deskthority

After much talk and ebay listing spamming on DT Telegram channel (https://t.me/deskthority), we decided it would be very useful to pool all the little bits of knowledge from everyone's heads into a single thread, later to be transferred to a wiki page.

The idea is to have a single resource listing all the interesting Typewriter models with switches and keycaps interesting to DT members. Wiki page on Triumph Adler typewriters is a great example (wiki/Triumph-Adler) but we would like to extend it to include other models as well.

Many of these typewriters have nice looking and unique keycaps, but if you are shopping online, it's hard to pull a keycap and check for switch compatibility. For this reason, feel free to also post models that you know NOT to have useful keycaps as this kind of knowledge is also quite valuable.

This is what we have so far (in addition to the already mentioned TA wiki page):

Canon AP x50 series (AP 150, AP 450, etc.)
Alps keycaps and SKCM switches (cream).
Note that the Capslock key must have a centered, rectangular led. Off-center circular leds indicate a non-Alps board (e.g. Canon AP1000).

Sharp PA-1000
Should (often?) have SKCL green.

AEG Olympia ES 72
MX white (or clear) switches.

Btw. guys, do chime on on this. I bet most of you pulled few keys off at least one typewriter. Did you find anything interesting? Were you disappointed? Share the knowledge.

Apparently AEG Olympia Carrera SI (S i ?) has cherry mx white or clears too.

The Canon S-series tends to have Alps switches: Though in my experience, they are usually Alps integrated dome on most keys and SKCL LED Green on the lock switches. As usual, watch the position of the locklight on the lock switches.

Canon Typestars (Canon's thermal-printing portable typewriters, separate from the Alps-switched line) have had at least two different switches. My Typestar 220 has spring-over-membrane; but older models like the 5 and 10 had a curious switch with a square mount, which took ML-like caps.

Typestar 5 should be foam and foil.

Brother ax 12 for its topre compatible keycaps and triple shot.

ball00n wrote: Apparently AEG Olympia Carrera SI (S i ?) has cherry mx white or clears too.

I found one of these.
MX clear stem color, but linear and black-like weight

The question is, when was it made? The claim is that a clear linear switch is the original MX "Black" before they added pigment, but so far there's no hard evidence of this.

Nothing in the pcb that could suggest a date (I think).
https://imgur.com/a/GxN3S

Both those ICs should be dateable, but I'm not turning up anything on how to read them. The Philips chip suggests 1989, but that code might not be a date.

Slider over rubber dome over membrane (presumably) on a Panasonic Thermalwriter 12.

http://imgur.com/a/XZXR4

I got one of AEG Olympia Carrera Si too. The case was made in 1990, few parts in 1989.

I had a Canon AP 360 with Alps tactile Creams and Green linear modifiers. A friend asked for pics of a AP350 and it had tall Alps.

Just got a German AP150 and it came with 3 Green Alps (the 1u keys with LEDs), rest Alps SKEW integrated dome switches. Bummer...
On another note, I just don't get why these were used in Typewriters so frequently (Sharp 1050 had the same with different slider color). They feel horribly mushy. The ones with oval blue sliders I once had in an old Laptop were much, much better, as in "I'd acutally use those".

So I just got another Canon Typewriter, an AP 830.
It features undampened cream and green Alps. It also comes with a 6U spacebar, which is really nice I think.
I don't understand at all how the model numbers of Canon work. Did they just use whatever they had lying around?

I have an "Olympia ES 101 Standard" with "Marquardt Butterfly" not sure if that is of interest to anyone but hey there ya go.

So what about unearthing this thread again?
What are your guesses? Could this thing be compatible with any modern switches at all?

snufflecat wrote: What are your guesses?

I am guessing that it is Stackpole switch grid.
I once passed on buying a typewriter with switch grid that looked much like that one, and I of course regretted it afterwards.

Findecanor wrote:

snufflecat wrote: What are your guesses?

I am guessing that it is Stackpole switch grid.
I once passed on buying a typewriter with switch grid that looked much like that one, and I of course regretted it afterwards.

That's what I hate about buying things online, really, but part of the fun too I guess.. :p

Update: Got the seller to send me pics of the switch and caps, doesn't look promising: