Telecomet terminal
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
I'm excited about this telecomet terminal that I purchased from ebay. I was hoping for some help on a couple of fronts
retrobrite
I absolutely love the colored keycaps of this keyboard. I was wondering whether retrobrite works well on colored keycaps. i've only seen it in the context of the beige, gray type keycaps and keyboard cases. Is it safe to retrobrite colored keycaps?
keycap top:
keycap bottom:
quite a bit of difference in color and brightness.
Switch type
I'm trying to identify the type of switch used. Seems like micro switch hall effect or magnetic reed. I've never had a keyboard with either. I'd like to figure out how much cleaning I should do. I'm not against desoldering the switches if that's the best way to get at cleaning everything.
retrobrite
I absolutely love the colored keycaps of this keyboard. I was wondering whether retrobrite works well on colored keycaps. i've only seen it in the context of the beige, gray type keycaps and keyboard cases. Is it safe to retrobrite colored keycaps?
keycap top:
keycap bottom:
quite a bit of difference in color and brightness.
Switch type
I'm trying to identify the type of switch used. Seems like micro switch hall effect or magnetic reed. I've never had a keyboard with either. I'd like to figure out how much cleaning I should do. I'm not against desoldering the switches if that's the best way to get at cleaning everything.
- snacksthecat
- ✶✶✶✶
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: SSK
- Main mouse: BenQ ZOWIE EC1-A
- DT Pro Member: 0205
- Contact:
I have this same keyboard. Probably from the same seller even. I’ll look back at the pictures I took to jog my memory and share what I found out.
Off the top of my head:
#1 the keycaps did not take well to retrobrite. For instance, the apparent fading in color on the yellow caps didn’t even out much even as the some of the beige caps were getting burnt by the retro rite. I’m not the expert on retrobriting but this suggested to me that the discoloration on the colored caps might not be reversible.
#2 the key switches are ITW magnetic valve aka cortron. DMA just added support for mag valve switches to CommonSense but I’ve not yet been able to get it to work (though this was a few months back by now)
The other thing that I recall is the case is made of a very strange material. Some sort of pressure treated plastic or something. It almost looks like engineered wood. Mine had a large crack in it so I glued it together and repainted the case. Tried to match the color best I could cause it makes for a really cool look.
Off the top of my head:
#1 the keycaps did not take well to retrobrite. For instance, the apparent fading in color on the yellow caps didn’t even out much even as the some of the beige caps were getting burnt by the retro rite. I’m not the expert on retrobriting but this suggested to me that the discoloration on the colored caps might not be reversible.
#2 the key switches are ITW magnetic valve aka cortron. DMA just added support for mag valve switches to CommonSense but I’ve not yet been able to get it to work (though this was a few months back by now)
The other thing that I recall is the case is made of a very strange material. Some sort of pressure treated plastic or something. It almost looks like engineered wood. Mine had a large crack in it so I glued it together and repainted the case. Tried to match the color best I could cause it makes for a really cool look.
- SneakyRobb
- THINK
- Location: Canada
- Main keyboard: KB-5161A, F122, Dc2014, Typeheaven, Beamspring FXT
- Main mouse: MX518 Legendary
- DT Pro Member: 0242
Hi, The wood finish plastic reminds me of injection-molded structural-foam plastic. This method makes a strong-lightweight plastic part for little material very inexpensively. The molds can be pre-painted or textured to apply numerous surface textures to parts. You can easily give the part a very strange almost woodgrain like finish. It is used on things like Spirit-levels where you do not want to scratch surfaces like on fine cabinets. As well obviously for large structural plastic parts
Using this level today reminded me of this post as it has a similar surface appearance.
This is the level http://www.johnsonlevel.com/P/1880/Stru ... orpedoLeve
Using this level today reminded me of this post as it has a similar surface appearance.
This is the level http://www.johnsonlevel.com/P/1880/Stru ... orpedoLeve
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
I think you are totally right SneakyRobb. It feels super light yet strong. snacksthecat said his was cracked. Maybe he can chime in on whether it looks like it had the injected bubbles in the middle part of the plastic.
Strangely, I strongly felt like that type of finish wouldn't clean up very well, and with soapy luke warm water and a light scrubber it did not. But my wife told me to try the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge we had at the sink and that was miraculous! It cleaned up super nice.
Strangely, I strongly felt like that type of finish wouldn't clean up very well, and with soapy luke warm water and a light scrubber it did not. But my wife told me to try the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge we had at the sink and that was miraculous! It cleaned up super nice.
- SneakyRobb
- THINK
- Location: Canada
- Main keyboard: KB-5161A, F122, Dc2014, Typeheaven, Beamspring FXT
- Main mouse: MX518 Legendary
- DT Pro Member: 0242
Hey right on. It's just a guess based on what you and snacks said, but it makes sense to me. Glad to hear it cleaned up well.kralcifer wrote: ↑28 Jan 2020, 04:33I think you are totally right SneakyRobb. It feels super light yet strong. snacksthecat said his was cracked. Maybe he can chime in on whether it looks like it had the injected bubbles in the middle part of the plastic.
