f***ing blue alps, man... (acer kb-101a review)

[XMIT]

elecplus gave me a KB-101AS that was really yellow, filthy, and with switches so scratchy that she couldn't sell it (she tried, the buyer returned it).

Bananaboard.

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I've sonicated the switches and retrobrighted the case and key caps. The retrobrighting didn't go perfectly, there is some noticeable bloom on the key caps and the case. So I'm going to paint the case gray to make an Industrial KB-101AS. Stay tuned for updates...

[//gainsborough]

I'm very excited to see results! Thanks for the quick update!

[XMIT]

Here's a quick teaser photo for you.

Industrial Acer KB-101AS

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I'm not 100% happy with the way the key caps came out. The whites look great, the grays have a little bit of bloom on them. Some of it comes off with some scrubbing.

The board isn't completely together yet. I want to give the paint a few days to outgas. There are a couple of spots I want to re-paint. Also, the original LED window was damaged by the retrobright so I will print and cut a new one.

I'm too much of a perfectionist so in real life the details jump out at me. But, I think this came out looking beautiful.

[Chyros]

...WOW.

[//gainsborough]

DAMN!!!!!! That thing is sexy as hell!

[Hypersphere]

@Chyros: You mean, you aren't going to condemn XMIT for defiling the original state of the board?

[Chyros]

@Chyros: You mean, you aren't going to condemn XMIT for defiling the original state of the board?

I'm nowhere near as aligned against a good paint job as I am to tearing the board apart for its switches and then tossing it away. Granted, some paint jobs don't fit the board very well, or are rather tasteless, but it's hard to go wrong with some industrial grey, and it fits that model exquisitely.

[XMIT]

@Chyros: You mean, you aren't going to condemn XMIT for defiling the original state of the board?

I think this was the board you bought and returned now that I think about it!

The switches feel perfect after complete sonication of the tops and bottoms​. It's really a great board. The only real bad thing about it is that it doesn't have NKRO. The Omnikey does, that's still my favorite Alps board to restore.

[ideus]

Good job. It is a shame the gray keys did not get a full cleaning, but hell, it looks much better than it was.

[XMIT]

Good job. It is a shame the gray keys did not get a full cleaning, but hell, it looks much better than it was.

It's not that they are dirty, it's that the bleaching process damaged the plastics on the gray keys some. This is what happens if retrobright dries in the sun.

[Mattr567]

Good job. It is a shame the gray keys did not get a full cleaning, but hell, it looks much better than it was.

It's not that they are dirty, it's that the bleaching process damaged the plastics on the gray keys some. This is what happens if retrobright dries in the sun.

Yea those caps didnt turn out well at all

Personally I only do white caps. The yellowing on gray caps is impossible to notice unless its side by side with a non-yellowed one. And your only risking damaging the caps!!! That set might be ruined

Did you use cling wrap when you covered the caps with retrobright?

[Hypersphere]

@Chyros: You mean, you aren't going to condemn XMIT for defiling the original state of the board?

I think this was the board you bought and returned now that I think about it!

The switches feel perfect after complete sonication of the tops and bottoms​. It's really a great board. The only real bad thing about it is that it doesn't have NKRO. The Omnikey does, that's still my favorite Alps board to restore.

Yep. Can't believe I have returned TWO Acer KB-101 boards (one a 101A; the other a 101AS) in recent days after searching in vain for a long time. I think each of those boards was destined to fall into other hands so that they could be brought back to useful life.

I agree about the Northgate Omnikey 101 -- a joy to restore. One detail I like about the NG is that the holes for the connector align perfectly with the flush-mount micro-USB connectors that I use.

I've also recently taken a liking to Zenith boards. When warmer weather arrives, I will be restoring a Z-150 black label and a ZKB-2. Pics will follow!

[XMIT]

Good job. It is a shame the gray keys did not get a full cleaning, but hell, it looks much better than it was.

It's not that they are dirty, it's that the bleaching process damaged the plastics on the gray keys some. This is what happens if retrobright dries in the sun.

Yea those caps didnt turn out well at all

Personally I only do white caps. The yellowing on gray caps is impossible to notice unless its side by side with a non-yellowed one. And your only risking damaging the caps!!! That set might be ruined

Did you use cling wrap when you covered the caps with retrobright?

Yes I did, and I put that inside a clear tub with extra water to help prevent drying. I've had better luck doing this indoors with a UV lamp but it takes much longer.

This board was so bad that the gray caps were yellow. I received it as a write off so doing the whitening outside was an experiment. I can always get caps from somewhere else if I want.

