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Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 19:49
by TheInverseKey
Hi All,

Back again with anther NMB adventure. This one includes the tale of the unknown switches.....

After a long time I was looking for a NMB board with Gundams(soap dispenser) switches; these are the earliest switches that are known to exist with in the NMB 725 series of switches. They come in either white or charcoal variants and either would be a great find.

Charcoal Gundam
Spoiler:
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Well it turns out that a bunch of Tany1200HD had popped up on Ebay all at the same time. These keyboards are known that they might have these switches in them if they are early enough.

So I won an auction and when I got the keyboard it actually came with the unknown!?
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Linear, one eye, round, grey.

I had never heard of these switches before and no knowing anything about them I consulted Engicoder because I knew he has a lot of knowledge about NMB switches.

After a lot of investigating about the switches, Engicoder hasn't seen these either before. We had come to the conclusion that the switches were undocumented and that they were different enough that they were not just a switch that was molded in another colour of plastic.

These switches are an early attempt in solving the problem with Gundams and how loose the caps feel on them. The new grey switches had a line of plastic in the grove that holds the caps so that they now fit more snugly.
Spoiler:
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This new type of switch was found on a really later serial number hence why it's another switch in the timeline of the NMB 725 series of switches.

The only problem with the board was that the dye sub on the keycaps was really bad and when the seller shipped the keyboard it was not packaged properly. Therefore, some keycaps actually were lost in shipping to due a hole that was punched in the box that the keyboard was shipped in. In addition, some of the switches were also broken as well...

Still wanting a keyboard that was functional another Tandy keyboard became available on Ebay and it had the missing caps that I was looking for and this one had Charcoal Gundams on it!

So after they both showed up at my door I got down to making a keyboard with switches from both worlds
Spoiler:
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Thankfully one of the plates was in NOS condition and there is no rust as well as the ABS spacebar is NOS as well!

Final Product
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Thanks for reading.

Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 22:22
by PlacaFromHell
I have a similar keyboard with all gray cyclops and a white heavy switch for the spacebar. Looks exactly like yours but is branded "MS" and the case is yellowed as fuck. They are ultra smooth, like Cherry vintage blacks with with a heavier bump.

Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 22:29
by snacksthecat
TheInverseKey wrote:
04 May 2019, 19:49
These switches are an early attempt in solving the problem with Gundams and how loose the caps feel on them. The new grey switches had a line of plastic in the grove that holds the caps so that they now fit more snugly.
I love little tidbits like this. Where did you find info about these switches?

Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 22:51
by TheInverseKey
PlacaFromHell wrote:
04 May 2019, 22:22
I have a similar keyboard with all gray cyclops and a white heavy switch for the spacebar. Looks exactly like yours but is branded "MS" and the case is yellowed as fuck. They are ultra smooth, like Cherry vintage blacks with with a heavier bump.
Can you please post pictures of them so that they can be added to the wiki as there is a plan to fix NMB 725 series pages.

Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 22:54
by TheInverseKey
snacksthecat wrote:
04 May 2019, 22:29
TheInverseKey wrote:
04 May 2019, 19:49
These switches are an early attempt in solving the problem with Gundams and how loose the caps feel on them. The new grey switches had a line of plastic in the grove that holds the caps so that they now fit more snugly.
I love little tidbits like this. Where did you find info about these switches?
This is from Engicoder and my discussion. As it's quite noticeable when I putying on the caps this morning as well. It makes more sense because after these switches they move onto Linear, One Eye, White after wards where the caps now have clips on them like on the NMB AT keyboard.

Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 22:55
by JP!
Thanks for sharing! Definitely a cool find.

Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 04 May 2019, 23:50
by PlacaFromHell
Sorry, I can only show you potato pics from the original thread right now.

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Re: Tandy1200HD - Tale of the Unknown

Posted: 05 May 2019, 01:26
by TheInverseKey
PlacaFromHell wrote:
04 May 2019, 23:50
Sorry, I can only show you potato pics from the original thread right now.
Spoiler:
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Wow thanks! I guess my board was not the only one. I wonder what the length of production of these switches was then. Obviously not long because it has only been found twice.