How many snapped rivets is too many snapped rivets for a Model M?

[apastuszak]

I now have 2 1989 Model Ms and one 2018 Unicomp. I fear I have become a tad obsessed.

Amateur...

If this was 5 years ago, I'd have bought a ton of these keyboards off of eBay for $20 a piece. Now that they're selling for as much as $200, my budget will keep me in amateur status,

Heck, look at the keyboard I just bought. Paid $50 for it. Had 14 snapped rivets AND came with no cable. And I lowballed the seller who had a $75 Buy It Now or Best Offer.

The only reason why I think I got it at $50 was because I sent him a detailed explanation of how much shipping and cable was going to cost, and how much a new Unicomp costs off of Amazon right now with Prime shipping. I was not willing to pay more for a used Model M than what a new Unicomp costs. But, in the end, i am pretty sure that I did.

$50 Keyboard
$14 Shipping
$38 USB cable from eBay (Had I known orihalcon was on here, I would have signed up sooner and reached out to him directly)

Total: $102

New Unicomp Ultra Classic from Amazon: $94

[depletedvespene]

I now have 2 1989 Model Ms and one 2018 Unicomp. I fear I have become a tad obsessed.

Amateur...

If this was 5 years ago, I'd have bought a ton of these keyboards off of eBay for $20 a piece. Now that they're selling for as much as $200, my budget will keep me in amateur status,

Not a problem. Enjoy your keyboards (and resist the urge of getting another, and another, and another...).

[apastuszak]

Not a problem. Enjoy your keyboards (and resist the urge of getting another, and another, and another...).

I would love to get a cheap "broken" one that I could practice screw mods on and see if I could bring it back to life.

[depletedvespene]

Interesting that your 6 key has that flat notch instead of the caret. Not even my '86 Model M has that, only my Model F.

The '6' in the 6 keycap is markedly different from the rest. I'm willing to bet that keycap is a replacement.

[depletedvespene]

Not a problem. Enjoy your keyboards (and resist the urge of getting another, and another, and another...).

I would love to get a cheap "broken" one that I could practice screw mods on and see if I could bring it back to life.

Scour on eBay or garage sales, and you'll be able to score one. You could also try your luck with "terminal" models which, for some reason, many people dislike. Now, scoring a completely dead and unrecoverable Model M... will be difficult.

[apastuszak]

Not a problem. Enjoy your keyboards (and resist the urge of getting another, and another, and another...).

I would love to get a cheap "broken" one that I could practice screw mods on and see if I could bring it back to life.

Scour on eBay or garage sales, and you'll be able to score one. You could also try your luck with "terminal" models which, for some reason, many people dislike. Now, scoring a completely dead and unrecoverable Model M... will be difficult.

I've been scouring ebay for the last 2 weeks. Even completely dead ones that say they're being sold for parts and demanding $50. Or least they were 2 days ago. I haven't checked in the last to days.

And no one is offering shipping included. Those things are heavy. They usually cost $20 to ship. I think the used Model M market is a little inflated now. I have an eBay alert set up. When I see prices calm down to sane levels, I'll see what I can grab.

[apastuszak]

Interesting that your 6 key has that flat notch instead of the caret. Not even my '86 Model M has that, only my Model F.

The '6' in the 6 keycap is markedly different from the rest. I'm willing to bet that keycap is a replacement.

Pretty sure it is. I ordered a replacement, because staring at it was driving me batty.

[depletedvespene]

I've been scouring ebay for the last 2 weeks. Even completely dead ones that say they're being sold for parts and demanding $50. Or least they were 2 days ago. I haven't checked in the last to days.

And no one is offering shipping included. Those things are heavy. They usually cost $20 to ship. I think the used Model M market is a little inflated now. I have an eBay alert set up. When I see prices calm down to sane levels, I'll see what I can grab.

Ah, the inflated market prices... we've been complaining about this for months. Still, every now and then you can get lucky and find something good on a garage sale, put up by someone who doesn't care. Patience will be a great virtue, indeed.

(for the record, the first four Model M keyboards that I made into my personal property were abandoned units that I took for myself on the bank I worked at at the time - this before "mechs" were a thing)

[apastuszak]

I've been scouring ebay for the last 2 weeks. Even completely dead ones that say they're being sold for parts and demanding $50. Or least they were 2 days ago. I haven't checked in the last to days.

And no one is offering shipping included. Those things are heavy. They usually cost $20 to ship. I think the used Model M market is a little inflated now. I have an eBay alert set up. When I see prices calm down to sane levels, I'll see what I can grab.

