Cherry G80-1800 mounting plates

[browncow]

Hello fellow keyboard tinkerers.
I have luckily bought three G80-1800 of the non-winkeyless variety unfortunetely, but they were quite cheap so i couldn't let them pass. I'm much of a clicky person myself so i have ordered some kailhua box jade switches to go along with them, i have only tried white version before so i really wanted to test these next. However the kailhua switches do not have the aligning pegs that are present on cherry black switches, and fit into the PCB's holes, so it is really tedious to align the switches correctly for soldering... if not impossible. Without a switch mounting plate that is. So i've drawn and made some, simmilar to what i made for my cherry touchboard.

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There are three parts, because of how the case clamps on the PCB, there is no way to make a single monolithic plate for the whole keyboard. I had to experiment a bit to make them fit into those funky-shaped cavities that the case creates but this is a second try and this time they fit nicely. This made soldering the switches a blast. (apart from the part where i have to solder a jumper wire under every switch, because of how the PCB is designed. Original black switches have this jumper built into the switch.

photo_2023-07-24_00-49-23.jpg (219.6 KiB) Viewed 72105 times

I left about 1mm of a safety margin around the plates so that when you assemble the case, you don't run into issue when the halves are at an angle and have to clear the plates. It all clamps down nicely. The keys that have stabilizers aren't held from both sides with the plate, so you have to hold down those four switches for soldering. I found that my plate was interfering with the stabilizers a little bit otherwise, so i had to make room for them here. It's not a big deal though. I also didn't make the plate for the nav keys, because i like to keep those linear, for playing lots of older PC racing games. Plates are 1,5mm thick zinc-plated steel, painted. Keyboard feels a lot stiffer too after adding these. If anybody would be interested in those feel free to PM me, i could make a few more.

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[guidemetothelight]

Really cool ! always wanted to mod on of those boards. They are probably the most common mechanical board in germany, so you can get them really cheap. The jade stems with the black case looks so good, what a shame you cant really see them

[browncow]

Really cool ! always wanted to mod on of those boards. They are probably the most common mechanical board in germany, so you can get them really cheap. The jade stems with the black case looks so good, what a shame you cant really see them

Bought those from germany I didn't get the version with the funky paper card reader they used in chemist's i guess, which i hoped for as the seller had pictures of these. I have to say i'm super satisfied with these switches, and the plates fix the creakyness of the case quite much

[guidemetothelight]

I didn't get the version with the funky paper card reader they used in chemist's i guess, which i hoped for as the seller had pictures of these.

Sad, as I had one for sale a few month ago

It ended up being desoldered, as I needed a stock of mx blacks to repair the various gaming boards all of my friends use & after I took the HAD Keycaps.
4 people at the same time in my friend group had spilled something onto their keyboards, all of them being steelseries 6gv2´s

$_57.jpg (86.83 KiB) Viewed 71978 times

A great gaming board, even to this day. Nothing fancy, no backlight, fixed cable, MX Blacks and a BAE.
I remember we all purchased the same board back in 2014 after one of us got it for his bday. Everyone upgraded from their shitty membranes they got with their first pc. The "gold standard" for us back then was the Corsair K70 , but no one could afford it back in the day, since It was 3x the price of the steelseries

[browncow]

I didn't get the version with the funky paper card reader they used in chemist's i guess, which i hoped for as the seller had pictures of these.

