IBM 3278 Restoration

[Redmaus]

Internets to you sir. You made this board a piece of Art. I don't have a beam spring myself, but before I came on this site, I thought the only beam spring keyboards compatible with modern day PC's was the displaywriter. Looks like I was wrong and I like these keycaps more than the ones on the displaywriter and the metallic finish you have on yours is simply majestic.

[kuato]

Internets to you sir. You made this board a piece of Art. I don't have a beam spring myself, but before I came on this site, I thought the only beam spring keyboards compatible with modern day PC's was the displaywriter. Looks like I was wrong and I like these keycaps more than the ones on the displaywriter and the metallic finish you have on yours is simply majestic.

Thank you for the kind words

A lot of credit goes to xwhatsit for making his awesome controllers and putting his work on public domain. He inspired many of us to revive these old beasts.

[Redmaus]

Yup, I am sure he put a lot of work into the converters to make these beasts clack once more. Also could I have your input on this thread I made Yesterday?

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/met ... t9837.html

[Ace]

Still beautiful...........

[vivalarevolución]

Just saw this. Hot and sexy.

[ocodo]

Amazing!

Back in 1987(ish) I used a VERY similar Beam Spring keyboard / terminal setup like this to learn APL. If memory serves me the keys were black with white legends (I can't remember the color of the APL symbols, (I think) they were not red though.)

It remains to this day, my absolute favourite keyboard and since I was only allowed to use it for a short time, it has taken on almost mythical dimensions...

It is so nice to see what is essentially the same board, and dear god I wish I could buy it! (even if you were selling it (which I strongly suspect you are not), it would be impractical for me to own at the moment.)

The stuff of dreams, I hope it feels as good as I remember. Just a fantastic piece of hardware, great find and beautiful restoration job. Bravo!

[Hypersphere]

I just rediscovered this thread. Such beautiful work! I would like to try something similar with my beam spring. I especially like the idea of replacing the plastic manual cover with a metal replica.

[Chyros]

And now I have too xD . Amazing work, what a fantastic board!

[kuato]

thanks, guys. this is still my favorite keyboard and the one I use most. I never added a dust shield so I open it every 3-4 months to clean the pcb.

Sorry nothing ever came of the metal lid GB. My contact switched jobs and my workload this year has been too insane for me to pursue getting this done through other vendors. Once things slow down I hope I can organize a short run for these.

[Redmaus]

Please post more pics of this lovely board.

Maybe some in its natural habitat (your desk)?

[meow a cat]

Please post more pics of this lovely board.

Maybe some in its natural habitat (your desk)?

I second this, such a beautiful board. I need some more pictures of this work of art!

[lot_lizard]

I have a 3279 that I am restoring, and like Kuato... don't care for the plastic lid. I took mine in today to the local machine shop (friends of mine that have done work in the past on implements) and they are going to put it together for me. Should have something in a couple of weeks as they work it in between projects. Will post the results.

Also, for anyone interested, as Kuato did, stainless will always be the best choice for steel because of how low the carbon is for welding. Gauges as thin as these little winged tabs for the hinge would be brittle otherwise... stainless is very forgiving

[photekq]

I have a 3279 that I am restoring, and like Kuato... don't care for the plastic lid. I took mine in today to the local machine shop (friends of mine that have done work in the past on implements) and they are going to put it together for me. Should have something in a couple of weeks as they work it in between projects. Will post the results.

Also, for anyone interested, as Kuato did, stainless will always be the best choice for steel because of how low the carbon is for welding. Gauges as thin as these little winged tabs for the hinge would be brittle otherwise... stainless is very forgiving

I look forward to seeing how it turns out! Also, if they would like to make a few more than I'm sure you'd have some interested!

[HighPlainsDrafter]

Perhaps someone will revive these someday by creating new ones (though with lower-height profile, ANSI layout), like Ellipse is doing with the new Model F's.

[lot_lizard]

For the door flap, I did call my friends about it in the middle of last week. They have it cut and bent, but still need to weld the tabs. If they can't get to it by the end of next week, I'll just go pick up and spot weld the tabs myself. I just didn't have a way to get that exact bend (takes a large press). They are doing it for free, so I shouldn't gripe... But wasn't expecting this to be a month either. Sorry guys. I'll ask them about pricing for say 10 of them (for that.. They would be motivated)

[photekq]

For the door flap, I did call my friends about it in the middle of last week. They have it cut and bent, but still need to weld the tabs. If they can't get to it by the end of next week, I'll just go pick up and spot weld the tabs myself. I just didn't have a way to get that exact bend (takes a large press). They are doing it for free, so I shouldn't gripe... But wasn't expecting this to be a month either. Sorry guys. I'll ask them about pricing for say 10 of them (for that.. They would be motivated)

Great to hear. I look forward to the finished product, and I will definitely take one if you do a run!

