Wang 725-3771-AZ

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Myoth

30 Mar 2018, 17:43

This is a keyboard I got recently and went ham on its restoration because I was both happy to get this and I wanted to see what the ultrasonic cleaner I got could do on Alps !

First glance of it

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This is the keyboard when I first received it, it wasn't in bad condition it was just dirty and the switch were quite crappy.

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I didn't know these could be on the numpad keycaps ! I was very surprised to see this when I first saw the listing, can#t say I'm disappointed ...

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Contrôle ! even with the accent !! that's some dedication :o

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Back label

Took off its main aspect

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As you can see the keyboard was quite dirty ...

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Ugh ... I'm not sure I want to desolder everything for this ... guess I'll leave it like that :/

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My best friend talks easily to dirt :mrgreen:

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Proof that he does !

Opening it even further

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That's dirty .. how is the inside going to be ?

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Even dirtier :?

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Welp .. time to open them all up

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Done, finally ...

Cleaning it

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I ultrasonic cleaned the keycaps because they surely need to be cleaned in some way, it cleaned them pretty well though I'm still quite not satisfied with how it turned out, I'm still searching for a way to clean keycaps in the best way possible, if you have any recommendation ...

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I've been told that the best way toclean bottoms is with compressed air, sure looks like it is !!

Putting it back together

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Hard work is always rewarded !

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With my technique of putting the spring in, then assembling the switch in the top housing and then reversing it on the spring, it was hard to do it with this Wang, it's quite angled and without this switch tested the spring would simply fall.

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Aww ... that's quite bad, thanks to mike52787 I had lots of Apple caps and easily found a replacement, see the nest picture.

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Thanks again Mike !

Conclusion

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Here it is on my desk, waiting for a nice cable. It types nicely and looks also very nice, it might be need some lube but right now I'm enjoying it as is, this will be for another time !
Spoiler:
Explication of the missing cable :

Basically the cable I got when I received it, the original one, didn't work, after testing it I found out that it was broken somewhere because the data pin wasn't going through all the way, so I had to make a new one :

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This was the first one I made with my dad, but (probably because of karma), it just wouldn't work in Windows, it'd work fine on Debian... Karma for sure :lol:

Fortunately my dad found a PS/2 at his work and hacked another cable quite easily at his work, so now it works flawlessly !
Could we at least have some kind of sound test ??
Sure, there you go ;)

(excuse my language in the middle of the video, this feature of Windows triggers me everytime because it's so useless !! I don't understand how could anyone have thought that this should pop up everytime you press X times Shift ! ask me if I want to see it again the first it happens at least !!)

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Daniel Beardsmore

30 Mar 2018, 18:33

This page gives me déjà vu …

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Myoth

30 Mar 2018, 18:52

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: This page gives me déjà vu …
haha if you're talking about the edit I made a few weeks back on the wiki page of the Wang 725 3770/3771 it was indeed beacuse of this keyboard, since I wasn't sure if I wasn't going to get it or not I prefered editing the wiki in advance and see if I got it or not, if I didn't get it I would have referenced the ebay listing, and since I got it I made a post to prove its existence ! Here's the explaination haha

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chip chop

31 Mar 2018, 01:07

Nice job on the restoration! ISO Wang very nice.

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Daniel Beardsmore

31 Mar 2018, 01:20

(PS I suspect that the Académie française would prefer you to swear in French ;-)

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ramnes
ПБТ НАВСЕГДА

31 Mar 2018, 19:10

Wow, that's one thick PS2 cable! So lovely. Where does it come from?

It looks much better than the stock cable.

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Myoth

31 Mar 2018, 22:41

chip chop wrote: Nice job on the restoration! ISO Wang very nice.
Thanks ! these don't pop up too often but they're pretty nice boards, and ISO is just too good. ;)
Daniel Beardsmore wrote: (PS I suspect that the Académie française would prefer you to swear in French ;-)
I'm sure they'd prefer me to not swear at all to be honest haha
ramnes wrote: Wow, that's one thick PS2 cable! So lovely. Where does it come from?

It looks much better than the stock cable.
It came from a G80-8100 if I remember correctly !

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Elrick

01 Apr 2018, 02:24

Myoth wrote: I ultrasonic cleaned the keycaps because they surely need to be cleaned in some way, it cleaned them pretty well though I'm still quite not satisfied with how it turned out, I'm still searching for a way to clean keycaps in the best way possible, if you have any recommendation ...
You seem to have the same Ultra sonic cleaner as I and have had good results using this car cleaner on any key-caps;

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Produc ... om=1021762

Always removes the most hideous grime without destroying the plastic key-caps. Even leaves them smelling great at the end of the session.

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Myoth

01 Apr 2018, 02:29

Elrick wrote:
Myoth wrote: I ultrasonic cleaned the keycaps because they surely need to be cleaned in some way, it cleaned them pretty well though I'm still quite not satisfied with how it turned out, I'm still searching for a way to clean keycaps in the best way possible, if you have any recommendation ...
You seem to have the same Ultra sonic cleaner as I and have had good results using this car cleaner on any key-caps;

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Produc ... om=1021762

Always removes the most hideous grime without destroying the plastic key-caps. Even leaves them smelling great at the end of the session.

Thanks a lot !! I'll have to check if I can find this in EU though, but I guess I should under some kind of rebranded form, I hope so at least.

I actually bought a new product today and have yet to test it, so I'll have to see if it works better than what I had so far, I'll check your product if I can find it ! Thanks again !!

Theodoooore

02 Apr 2018, 00:45

I got my Wang this week too. Mine is quite rusted and yellowed so I imagine the switches will be full of grime. I'll defo be utilising compressed air to clean out the bottoms then.

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livingspeedbump
Not what they seem

06 Apr 2018, 04:24

Great job with the restoration, really good pics!

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depletedvespene

07 Apr 2018, 18:07

Great job, man!

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Elrick

30 Oct 2019, 01:08

jasontallen wrote:
29 Oct 2019, 15:34
Thanks! I found my old keyboard (to be completely honest my first one) and was wondering what to clean it with to make it look better..
First take apart everything including the complete removal of the keyboard PCB and internal plate. So you'll only have the plastic keyboard casing left.

Would first go into your bathroom and using the Bathtub, fill it with tap water then add some car washing detergent (any brand name is usable here).

Let the plastic casing sink into the detergent water and leave it there for at least a couple of hours so that the soapy water gets into everything.

Then you'll need to use a reasonably soft brush to scrub off years of dust, grime and human excrement (our sweat and skin particles) to leave it clean.

I personally always use the Bathtub for any huge sized keyboard casings when needing to clean all the gunk off it. If you still have some junk sticking to the casing whether it be on the outside or in, then you'll need to wash and dry the casing before trying to experiment with certain chemicals, to see if using them will remove any stubborn stains or blemishes.

Also be careful about using Acetone of Eucalyptus Oils because those two alone can melt almost every type of plastic but they do remove almost anything from those surfaces.

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