistake. He got a German layout Poker 2 and couldn't stand ten minutes on it. Right back into the box for a refund.

Anyway, these kits are a superb idea. I went down the IBM route much farther than the other two. Starting here would have given me a beginner's perspective on Alps and MX that I never had, as I was already spoiled by Model F's luxurious click before I encountered them.

Harshmallow wrote: ↑ I'm sure I could roll with the German layout - I would just switch the 'z' and 'y' caps and use a US layout in WIndows and I'd be set. At least I assume it's supposed to be that easy!

You can do that with the IBM but not with the Cherry or the Alps. Both also have a different arrangement of keys, namely the cluster around the enter and the left shift key.

Shouldn't be a huge deal to find some cheap Cherry and Alps keycaps to fit them with better legends

Since the ISO/German layout has one more key than the US layout, putting US keycaps on an ISO layout is less troublesome than the other way around. Missing key is hard to replace unless you can hack/program the whole thing.

Well I'm French Canadian, so I CAN do different layouts such as the French ISO ones...I think I would still enjoy shining them up and making them look nice and new-ish again

Okay to get this party rolling, Harshmallow as the first EVER applicant will receive a Rabbit Hole Kit. All other applicants are entering the first round of voting. Taking applications until Christmas! Will start a vote then an anyone who gets 10 votes can get a kit!

The stuff must goooo you should see the face of my wife when she found all the boxes full of keyboards I had hidden.

It's times like this that I thank MrsXMIT for being so understanding.
Our garage no longer looks like this. But it did, for a while.

Uhm, I'm not new to the hobby and I've tried almost every relevant switch out there (Topre, Gaterons, Cherry MX, Alps) EXCEPT IBM Buckling springs.
I'd love to try Buckling springs, but I cannot convince myself to spend 80€+ on a Model M, because I'm almost certain that I cannot use a keyboard of that size and that loud as a daily driver.
But if you have a cheap and dirty one left over, I would gladly take it - just to clean it, try it and finally get IBM Buckling Springs off my list.

This is a great idea, I think it's really nice to offer people new to the hobby such a cool, diverse kit!

Yes, I am very grateful, thank you again Wodan! This will bring me up to 10 keyboards within about 3 months. T'will be a good start. Good thing I'm moving into a new place in January with a spare bedroom...my keyboards will be nice and cozy.

-

If you know someone who might be interested in this, please send him the link, I am still looking for applications and will soon start the poll.

Oh my god this is so awesome. I love the generousity of this community...

Believe it or not my first (and only) board is also given to me as an act of generousity by mr. Evangs I meandered back and forth on the r/mk chat about needing a keyboard since I broke my laptop one, and he offered me this board... I fell in love with MX Clears and now shill it everywhere. Thanks you very much Mr. Evan!!! *prays*

Until recently I went to the MK UK meetup. It opened my eyes to the (mech) world. I have never even tried Cherry Browns before the meetup. It's awesome, and I come away with many ideas of modding and just sharing the fun around the community! Modding switches, soldering and desoldering, dell bigfoots and smallfoots

I'd love to have this kit because I want to try more stuff since I'm still quite new to this. I'm honestly charmed by vintage keyboards, but me being in college means I have very little money... And I have very little time to search actively for stuff like this since most of the time I'd be working/practicing. It would be interesting to try all those click and linear mods, paint the keyboard or sticker-bomb it xD And everything ISO is rad. #isomasterrace

And did I ever tell you I love cleaning stuff?!

(Typing my blog is also a bit of a hobby to me, I love typing <3)

I would definitely be interested in one, Wodan!
I'm a senior HS student in Spain, and that would definitely make my christmas hahaha
My current keyboard is a Model M I found at a local shop a while ago after months of searching (and have been in love with mechs ever since, even though it's the only switch I've tried). I'm applying to this because I'd love to give a shot at the Cherry and Alps switches, and the idea of restoring all of the keyboards sounds like loads of fun

XMIT wrote: ↑It's times like this that I thank MrsXMIT for being so understanding.

IMAG1563.jpg

Our garage no longer looks like this. But it did, for a while.

I'm surprised she didn't kill you LOL

PollandAkuma wrote: ↑

XMIT wrote: ↑It's times like this that I thank MrsXMIT for being so understanding.

I'm surprised she didn't kill you LOL

She enjoys seeing me get excited about things, and knows that I'll clean things up eventually.

Please tell your friends about this! Applications for the first round of polls must be in before 2017 CET

oooooohkay Thanks very much for everyone getting their application in so far, all applications before this post will go into the first round of votes by "The Club" ...

The votes are running and I can already say it's going to be a close call! We've got five strong submissions and picking one is a personal choice. Polls will close mid-January and the Top3 will be offered a Rabbit Hole Kit. Any submission not in the Top3 this time will be part of the next poll again!

Since we have many non-domestic (Germany) participants, I can leave out the Cherry board for a 10€ discount on the kit and ship in a 5kg package! We'll go through the shipping options when it's time