Sad, as I had one for sale a few month ago

It ended up being desoldered, as I needed a sock of mx blacks to repair the various gaming boards all of my friends use & after I took the HAD Keycaps (like 4 people at the same time in my friend group had spilled something onto their keyboards (all of them being steelseries 6gv2´s)
$_57.jpg
A great gaming board, even do this day. Nothing fancy, no backlight, fixed cable, MX Blacks and a BAE.
I remember we all purchased the same board back in 2014 after one of us got it for his bday. Everyone upgraded from their shitty membranes they got with their first pc. The "gold standard" for us back then was the Corsair K70 , but no one could afford it back in the day, since It was 3x the price of the steelseries

Aw shucks, even desoldered, would've spared me half the work. I was just curious about this reader thingy. If you are ever interested in one of my plates let me know I also have a box of spare mx black's now wondering what to do with those, repairing gaming boards is a good idea, but i don't really have much friends who use boards like this. few of my friend's i've gifted some of my vintage boards. That steelseries board looks solid, i like how it isn't all over the top with the design and has an actual case of some sort.
Also i'm thinking about replacing the keys right to the spacebar with two 2U two-stem keys, so that i can make this board a normal alt and control key (albeit huge) configuration on the right because i CONSTANTLY hit the windows key by accident as well as the menu key when typing polish characters (they are always layered with the right alt.) Only big problem i have with this board.

[guidemetothelight]

Aw shucks, even desoldered, would've spared me half the work.
I was just curious about this reader thingy. If you are ever interested in one of my plates let me know

Yeah, and that was before I had my Hakko, so all manual. Since the mx blacks had the diodes inside of the switch, it were 4 solder points per switch
If you are still curious about the reader thingy, it might be possible I still have the one that came with the board in the picture.
Let me have a look when iam @home. Regarding the plates, I might get back to you on that. But I do not have a G80 1800 atm & didnt really plan on getting one again. (Nothing against the board, I just had to slim down the collection)

Also i'm thinking about replacing the keys right to the spacebar with two 2U two-stem keys, so that i can make this board a normal alt and control key (albeit huge) configuration on the right because i CONSTANTLY hit the windows key by accident as well as the menu key when typing polish characters (they are always layered with the right alt.) Only big problem i have with this board.

I get that. The Layout wasnt for me as well. I dont need or like numpads & I love WKL Layouts or at least the standard 1.25U mods.

[browncow]

Aw shucks, even desoldered, would've spared me half the work.
I was just curious about this reader thingy. If you are ever interested in one of my plates let me know

Yeah, and that was before I had my Hakko, so all manual. Since the mx blacks had the diodes inside of the switch, it were 4 solder points per switch
If you are still curious about the reader thingy, it might be possible I still have the one that came with the board in the picture.
Let me have a look when iam @home. Regarding the plates, I might get back to you on that. But I do not have a G80 1800 atm & didnt really plan on getting one again. (Nothing against the board, I just had to slim down the collection)

Also i'm thinking about replacing the keys right to the spacebar with two 2U two-stem keys, so that i can make this board a normal alt and control key (albeit huge) configuration on the right because i CONSTANTLY hit the windows key by accident as well as the menu key when typing polish characters (they are always layered with the right alt.) Only big problem i have with this board.

I get that. The Layout wasnt for me as well. I dont need or like numpads & I love WKL Layouts or at least the standard 1.25U mods.

Yup i am curious and if it's able to work under normal pc. I find the layout very nice except those two keys, but i like numpads.

[guidemetothelight]

Yup i am curious and if it's able to work under normal pc

You seem to be in luck today, since I not only remembered I had it somewhere but also found it haha

IMG_4550.jpeg (1.59 MiB) Viewed 71888 times

You can have it if you pay the shipping.

[browncow]

Yup i am curious and if it's able to work under normal pc

You seem to be in luck today, since I not only remembered I had it somewhere but also found it haha
IMG_4550.jpeg
You can have it if you pay the shipping.

I would be interested

[grasshopper]

Interesting idea. I've got several g80-1800s in storage somewhere. I bought them very cheaply many years ago mainly because I liked the look of the high quality doubleshot keycaps. But I haven't used them very much because, as you've already mentioned, they feel very flimsy.

I would definitely be interested in one or more sets of plates to give the keyboards some additional heft. However, isn't in prohibitively expensive to manufacture keyboard plates in small quantities?

