NMB RT101+ (Clicky invaders)

[macboarder]

Inspired by one Mr. Chyros' glowing review, I got a clicky invaders board a few months ago and it has been my favorite ever since. Wonderful keyfeel, just the right amount of stiffness (I've got a somewhat heavy typing hand) and a delicious clicky noise (that has also turned out coworker-friendly). Looking at various photos of similar specimens, I've noticed mine has a few differences that I thought would be worth pointing out.

First of all, the keycaps are gray except for the numpad:


The case feels very solid and has this flat profile:


Nice RGB legends on the modifiers:


...and a blue side-legend on [PrintScrn]:


The model sticker, it uses a different design than what I usually see on eBay:


The PCB part number, I love the angled typeface:


The XT/AT switch is nowhere to be seen, but looks like the board can work with one nonetheless:


One of the switches I dared to remove a keycap off:



Overall, I love this thing. The only downside is the usual [R Shift] stabilizer wonkiness, but I got used to that pretty quickly. Strangely enough, it doesn't have N-key rollover, but I don't need that sort of thing for work.

[Chyros]

Not many RT-101 models had NKRO afaik. Nice find, I've never seen this particular version before Oo . Looks like it's in pretty good nick too. Glad you found the video helpful, they're nice boards really .

[macboarder]

Well... it took a little bit of work

[Engicoder]

The all grey/gray cap 4th gen NMB's are interesting. They are most often found with Everex branding. While they key caps appear to be a grey similar to the mods on a standard NMB/Hi-Tek keyboard, they are in fact the same color as the alphas from the standard board. The reason they look darker is that the case is a lighter beige than the standard case and that the white keys in the number pad are extremely white.
Here is a photo comparing the cap colors. The keyboard is the standard 4th gen. The loose caps are from one of the "grey" boards. Notice how the "1" and "F12" are the same,maybe even lighter, color as the standard board. The "Ctrl" is much lighter than the standard mods. The numpad "6" is starkly white when compared to numpad keys from the standard board.

Everex-vs-Standard.JPG (297.53 KiB) Viewed 5543 times

As far as NKRO (i.e. diode equipped); while the later (4th gen) boards do not commonly have diodes, almost all of the 3rd gen boards did. 4th gen boards with diodes have the controller on a daughterboard as shown below;

Everex-116920-001-PCB-3 (Large).JPG (416.82 KiB) Viewed 5543 times

Here is comparison of the a pcb with the diodes and one without.

Everex-112920-001-Diodes.png (3.45 MiB) Viewed 5543 times

[Chyros]

...That is so weird, such a mindfuck Oo .

[macboarder]

No kidding, but it's only fitting in case of those switches, I think

[terrycherry]

Glad to see a special grey keycap on this AQ6RT101-N2 keyboard.
It has the (Clicky)Black new two eyes but I think there might have some variant on it.
Could you mind show me the switch under space bar, caps lock and num lock?

[macboarder]

Sorry, I'm not pulling any more caps from this one I actually messed up the contact arms on [Scroll Lock] (which I thankfully managed to fix) despite being very careful with the puller :S

[terrycherry]

Sorry, I'm not pulling any more caps from this one I actually messed up the contact arms on [Scroll Lock] (which I thankfully managed to fix) despite being very careful with the puller :S

I made the video how to fix the contacts if you want to watch it pm me.

[XMIT]

Sorry, I'm not pulling any more caps from this one I actually messed up the contact arms on [Scroll Lock] (which I thankfully managed to fix) despite being very careful with the puller :S

Don't pull up. Grab the sides of the key cap with a key cap puller and rotate to the side. You want to separate the grey key cap from the black switch slider.

In a pinch you can use a flat head screwdriver to pry up one side of the key cap. It only needs to be 1mm under the side of the key cap, any more and you'll grab the slider as well.

[macboarder]

I was pulling to the side, but I guess the wires went too far underneath the cap. Thanks for the tip with the screwdriver, I'll see if that helps.
How about using a plastic puller instead? Will that even work?