Strangely, I strongly felt like that type of finish wouldn't clean up very well, and with soapy luke warm water and a light scrubber it did not. But my wife told me to try the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge we had at the sink and that was miraculous! It cleaned up super nice.
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
One other super weird thing was that I once again didn't look carefully enough and some of the font color came off on several keys. Surprisingly, there were doubleshot and non-doubleshot versions of the main alpha gray color and all of the other rich colors. I've never seen such inconsistency between keycaps. So I'm super sad that I need to figure out how to repaint the letters that lost their ink. I'm wondering if infilling with acrylic paint might work but the font groove is so tiny.
Check out these pics:
Check out these pics:
-
- Location: UK
- Main keyboard: Filco ZERO green alps, Model F 122 Terminal
- Main mouse: Ducky Secret / Roller Mouse Pro 1
- Favorite switch: MX Mount Topre / Model F Buckling
- DT Pro Member: 0167
You could prob fill that back in with paint and a very fine sewing needle as a paintbrush. Dunno what type of paint but you want something quite thick , like modelling paints .
- SneakyRobb
- THINK
- Location: Canada
- Main keyboard: KB-5161A, F122, Dc2014, Typeheaven, Beamspring FXT
- Main mouse: MX518 Legendary
- DT Pro Member: 0242
- robo
- Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M SSK (1993)
- Main mouse: Logitech M570
- Favorite switch: Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: -
Thank you - I learned something today! I always thought that appearance indicated glass fiber reinforced plastic, but turns out that is something else (although it can also have a kind of 'fibrous' finish).SneakyRobb wrote: ↑10 Jan 2020, 21:57Hi, The wood finish plastic reminds me of injection-molded structural-foam plastic. This method makes a strong-lightweight plastic part for little material very inexpensively. The molds can be pre-painted or textured to apply numerous surface textures to parts. You can easily give the part a very strange almost woodgrain like finish. It is used on things like Spirit-levels where you do not want to scratch surfaces like on fine cabinets. As well obviously for large structural plastic parts
Using this level today reminded me of this post as it has a similar surface appearance.
This is the level http://www.johnsonlevel.com/P/1880/Stru ... orpedoLeve
spirit level.jpg
I remember brown colored structural foam used for a quasi-wood effect on some products from the 1970s and early 80s. I always thought it looked pretty awful in that context, but it's an interesting technique.
- robo
- Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M SSK (1993)
- Main mouse: Logitech M570
- Favorite switch: Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: -
I'm guessing that at low volumes it was more economical to engrave blank keycaps than create custom molds for doubleshot keys.kralcifer wrote: ↑28 Jan 2020, 04:54One other super weird thing was that I once again didn't look carefully enough and some of the font color came off on several keys. Surprisingly, there were doubleshot and non-doubleshot versions of the main alpha gray color and all of the other rich colors. I've never seen such inconsistency between keycaps.
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
I could see that if they were all that way or at least all one way for a given color. But for all the colors, some are doubleshot and some aren't. Pretty strange if you ask me.
- robo
- Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M SSK (1993)
- Main mouse: Logitech M570
- Favorite switch: Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: -
Doubleshot for keys that were used in higher volume, engraved for ones that were produced in small volume for a limited run of boards? It doesn't seem strange to me.
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
At the risk of beating a dead horse, I've taken some pictures of the keycaps since I was about to put them away after they've been drying for a week. Sorry about the horrible lighting. I need to work on figuring that out.
Here are all the keycaps. Roughly, all the doubleshot are on the left and all the non-doubleshot on the right with the exception of the doubleshot number keys.
Here are some multiple letter doubleshots:
And here are some multiple letter non-doubleshot white font. I guess they could be less common letterings.
Here are a set that are non-doubleshot with black ink. It first I thought maybe there was yet a 3rd type like laser etched but I think black just didn't come off as easy as white during my cleaning. the EOM key however seems to be showing some missing black. So I'd guess these are etched just like the white ones that lost their ink.
Here are some of the special character keys. The 4 on the left are double shot, the 6 on the right are non-doubleshot.
And finally, the number row is the main one that got me confused about why they would ever do such a thing. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 aroe doubleshot, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 0 are non-doubleshot.
Here are all the keycaps. Roughly, all the doubleshot are on the left and all the non-doubleshot on the right with the exception of the doubleshot number keys.
Here are some multiple letter doubleshots:
And here are some multiple letter non-doubleshot white font. I guess they could be less common letterings.
Here are a set that are non-doubleshot with black ink. It first I thought maybe there was yet a 3rd type like laser etched but I think black just didn't come off as easy as white during my cleaning. the EOM key however seems to be showing some missing black. So I'd guess these are etched just like the white ones that lost their ink.