[browncow]

Interesting idea. I've got several g80-1800s in storage somewhere. I bought them very cheaply many years ago mainly because I liked the look of the high quality doubleshot keycaps. But I haven't used them very much because, as you've already mentioned, they feel very flimsy.

I would definitely be interested in one or more sets of plates to give the keyboards some additional heft. However, isn't in prohibitively expensive to manufacture keyboard plates in small quantities?

PM me if you're interested. I cut and weld sheetmetal for living so cutting few of these isn't a big issue for me.

[browncow]

IMG_20230815_194908.jpg (1.09 MiB) Viewed 71532 times

made a tiny adjustment to the position of caps lock key, because it was misaligned something about 0,1mm. Here's a new set without any paint. Zinc plated 1,5mm steel.

[Muirium]

Ooh! Noted. A steel-cutter is good to know indeed.

Don’t suppose you can also roll them? Just thinking silly IBM ideas.

[browncow]

Ooh! Noted. A steel-cutter is good to know indeed.

Don’t suppose you can also roll them? Just thinking silly IBM ideas.

yes, i do have a roller, i was thinking the same ideas. but how about an IBM plate with M2 threads in it rather than regular nut and bolt combo that i've done twice to know how annoying it is? Main reason i thought about is, this way, with an electric screwdriver with some torque setting you could torque up all the bolts EQUALLY with ease. Which i think has a big impact on the feel of the board

[AndyJ]

yes, i do have a roller, i was thinking the same ideas. but how about an IBM plate with M2 threads in it rather than regular nut and bolt combo

For a Model M? You're talking about a steel upper plate someone could use Model F switch barrels with?

I'm tentatively interested. I have an M with a multiply-cracked barrel plate. I can buy a replacement from Unicomp, but the idea of a new steel upper plate and a bag of barrels and flippers from modelfkeyboards.com tweaks my interest.

[Sheepless]

Ooh! Noted. A steel-cutter is good to know indeed.

Don’t suppose you can also roll them? Just thinking silly IBM ideas.

yes, i do have a roller, i was thinking the same ideas. but how about an IBM plate with M2 threads in it rather than regular nut and bolt combo that i've done twice to know how annoying it is? Main reason i thought about is, this way, with an electric screwdriver with some torque setting you could torque up all the bolts EQUALLY with ease. Which i think has a big impact on the feel of the board

I could see myself paying for such a plate. Though I wonder how accurate the curvature needs to be.

[browncow]

yes, i do have a roller, i was thinking the same ideas. but how about an IBM plate with M2 threads in it rather than regular nut and bolt combo

For a Model M? You're talking about a steel upper plate someone could use Model F switch barrels with?

I'm tentatively interested. I have an M with a multiply-cracked barrel plate. I can buy a replacement from Unicomp, but the idea of a new steel upper plate and a bag of barrels and flippers from modelfkeyboards.com tweaks my interest.

I was thinking about a model M (lower) plate. The F plate would be doable too, but i don't have one and if i was to do something like that i'd need a plate as a template to do my measurements. However, designing a steel top plate would be interesting, i DIDN'T know you can buy new barrels themselves.

[browncow]

Ooh! Noted. A steel-cutter is good to know indeed.

Don’t suppose you can also roll them? Just thinking silly IBM ideas.

yes, i do have a roller, i was thinking the same ideas. but how about an IBM plate with M2 threads in it rather than regular nut and bolt combo that i've done twice to know how annoying it is? Main reason i thought about is, this way, with an electric screwdriver with some torque setting you could torque up all the bolts EQUALLY with ease. Which i think has a big impact on the feel of the board

I could see myself paying for such a plate. Though I wonder how accurate the curvature needs to be.

Quite accurate. But it's a very slight curvature and with a hand roller you are able to achieve it if you're careful, but that also depends on the thickness, nothing stops you from rolling a let's say 1,5mm plate instead of something like 1 or 1,2mm

[Muirium]

Yay!

