Xerox Docutech Keyboards and Restoration [Alps SKCM Lime/Neon Green]

[E3E]

1997 Docutech - lubed stabs - bamboo - short left shift

1990 Docutech - no lube - pine

So, I landed upon these thanks to a lucky eBay find a while back and decided that I wanted to restore them!




I've since restrobrighted them once more since I felt they could still be brightened up a bit. All following pictures are from the first restoration.







Restored 1990 Docutech (this was during the first production year of the Docutech publisher printing system, so this is a very early model)



1991 Docutech showing its distinctive Neon Green switches (Alps SKCM Green). Ready for caps! The early models such as this one and the previous one have slits, aka pine switches, like the older Alps switches.



A lot of detail work went into vacuuming the plates, retrobrighting, removing grime from the PBT caps (even after a thorough cleaning in a solution of water, dishwashing detergent, and an alka seltzer tab, grime still remained in the texturing of the cap); I had to use a magic eraser with a little alcohol to get the embedded grime out.

Also added rubber feet to all model aside from the 1991 model, as they were all without feet aside from that one. Found a great match for them too.

Each fully restored board had its switches opened and cleaned with compressed air before reassembling to ensure that any dust or grit was gone completely. Overall, there isn't much scratchiness at all with these.






To the right is a fully whitened bezel to the 1990 Docutech, then it goes 1991, then 1997, then 1996.



1990



1991



1996



1997 and in an interesting ISO layout.

All boards are made in the USA aside from the last one. IT seems they switched production to Mexico after 1996 I would imagine, unless there was always a split in production.

Been spending all day working on the second Xerox restoration for the 1991 model. Excuse the sloppiness here as I am rather exhausted. I just wanted to plop down a thread as a placeholder to document the restoration here as well as many other things about these seldom seen keyboards. I'


Pre restoration pics:



Pine



Bamboo

[Redmaus]

Holy crap E3E you are killing me

These look so great. I want one of the boards now, not just the switches. I love the maroon legends.

I can't take this anymore!

[E3E]

Holy crap E3E you are killing me

These look so great. I want one of the boards now, not just the switches. I love the maroon legends.

I can't take this anymore!

Yeah, I faintly remember jacobolus mentioning something about the legends before I acquired these. That said, I completely forgot until I got the boards. They are striking with that purple-reddish hue. Very pretty! The caps are definitely my favorite out of any other Alps PBT caps I've handled.

Some differences between the PCB of the early models and the later models:



Very pretty



Very typical









The early key caps also have a distinctive hand-written mold mark on the undeside for the early models and still on some caps on the later models:









Noticed this randomly while chattering on in a call with a friend about these keyboards haha.

[Redmaus]

They are double shot too?!?!

Oh the jealousy!

[E3E]

They are double shot too?!?!

Oh the jealousy!

Haha, only the STOP keys. I guess Xerox was suuuper specific in what they wanted. STOP in orangish red letters on a grey cap. Only doubleshot for that!

Yeah, I never really noticed these much until well, now... So cool.

[Redmaus]

Is there any difference between pine and bamboo beside the switches?

[E3E]

Is there any difference between pine and bamboo beside the switches?

I like to use the word "resolution" for describing the difference between the two top housings: pine housed neons have a very distinct resolution to their tactility which is similar to SKCM brown but not as rigid.

Bamboo neons are more rounded and have less resolution but this actually imparts a unique feel to them in way I would imagine most people would say is quite topre-like. I actually like both about evenly, but I am glad I have two pine examples as I think they were phased out only a few years into the 90s.

You have a bamboo SKCM green, don't you? If you have anything Topre, please do compare. I'll have a Topre board in a few days so I can compare as well.

There is also a difference in the springs as well. Pine has longer springs with more loosely wound coils. Bamoo has shorter springs with more tightly wound coils. The weighting feels the same, however. The 1990 model also has springs with a slight gold color similar to those of SKCM orange and SKCM salmon.