[seebart]

Man these pics... ...are hard on me cause I see how awesome one of these can look, one problem I don't have with mine is the door flap.

Spoiler:

IMGP1999.JPG (951.94 KiB) Viewed 6940 times

[alh84001]

I guess it's never too late to express amazement, as I just stumbled upon this thread. This has got to be one of the most awesome looking restorations I've seen. And the competition is nothing to sneeze at, not at all.

[seebart]

Yeah that's what all our Beamsprings should look like, for myself I can say I don't have kuato's skills to make this happen at this level.

[lot_lizard]

I guess it's never too late to express amazement, as I just stumbled upon this thread. This has got to be one of the most awesome looking restorations I've seen. And the competition is nothing to sneeze at, not at all.

Glad you bumped this... I forgot to post pics. And... I agree... Kuato is a beast for even dreaming this metal cover up, and did SUCH an amazing job on the full restoration.

Here is the cover with bend and tabs welded (I gave up on the machine shop dinking around and just welded myself... they did the radial bend). I still need to cutout the notch for the latch, and either blast or polish yet, but this is the rough (unfinished) metal. It fits nicely... happy with the results

Top

IMG_7346.JPG (743.15 KiB) Viewed 6819 times

Bottom

IMG_7347.JPG (326.53 KiB) Viewed 6819 times

[photekq]

I need one!!!

[kuato]

It came out great! Heavy, isn't it?

[lot_lizard]

It came out great! Heavy, isn't it?

Thanks... And yes. MUCH nicer on the wrists (when typing palms down). So curious that IBM wouldn't have shipped with a metal lid given that expense was of little issue at the time (pass it on to the end customer). Metal casts with perpendicular holes aren't ideal, but the lower shell has them and is exceptionally more complex. It's just very odd to me

@photekq, should we start a group buy? I can tell you now that we need 30+ interests to have a chance of getting under 40 USD because it is so custom. Not sure there is that much interest. Regardless... I might surprise you in your mailbox one day

If I send it:
Photekq, UK

what are the chances it makes it? It seems to be a popular way to sell Cherry boards on eBay lately (ships to: photekq)

[notooth]

I want to join the group to buy this keyboard. Please count me in.

[XMIT]

I finally got my hands on a 3278, so, I'd be interested in one of these as well. Do you happen to have a copy of the rear manual? I'd like to print a replacement...

[Hypersphere]

I, too, have a 3278 awaiting refurbishing and converting to USB. If there were a GB for the steel doors, this would give me some additional incentive for completing the project.

[seebart]

I, too, have a 3278 awaiting refurbishing and converting to USB. If there were a GB for the steel doors, this would give me some additional incentive for completing the project.

Same here, I bookmarked this page years ago and had forgotten about it but when XMIT posted just now and I saw kuato's work again...WOW...absolutely amazing.

[lot_lizard]

I never took photos, but put this on a 3276 that was powdered all the way around. Turned out great. We probably need 20+ plates to be cost effective because they need to setup dies on the press. I will have them just laser out the tabs (cost almost nothing), and just weld the tabs on myself like I did before for mine. These are so tiny, it really only needs a spot welder. We'll for sure dust this off again. I would be interested in putting on the 3278 and xxx9 as well. It's a better typing experience. Kudos to Kuato

When we make replacement case for the 5251, maybe we use the same radius as this plate and piggy back on the process to drive prices down. In all of this, you are really only paying for the man hours to prep the tooling (ie... quantity of 20 and 50 cost relatively similar). I do have the dxf for the plate already to laser in bulk (at least on "paper").

I think '17 will be the year of the metal case(s) for several projects. Our metal friends are prepped regarding that agenda. One day we'll get a group photo of them. Good ilk

[invisiblefly]

I'm planning to get the 3278, is the metal lid GB already started?

[codemonkeymike]

Mark me down for a metal 3278 lid as well, I think. I can confirm next week