Wcass rolled the plate in my XTant,* which was a bit of a project in its own right! There's definitely a fairly narrow range of curvature that will work for a Model F. But it is doable, with the right tools and some practice.

*DMA managed to get it up and running right with his controller after I gave up on it.

I was thinking about a model M (lower) plate. The F plate would be doable too, but i don't have one and if i was to do something like that i'd need a plate as a template to do my measurements. However, designing a steel top plate would be interesting, i DIDN'T know you can buy new barrels themselves.

You can indeed. F top plates are much like the backplate, but pre-drilled for barrels as you can guess. Previously we had to harvest them from XTs (and Bigfoots when those were almost worthless) but Ellipse is a modern source now.

There's one Model F modding project I can think of which could use such top-plates very nicely! XT to AT mod kits!

[browncow]

This would be i think doable for me however i would need to source some model F myself for reference. And that's quite an expense nowadays xD

[AndyJ]

There's definitely a fairly narrow range of curvature that will work for a Model F. But it is doable, with the right tools and some practice.

I think my slip roller is a bit too short to roll an AT plate, but it's an excuse to build another tool.

I was thinking about a model M (lower) plate.

The M lower plate is already steel. Earlier ones were thicker, supposedly. But if you wanted to make new ones as tapped plates, you have the problem of lining up and drilling the holes in the plastic top part.

There's one Model F modding project I can think of which could use such top-plates very nicely! XT to AT mod kits!

The XT top plate is steel; you can fill in and redrill the weird-Alice XT holes for the AT positions, and add the holes for the four new lower-row keys at the same time.

Given how the half-holes in the M-to-F spacebar mod don't seem to be a problem, you might not even need to weld the odd holes up.

Unless you had some spare XT barrels, you'd probably file or grind notches in the holes for the AT barrel alignment lugs. Or move some XT barrels from the qwerty section, then replace them with AT barrels with the locating lug carved off. Fitted up against the other barrels on three or four sides, they're not going to move much.

[grasshopper]

Interesting idea. I've got several g80-1800s in storage somewhere. I bought them very cheaply many years ago mainly because I liked the look of the high quality doubleshot keycaps. But I haven't used them very much because, as you've already mentioned, they feel very flimsy.

I would definitely be interested in one or more sets of plates to give the keyboards some additional heft. However, isn't in prohibitively expensive to manufacture keyboard plates in small quantities?

PM me if you're interested. I cut and weld sheetmetal for living so cutting few of these isn't a big issue for me.

Thanks. I wasn’t really expecting a stranger on the internet to make stuff for me. But if you’re willing to do it then that’s great.

I’ve now managed to find one of my old g80-1800 keyboards. Strictly speaking, it’s actually a combination of two keyboards.

Many years ago, I got hold of some new g80-1800 keyboards that came fitted with high quality doubleshot keycaps but used Cherry MY switches. I liked the keycaps but didn’t like the feel of the MY switches. So eventually I replaced the MY board with an MX board taken from another damaged keyboard that had the same layout. The keycaps and cases were interchangeable. The keyboard actually felt a lot sturdier with the MY board fitted because MY boards have metal backplates. But the switches felt awful.

To add some additional heft, I did consider putting a metal plate under the PCB with holes cut out to avoid shorting the solder points. But your solution is better.

I’ll have a think about this and get back to you.

Thanks.

[grasshopper]

OK. I’ve had a few further thoughts.

Firstly, I notice that you’ve left a gap around the stabilized keys because the plate was interfering with the stabilizers. I’m wondering whether it might have been better to have added cutouts to the plate to enable Cherry plate mounted stabilizers to be fitted, and used them instead of the original PCB mounted stabilizers.