[Mr.Nobody]

@xmit
How did you turn the cable into black, painted?

[//gainsborough]

@xmit
How did you turn the cable into black, painted?

This question is relevant to my interests =)

You don't happen to have an extra 6011 / kb-101a PCB + cable lying around, do you XMIT?

[XMIT]

This question is relevant to my interests =)

Yes, I used black vinyl dye for the cable, and made sure to mask off the connectors. I used dark gray vinyl dye for the case. I picked these up at the local auto parts store, maybe about $8 a can.

You don't happen to have an extra 6011 / kb-101a PCB + cable lying around, do you XMIT?

I don't believe so. I have some spare Alps parts that I'll put on the Classifieds at some point, including a random Nan Tan board that I used as a blue Alps donor. It could be a nice project if you like a small backspace and a Big Ass Enter (I don't like either, at all).

[XMIT]

I finally assembled and stored this board yesterday. The switches are in poor condition even after ultrasonic cleaning. The feel is okay but some still have corrosion on the insides of the switch plates. Some will need to be replaced.

Again, this was a complete write-off of a board, the worst condition Alps board I've ever seen, so the fact that it works at all is encouraging.

[E3E]

It's not that they are dirty, it's that the bleaching process damaged the plastics on the gray keys some. This is what happens if retrobright dries in the sun.

Yea those caps didnt turn out well at all

Personally I only do white caps. The yellowing on gray caps is impossible to notice unless its side by side with a non-yellowed one. And your only risking damaging the caps!!! That set might be ruined

Did you use cling wrap when you covered the caps with retrobright?

Yes I did, and I put that inside a clear tub with extra water to help prevent drying. I've had better luck doing this indoors with a UV lamp but it takes much longer.

This board was so bad that the gray caps were yellow. I received it as a write off so doing the whitening outside was an experiment. I can always get caps from somewhere else if I want.

The whole using plastic wrap for retrobrighting is the WORST tip ever. Never use plastic wrap for retrobrighting anything, and especially not something with a plastic that's any darker than off-white. It almost always leaves behind streaking.

Submerging key caps, in my experience, also leads to bleached mods.

The only method I've done that has low risk involves mounting the caps on a keyboard with a plastic plate and spraying them down routinely with a RB solution (I use both a liquid and a heavily diluted cream for more vertical surfaces) and just let them sit under UV directly for however long it takes.

Darker plastics often clean up quicker than lighter plastics and so they also bleach more easily. You'll have to remove them before the lighter keys are done and keep a good eye on them.

Another method that is safe to darker plastics, for the most part, is using a solution of oxiclean and water only, and letting the caps sit submerged under indoor lighting for 72 hours or so. This will remove yellowing without any peroxide and tends not to bleach.



Here, you can see the middle Acer (6011), retrobrighted perfectly. The mods have no bleaching and are a nice beige that pops.

Below it is my Acer KB101A with doubleshots that I screwed up much like the ones on your Acer. It was one of my first times RBing with my indoors setup and one of the first times RBing caps.

As you can see, the 6011 came out perfectly, and its caps were VERY yellow.

Another example:





Went from ewwwww to



I must stress that bleaching isn't so much about drying as it is about exposure. However, using creme that isn't diluted and letting that dry will often lead to bleaching where it has dried. My diluted mix doesn't have that effect though. I just thin it out heavily using a mix of liquid H2O2 and distilled water. I keep it very thin, but still able to stick to vertical surfaces well.

I've let the liquid dry on even dark plastics and nothing bad has happened, however letting the plastics sit too long under RB will bleach them; it doesn't matter if they're dry or not (hence why I say submersion often leads to bleaching mods).

[XMIT]

So, I've thought about this a bunch, and I think the real problem isn't plastic wrap, but drying, which vastly increases the concentration of peroxide once the water evaporates away.

The best results I've had have been using a UV lamp (low power, regulated, consistent UV source), indoors, with a humidifier running, spraying everything down with water periodically, in a clear tub with a cover. That provides enough moisture to let it run overnight without drying.

All of the worst results I've had - streaking, bleaching, faded key tops - have been when doing this outside, in the heat extreme UV, and dryness of the summer in Texas. (Summer runs from March to November here. I also had a bad result indoors with an uncovered part that dried out.

Regular supervision and checking is also a good idea. It's easier to do that indoors, one because the barrier to checking on them is reduced, and two because the rate is reduced that if you're late by an hour or two to check it's not a big deal. Doing things in a hurry leads to bad results.

All things considered I'm not too upset since Tai-Hao doubleshot ABS caps are really common, I have another set around here that I can toss on my board if I need to.