deskthority

Pulled the 5251 apart further, and am really happy with the shape of the PCB, foam, and lack of debris. All the attached pictures are "as-is" (no cleaning) with the exception of the case bottom. I've learned previously that these ink stamped model numbers come off very easily with nothing more than water, so take care while you clean it. I typically get rid of these debris shields in lieu of an alternative membrane (usually because they are beyond repair and I don't like the additional force they add to the key actuation), but will probably just blow this one clean using the compressor at around .5-1 bar. Overall very pleased, the controllers are in, and it is clacking away.

Nice! Looks very similar to the condition that the one I'm typing on now was when I got it. I really would like to have something protecting the switches from contamination but I just could not stand the way the contamination shield made the keys feel. It came off pretty nicely all in one piece and I could probably put it back on if I were so inclined, so I feel almost bad about it given that usually they're destroyed. But really, they are just otherworldy-good without it and pretty ho-hum with it.

That Bigfoot in the OP is pretty interesting - it's not the standard 5291 layout (which is basically the same as that 5251 beam board) but has the same layout as the IBM System/23 Datamaster. I've seen external keyboards with that same layout before, I'm not entirely sure what they were used for.

daedalus wrote: That Bigfoot in the OP is pretty interesting - it's not the standard 5291 layout (which is basically the same as that 5251 beam board) but has the same layout as the IBM System/23 Datamaster. I've seen external keyboards with that same layout before, I'm not entirely sure what they were used for.

I'm curious about this as well, if anyone has any information. I do have several bigfoots that have the 3 part legs, however I also have several of the ones like that in the orginal post that only have single action legs. I believe these came off of the IBM mainframe System unit itself perhaps? Instead of the ones connected to the 5291 terminals I have. Anyone have any ideas?