If you have a loose pine-topped switch like Salmon, try swapping the top onto the Neon you have. You'll feel the change without a doubt.




Detail of SKCM brown tactile leaf assembly and SKCM neon green tactile leaf



As you can see, there are many similarities between the two. Jacobolus noted that the SKCM brown leaves are of a thicker metal and that is partially why they feel more rigid.



Detail on retractable legs (pre restoration yuuck on the feet), Twist to open.



Twist and push to close



Extended



Closed

By far the coolest feet mechanism on any Alps keyboard I've run across. They're more like legs than feet. They're awesome design aspects!

[ohaimark]

Warning. Warning. Keyboard terminology approaching audiophile terminology. Abort. Abort.

[E3E]

Warning. Warning. Keyboard terminology approaching audiophile terminology. Abort. Abort.

Hahaha. I was waiting for someone to point this out.

You're not wrong.

I should also mention that these keyboards do not use a single screw for assembly and disassembly of the case. Aside from the brittleness and fragility of aged plastic, I really like this. It makes taking apart the keyboard take only a matter of seconds and it is still quite solid!

[E3E]

A side shot taken on a USPS board game box because every other bit of desk space is taken up in my room at the moment, lol.

The really flat look of these from the side is something I really like. It gives the illusion of being very thin. Pretty elegant.

Also, though the top keys look black, they are actually a very dark brown.

I like Xerox's aversion to using black much on these, lol. Hey, I like dark chocolate, so that's totally fine.



These being Xerox boards, I also found it appropriate to note that a staple was found on the plate.

[Redmaus]

I can't take this anymore

[Chyros]

I hate you. Hate, hate, hate. I've been looking to review one of these for ages .

Do tell us how they compare to Topre. I only have a loose bamboo switch, which isn't always a good comparison, but the HHKB immediately reminded me of it among others.

[chiptea]

Wow, those look better than I would have imagined. You're making a great deal of us veeeerry jealous. Prepare for a DT uprising

[Mattr567]

So what are we calling these? Neon Green or Jade?

[seebart]

Very nice indeed E3E, the twist out feet are unusual.

So what are we calling these? Neon Green or Jade?

Seafoam green.

[E3E]

A lot of people are taking to Jade it seems. I like it!

DOWN WITH SEAFOAM GREEN!

[Redmaus]

Plasma Green

[E3E]

Some goodies from restoration 3/4:



Now I know a lot of people would cringe at seeing this, but the fact these boards were such central components to huge publisher printing systems back in the day (and to this day even), I think, gives the caps some character!



Can you spot my derp?



Putting teh feetzies back on her



A "lug" was broken when I received the board, so I used some Plast-Aid pool repair compound to bond the broken piece back together before sanding it down smooth again. It bonds with acrylic-based plastics very well.




BEFORE:



AFTER:



Still need to clean the cables, but I'm going to be doing that last.






Three out of four boards complete! Now all I need to do is clean the switches on the last board, detail clean the key caps, replace the spacebar foam landing pads and reassemble!

Since I have two of each model, one of each has lubed stabs while the other is kept stock. Lubing stabs really hushes up the wire rattle, but I wanted something to contrast with.

[Redmaus]

Kill me

[E3E]

The last one!



YES



WE



CAN!



All done! Lighting plays with these plastics in such strange ways, but I can assure you that they are all a very nice shade of off white.

Here's the before picture on the last one:



It was absolutely grimy.

Now I just have to retrobright the mice they came with and clean the cables and I'll be 100% done!

Also need to restore a Datapoint (Acer) KB101A that came in today. Ahhhh...

Retrobrighting sequentially like this and taking 333 switches apart was probably the worst part of the job. Detail cleaning the key caps was also a pain in the ass as were the tabs that were brittle on the 1991 model. So glad to finally be done the brunt of the work.

[Chyros]

Do you know yet if they work with a modern computer?

