deskthority

Hi guys! I destroyed the spring on my right arrow, and I want to replace it.
I found a person, who could give me a hammer+spring assembly.
But we don't know if it would fit.
Do all Model M's use the same hammer?
It's a 1391403.

PS: I don't want to explain how I did it

AFAIK yes. Just check that they're from a genuine IBM, Lexmark or Unicomp Model M, not a Model M2 or F.

I have the same problem, but for a 5576-003. Who can help me?

Thanks, Halvar!
Two birds with one stone - I will also have to boltmod it

You don't need to do a bolt mod to replace a spring. You can replace it "top side" by using a wooden toothpick. Insert the toothpick, rotate to get the spring to "bite" on to it, and then pull the old spring off and put the new one on by rotating. I generally rotate counter-clockwise.

If you have a few hammer and spring assemblies handy, you can practice some before you do the actual repair. Of course you can do a bolt mod too but that takes hours and replacing it with a toothpick takes minutes.

Yeah, you might be right. Can you make a video on it? I want to see it, it's just hard to imagine.

Lynx_Carpathica wrote: Yeah, you might be right. Can you make a video on it? I want to see it, it's just hard to imagine.

EDIT: So I don't need to actually replace the hamer, just the spring?
Hmm let me try to swap the thing with the scroll lock key.

Well, I put some M springs in my M2, and it seems to be working fine, so I would assume it would work vice-versa as well. Model F is adifferent story.

As for hammers, do we know all the colors there are? I know three - black, white, (milky?) brown.

Lynx_Carpathica wrote:

Lynx_Carpathica wrote: Yeah, you might be right. Can you make a video on it? I want to see it, it's just hard to imagine.

EDIT: So I don't need to actually replace the hamer, just the spring?
Hmm let me try to swap the thing with the scroll lock key.

Yeah, just the spring, you can pull the spring off of the hammer with a toothpick. I'll see about getting a video...

XMIT wrote:
EDIT: So I don't need to actually replace the hamer, just the spring?
Hmm let me try to swap the thing with the scroll lock key.

Yeah, just the spring, you can pull the spring off of the hammer with a toothpick. I'll see about getting a video...[/quote]

I pulled off the spring from the scroll lock, and well, it got bent a bit, but it still works. I can navigate comfortably, so it will do for now. There is no srping on the SL button. Don't use that anyway. I will replace that soon.

Why is Sandy55's "Chopstick of Death" always so hard to find?

And somebody on Geekhack a couple of years ago created a really elegant method using a 1/4" pop rivet.

it was easy to find.
but very hard to execute. and i failed.
i got bored and pulled of the spring.

I managed to replace springs by using a torx driver that i put in to the springs coil then pushed down to seat it on to the hammer, they're fairly easy to replace but can take a while to get it seated perfectly.

Removing was a nightmare, reseating it was eays...er.