Here are some of the special character keys. The 4 on the left are double shot, the 6 on the right are non-doubleshot.
And finally, the number row is the main one that got me confused about why they would ever do such a thing. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 aroe doubleshot, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 0 are non-doubleshot.
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
Just wanted to share again on this one. I had the great fortune of meeting DMA at the Seattle winter keyboard meetup and he was kind enough to fix up my Telecomet with his wonderful CommonSense. I'm very thankful for all he did. It's finished up now and I used it all this week at work. It's a lot of fun. I feel like George Jetson loaned me his keyboard. It looks like it's levitating with it's tall rubber feet and space age design. It's trippy that the case has handholds on the side for picking it up with two hands. Subtle and cool.
- SneakyRobb
- THINK
- Location: Canada
- Main keyboard: KB-5161A, F122, Dc2014, Typeheaven, Beamspring FXT
- Main mouse: MX518 Legendary
- DT Pro Member: 0242
Yeah right on. It is really a weird material to handle. It feels disturbingly light and something about the weight gives your brain a slight moment of confusion when it feels really hard but also light. Because it doesnt scratch wood finishes, its also somehow very soft, but hard. It is really strange.robo wrote: ↑28 Jan 2020, 19:03Thank you - I learned something today! I always thought that appearance indicated glass fiber reinforced plastic, but turns out that is something else (although it can also have a kind of 'fibrous' finish).
I remember brown colored structural foam used for a quasi-wood effect on some products from the 1970s and early 80s. I always thought it looked pretty awful in that context, but it's an interesting technique.
Wow thats awesome. Nice colours. Good job and cool on DMA.kralcifer wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 01:41Just wanted to share again on this one. I had the great fortune of meeting DMA at the Seattle winter keyboard meetup and he was kind enough to fix up my Telecomet with his wonderful CommonSense. I'm very thankful for all he did. It's finished up now and I used it all this week at work. It's a lot of fun. I feel like George Jetson loaned me his keyboard. It looks like it's levitating with it's tall rubber feet and space age design. It's trippy that the case has handholds on the side for picking it up with two hands. Subtle and cool.
Those keycaps are neat in a way. Its kind of like a poor mans doubleshot. If you are able to make the indents deep enough in a good way and then fill them with paint, they should be quite durable in concept.
If we play a thought experiment though, it almost makes sense why it wouldn't catch on. To make each individual indent for each key, would require... individual molds. And if we are doing that, why not double shot?
The response to that might be to try to push in some typeset words just after molding while its still warm. and that almost seems like its what they did. The typeset wasnt very deep, so the paint, wore off.
I often think and ramble outloud...
nice restore!
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
I love hearing your thoughts SneakyRobb, thank you. I still continue to wonder why a mixture of double shot and the indented and painted.
I dream that the colors could somehow match what the underside of the caps show but I don't think I'll retrobrite because I don't believe it'll work for these colored keycaps.
I am still interested in trying to fill in the indentions with white paint but haven't formed a plan yet. Someone mentioned paint on the end of a needle so I suppose I'll try that unless some better idea comes along.
I dream that the colors could somehow match what the underside of the caps show but I don't think I'll retrobrite because I don't believe it'll work for these colored keycaps.
I am still interested in trying to fill in the indentions with white paint but haven't formed a plan yet. Someone mentioned paint on the end of a needle so I suppose I'll try that unless some better idea comes along.
- SneakyRobb
- THINK
- Location: Canada
- Main keyboard: KB-5161A, F122, Dc2014, Typeheaven, Beamspring FXT
- Main mouse: MX518 Legendary
- DT Pro Member: 0242
Right on.kralcifer wrote: ↑23 Feb 2020, 23:49I love hearing your thoughts SneakyRobb, thank you. I still continue to wonder why a mixture of double shot and the indented and painted.
I dream that the colors could somehow match what the underside of the caps show but I don't think I'll retrobrite because I don't believe it'll work for these colored keycaps.
I am still interested in trying to fill in the indentions with white paint but haven't formed a plan yet. Someone mentioned paint on the end of a needle so I suppose I'll try that unless some better idea comes along.
Honestly this almost reminds me of filling in acid etchings/cast/machined indents on firearms. Something like enamel paint could work. I am not sure about the long term durability of it wearing though, as often on guns people fill in etchings on areas not constantly touched by fingers/hand oils.
This is a metal firearm, but I wonder if this method could work. Some of their solvents might be bad for the plastic though, but place to start researching. Maybe google terms like enamel fill plastic etching etc for searching
https://imgur.com/a/KDjmY
- kralcifer
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Noxary 280
- Main mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S
- Favorite switch: Kaihl Box Jade
- DT Pro Member: 0246
Wow, that's a great imgur. Very detailed. At the Seattle winter keyboard meetup, a guy there had done some infilling on his metal cases. Same process I believe. Acrylic paint, wipe off the edges.