Or better still, you could have added cutouts to the plate to enable Costar style stabilizers to be fitted. In my opinion, Costar stabilizers feel a lot nicer than the Cherry equivalents. But for some reason, they’ve fallen out of fashion.

viewtopic.php?t=5872

Also, If I was going to the trouble of desoldering over 100 switches, I think I would take the opportunity to convert the keyboard to use hot-pluggable switches, by fitting some of the hot-pluggable sockets you can buy on Aliexpress and elsewhere:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004 ... h%21UK%210

I think I would also fit a separate plate to the cursor keys to ensure that all the keys have a uniform look and feel.

[browncow]

OK. I’ve had a few further thoughts.

Firstly, I notice that you’ve left a gap around the stabilized keys because the plate was interfering with the stabilizers. I’m wondering whether it might have been better to have added cutouts to the plate to enable Cherry plate mounted stabilizers to be fitted, and used them instead of the original PCB mounted stabilizers.

Or better still, you could have added cutouts to the plate to enable Costar style stabilizers to be fitted. In my opinion, Costar stabilizers feel a lot nicer than the Cherry equivalents. But for some reason, they’ve fallen out of fashion.

viewtopic.php?t=5872

Also, If I was going to the trouble of desoldering over 100 switches, I think I would take the opportunity to convert the keyboard to use hot-pluggable switches, by fitting some of the hot-pluggable sockets you can buy on Aliexpress and elsewhere:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004 ... h%21UK%210

I think I would also fit a separate plate to the cursor keys to ensure that all the keys have a uniform look and feel.

Those sockets are interesting, however i am not sure how would it work in this case, because here, there is no way to screw in the plate to the pcb. So you need some sort of strong mechanical connection to hold everything in place.
You are correct about the stabilizers! i might try to make a version for different stabilizers. actually i had in mind making a version with winkeyless layout, so i can modify my board. The arrow keys plate i didn't do because i like to keep my arrow keys linear (for playing older PC racing games) but it's not a problem for me to make it.

[grasshopper]

Those sockets are interesting, however i am not sure how would it work in this case, because here, there is no way to screw in the plate to the pcb. So you need some sort of strong mechanical connection to hold everything in place.

I haven't actually tried them yet. But from what I understand, you simply have to insert the switch's terminals into the sockets before you insert the switch into the PCB. You then solder the hot-plug sockets to the underside of the PCB with the switch still in place.

The switches effectively hold the hot-plug sockets in the correct position whilst the soldering takes place. In theory, it shouldn't be any more difficult than soldering the switches directly to the PCB.

From what I've been reading, the only possible complication is that the sockets have to match the diameters of the holes in the PCB. So, I'm not certain whether the ones I linked to are compatible with the g80-1800 PCB. But other brands are available.

I also understand there's another type of hot-plug socket available that locks into position without the need for soldering. However, I think I'd prefer to solder them in place.

[browncow]

Well, a bit of an update:

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Here's a new version of the plate i designed with costar style stabilizers in mind.

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Also the key layout, i decided to change it a bit

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First i thought this would be good enough, but even those thin wires were interfering with properly assembling the plate with the pcb. So i had to figure out something else, Drilling in new holes for the contacts was a no-go as they would go right trough few traces in the pcb (i almost did when drilling extra holes for the centering pegs.) So...

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And some transistor core wire:

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Behold! an extra-terrestial edition of kailh box jade switch with some spooky sensing appendages:

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With that done i could properly reassemble the board like this:

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The result is worth it i think, but i'll let You guys judge.

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[inozenz]

really great work, good job. looks amazing!

[browncow]

really great work, good job. looks amazing!

Thank you! i'm sure you could do the layout mod a bit more elegant but this way was easiest for me

[inozenz]

really great work, good job. looks amazing!

Thank you! i'm sure you could do the layout mod a bit more elegant but this way was easiest for me

hey if it works it works, i think u solved it pretty good.

[grasshopper]

Looks really nice.

I'm definitely interested in having a few sets of plates. However, I'll wait until you've finalised the design first.

How are you finding the Costar stabilisers?