[Chyros]

I made a video about how I how it, hopefully you'll find it useful .

[macboarder]

Actually, I just used a screwdriver to pop the caps off, pictures coming soon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[macboarder]

Num Lock, black with big eyes:


Caps Lock, black with small eyes:


Alt, black with small eyes:


Space bar, black with big eyes and a biohazardous clown nose:

[terrycherry]

That's weird. Your keyboard having 3variants of black invader!
I correct your pic1 is (Clicky)Black new two eyes
pic2,3 is (Clicky)Black two dot eyes
pic4 is (Clicky)Black two big eyes
This (Clicky)Black two big eyes is very rare to find because it's hard to see what difference between the (Clicky)Black new two eyes.(it just has the little bit smaller eyes)
It seems one way to see the difference in the picture: The number on the middle top shell is (Clicky)Black two big eyes; The number on the right side top shell is (Clicky)Black new two eyes.

If you take the spring from 3 variants of black to make the comparison, it would be great for my work.

[macboarder]

You're right, I haven't noticed there's actually three variants on display here o_O
I can't help but feel like Hi-Tek were taking the piss

EDIT: I've pulled more caps, there's more interesting things going on there. I'll take the board home this weekend and just take everything off. It needs a good cleaning anyways. Any tips on how to remove the slider without messing up the contact arms?

[Engicoder]

It is not uncommon to see a mix of the new eye and small eye black switches on one keyboard. I suspect that during a transition period, they either had excess stock or more likely were running multiple molds, some older small eye and some new eye as a result the switches are mixed. Here is another example:

Everex-116920-001-Switch-Assembly-1920.jpg (901.01 KiB) Viewed 5309 times

The space switch with the large eyes is the interesting item. These more commonly had a blue switch top (either light or medium) or a old/new eye black switch.

[terrycherry]

macboarder: Yes ,there's have 2ways to pull out the slider easier and without damage. I took some short clips about it but not mention to share outside because my research is not complete . Again pm me if you want to know.

Engicoder: thanks the original photo. Also white two laugh eyes mixed white new two eys or White two big eyes mix 3 variants white.

[macboarder]

I popped all the caps off and had a look at the springs (thanks Chyros and terrycherry for tips on how to do it without ruining the switches - it's actually not that bad). I blasted the insides with canned air, and then.. ran out of canned air. So be warned: it looks a bit filthy


Switches galore, funnily enough none of the grime is visible under the office lamps o_O


This is the closest I've found to a timestamp on the whole thing, if I'm reading it right, the PCB is from week 19 of 1992

I've printed out a sheet of rulers to compare the springs - I don't have any precise measuring tools (nor imprecise, for that matter ) - so it might not be accurate (but at least you can see the relative differences)


Essentially, the first two are identical - same spring length, could not tell any difference in the keyfeel. The space bar switch, however, had a slightly larger spring (23 mm vs 19 mm, if the printout is to be believed) and feels stiffer.

[Chyros]

Yes, longer spacebar springs are a standard feature of NMB Hi-Tek keyboards. Sometimes they used a different colour slider, sometimes a dot like on yours. They're really stiff though, the one I measured was something like 130 gf or something. As a result, I just switch the spring with that in my pause key .

[terrycherry]

What a great response with important photos and Including the MFD!
Your measure way is good to say how long is the spring. I should try about that.
I can see the board has many random Black two big eyes. Surprised me a bit.
Could you measure the spring of the Black two big eyes again?(not space bar one)

[macboarder]

Large two eyes (like on the space bar)


Large two eyes (the other kind)

They're both 19 mm on this ruler.

[terrycherry]

pic2 is new two eyes right? It seems like new two eyes is 18.5mm and two big eye is near to 19mm.

[macboarder]

Yes, picture 2 is the one where the eyes get a bit bigger halfway through. I realize even 0.5 mm can make a difference, so just to be sure both are the same length I'll put both side by side tomorrow.