[E3E]

Do you know yet if they work with a modern computer?

Nope, not with Soarer's USB converter (orihalcon) at least or with a standard passive adapter.

I'm not sure if they are XT or not, but I have a feeling the protocol is proprietary.

It would be amazing if they worked with a modern PC as using the little early optical mouse that plugs into the board for gaming would be hilarious fun.

[Mattr567]

Nice restorations Eve! They came out great! Need to do the SGI soooon but the weather isnt cooperating
Right now the case looks like green speckled poo Not the sharp blue its supposed to be.

So whats next for these boards? I have a feeling that one of these could be modded a bit for USB conversion, you having so many.

You need to update the SKCM Green wiki as well! Its so barren right now. There isn't even any pictures at all lol. With all the info you have you could make one of the best Alps pages with all of the info we have now thanks to you.

[E3E]

Nice restorations Eve! They came out great! Need to do the SGI soooon but the weather isnt cooperating
Right now the case looks like green speckled poo Not the sharp blue its supposed to be.

So whats next for these boards? I have a feeling that one of these could be modded a bit for USB conversion, you having so many.

You need to update the SKCM Green wiki as well! Its so barren right now. There isn't even any pictures at all lol. With all the info you have you could make one of the best Alps pages with all of the info we have now thanks to you.

Well, I've just cleaned the cables for the boards. The last two were SO SO grimy, disgusting, and stubborn to clean, but they're all clean as a whistle now.

I've been retrobrighting the mice they came with for the past 6 or so hours.

I think I'll work on the wiki page for these keyboards and the SKCM Green switch tomorrow morning.

Beyond this, I've got a restoration planned for my Datapoint rebrand of an Acer KB101A. Plate on that one isn't rusty, but ho boy is it grimy. Switches feel just fine though.

It's so much bigger than I had imagined from all the pictures; it's actually bigger than the Leading Edge DC-3014. Haven't compared it to my other boards. Definitely bigger than these slimline Xeroxes though.

The Xerox boards are definitely my favorites along with the FAME keyboard of mine.

Oh! And I hope to see some coverage on your SGI restoration. Whether you're doing 4 in a row like me or just one, retrobrighting can still be a pain in the ass. It's always a little less frustrating to do a board with PBT caps as you only have to worry about the case and the space bar for the most part.

The Xerox caps were the grimiest I've ever witnessed though, so they required a thorough cleaning which was a pain all unto itself.

[jacobolus]

I’m pretty sure the mouse is the same type as the first optical mouse, which came with the Xerox Star in the early 1980s. I think you need a special printed pattern for it to track. The guy who invented it, Dick Lyon, is great; I’ve exchanged a bunch of emails and had lunch with him a couple times. After inventing the optical mouse, he went on to invent the Foveon digital camera sensor, and do a bunch of work on models of human audio perception. These days he works for Google. A few years ago it was on cameras for street view cars, but I’m not sure what he’s up to now.

[snuci]

E3E, steller job on the restoration. They look awesome.

What is your Retrobrite technique? Looks like it works very well.

[E3E]

E3E, steller job on the restoration. They look awesome.

What is your Retrobrite technique? Looks like it works very well.

Thanks a bunch, snuci!

It's mainly just persistence, haha. I followed Matt3o's guide for mixing up a solution of H202, distilled water, and oxygen bleach. I use a cleaner that's in liquid form for the oxy bleach bit.

Other than that, I have a storage bin (one that's long and wide and can roll under one's bed) that I've lined with aluminum foil at hopes of reflecting more UV and getting more even coverage.

I just soak the parts and close the lid on the bin and wait 30 minutes to an hour before respraying. I used to use H202 creme which bleaches the plastic if it happens to dry; this stuff does not seem to have the same terrible effect so it's a lot less hassle-free if you happen to forget about the parts or fall asleep or something.