Ah, the inflated market prices... we've been complaining about this for months. Still, every now and then you can get lucky and find something good on a garage sale, put up by someone who doesn't care. Patience will be a great virtue, indeed.

(for the record, the first four Model M keyboards that I made into my personal property were abandoned units that I took for myself on the bank I worked at at the time - this before "mechs" were a thing)

There are two flea markets that take place near my house. They've been cancelled the last two weekends because of rain. Hopefully I can check them out this weekend.

[green-squid]

[__red__]

Other than the layout, I get the impression that the Model F pretty much had everything better than the Model M.

Tread carefully my friend, once you've used a Model F you won't be able to use a Model M again so only cross that threshold if your wallet is capable of doing so (and acquiring spares).

[wobbled]

Other than the layout, I get the impression that the Model F pretty much had everything better than the Model M.

Tread carefully my friend, once you've used a Model F you won't be able to use a Model M again so only cross that threshold if your wallet is capable of doing so (and acquiring spares).

That's so not true, I can appreciate Model M's and F's.

[Chyros]

Other than the layout, I get the impression that the Model F pretty much had everything better than the Model M.

Tread carefully my friend, once you've used a Model F you won't be able to use a Model M again so only cross that threshold if your wallet is capable of doing so (and acquiring spares).

That's so not true, I can appreciate Model M's and F's.

I agree. They each have a lot of personality, that's the thing.

[Cattus_D]

Indeed! I even slightly prefer the key feel of my Model M over that of my two Fs. And that Model F spacebar just hurts after half an hour of typing...

[apastuszak]

If you're going through the effort to bolt mod it, why would you not put a bolt where every rivet is, rather than risk having to disassemble it again? How much time does it really add to do a full bolt mod, especially when every single rivet has already snapped and you don't need to break the heads off of them.

[depletedvespene]

Other than the layout, I get the impression that the Model F pretty much had everything better than the Model M.

Tread carefully my friend, once you've used a Model F you won't be able to use a Model M again so only cross that threshold if your wallet is capable of doing so (and acquiring spares).

That's so not true, I can appreciate Model M's and F's.

I agree with this (now, if I had a proper SSK F...).

[Blaise170]

I'm not sure why people dislike the terminal Ms either. They are easy to convert these days. I have an InfoWindow II and it's a joy to type on even though there's not much to do with it.

Not my image but I own the one in the picture.

[depletedvespene]

Let's not overwhelm the newbie — let him adjust to a full-size Model M and only then introduce him to the wonders of the battleship layout...

[apastuszak]

I'm not sure why people dislike the terminal Ms either. They are easy to convert these days. I have an InfoWindow II and it's a joy to type on even though there's not much to do with it.

Not my image but I own the one in the picture.

That's just too much desktop real-estate for me. I don't know if I want to deal with the battleship layout. I rarely everr use the 12 function keys that I have. Don't know what I would do with 20 of them.

Someone 15 minutes from my house is selling a terminal battleship Model M for $25.00. But he obviously has no way to test it. It's tempting to grab it, since it's only $25.00 and I can do a local pickup.

[Blaise170]

You might be able to flip that M 122 if you buy it. Not sure what the current state of eBay is right now though. Offer $15 since you can't test it.

[apastuszak]

You might be able to flip that M 122 if you buy it. Not sure what the current state of eBay is right now though. Offer $15 since you can't test it.

I don't want to be "part of the problem." If I buy it, I'll get it working with an adapter.

But $25.00 is a good price point to try my first screw mod. If I can restore it and convert it to USB, I may consider flipping it as a local pickup or trading it for something.

[Blaise170]

The problem is buying them up and reselling them for $300-400. No one would be upset with you for making a few bucks off of it. At least the keyboard gets saved from the landfill and into the hands of someone who will appreciate it.

[apastuszak]

The problem is buying them up and reselling them for $300-400. No one would be upset with you for making a few bucks off of it. At least the keyboard gets saved from the landfill and into the hands of someone who will appreciate it.

I think buying it for $25, screw modding it and converting it to USB and then selling it for $100 would be reasonable, depending on total time spent, and the cost of USB conversion. I'd probably want to add lock lights to it also.

[fohat]

I think buying it for $25, screw modding it and converting it to USB and then selling it for $100 would be reasonable,

EzraHelyer did a brisk business in that for a few months, a few years ago.

[apastuszak]

I think buying it for $25, screw modding it and converting it to USB and then selling it for $100 would be reasonable,

EzraHelyer did a brisk business in that for a few months, a few years ago.

For a screw modded USB converted Model M, I'd drop $100 without batting an eye. I think that's a fair price to pay if the original keyboard was obtained at a reasonable price.