The longest I've let a part go is around 2 hours or so and it was just fine, despite being dry.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NZ ... ge_o01_s00

I use this very pricy UV bulb as it's rather powerful, but it's not magical at any rate, and it's fragile. I've had the ballast on one go out on me. I've since ordered a UV wash light LED bar that should be much more resilient. Will it be overkill? I guess we'll see, haha.

I'm glad you think the restoration went well! I'm very happy with how it went too. These mice are being stubborn though. I can't wait until everything is done.

[hasu]

Do you know yet if they work with a modern computer?

Nope, not with Soarer's USB converter (orihalcon) at least or with a standard passive adapter.

I'm not sure if they are XT or not, but I have a feeling the protocol is proprietary.

It would be amazing if they worked with a modern PC as using the little early optical mouse that plugs into the board for gaming would be hilarious fun.

Just skimed over bitsavers.org.
This keyboard looks very similar or identical to Xerox 6085 workstation keyboard. You can find tech references under here to make converter for it. http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www. ... erox/6085/

Seem like it spits out 3 bytes for keys and mouse on differential bus at 9600 baud.

Keyboard Interface:

[snuci]

Hrmmm... I checked Bitsavers yesterday and sifted through a couple of documents and couldn't find this. Nice find.

[Mattr567]

Nice restorations Eve! They came out great! Need to do the SGI soooon but the weather isnt cooperating
Right now the case looks like green speckled poo Not the sharp blue its supposed to be.

So whats next for these boards? I have a feeling that one of these could be modded a bit for USB conversion, you having so many.

You need to update the SKCM Green wiki as well! Its so barren right now. There isn't even any pictures at all lol. With all the info you have you could make one of the best Alps pages with all of the info we have now thanks to you.

Well, I've just cleaned the cables for the boards. The last two were SO SO grimy, disgusting, and stubborn to clean, but they're all clean as a whistle now.

I've been retrobrighting the mice they came with for the past 6 or so hours.

I think I'll work on the wiki page for these keyboards and the SKCM Green switch tomorrow morning.

Beyond this, I've got a restoration planned for my Datapoint rebrand of an Acer KB101A. Plate on that one isn't rusty, but ho boy is it grimy. Switches feel just fine though.

It's so much bigger than I had imagined from all the pictures; it's actually bigger than the Leading Edge DC-3014. Haven't compared it to my other boards. Definitely bigger than these slimline Xeroxes though.

The Xerox boards are definitely my favorites along with the FAME keyboard of mine.

Oh! And I hope to see some coverage on your SGI restoration. Whether you're doing 4 in a row like me or just one, retrobrighting can still be a pain in the ass. It's always a little less frustrating to do a board with PBT caps as you only have to worry about the case and the space bar for the most part.

The Xerox caps were the grimiest I've ever witnessed though, so they required a thorough cleaning which was a pain all unto itself.

Your retrobright method is different from mine. I just used 40 vol creme developer, its for hair but is basically retrobright in a bottle! It works great, used it to restore my AEKII when I used to own it. I fully documented that if you haven't seen it.

The SGI is already cleaned and working swapped with its SKCM Oranges. Theres a little rust on the plate but not much. Nothing to worry about. It was pretty clean when I got it actually. Am typing on it right now.

The thing that is bugging the shit out of me right now is that sometimes the ASDF and K keys dont always register. I have remelted the joints and they are good. The PCB has no issues but one trace I wired, that isnt even related to the keys. What is really strange about it is they all work or die, so defiantly not the switches. If they aren't working the K key seems to bring the rest back as well

Maybe its the solder? Or likely the PCB. The connections and traces look fine to me, and if there was something wrong with the whole row why don't they all stop working? Sometimes it works for a long time but then gets weird again. Maybe Linux is unhappy with it? I remeber this board is weird to convert but im using it on PS/2 so...

Funnily enough its not bad enough to stop using daily Im waiting for some MX Blues to come in so I can swap my G80-11800 again, planning to be my daily driver.