Since I had been using my 5251 naked (without the white whale case) for a while, I decided to see what could be done about making a case so that at least it might look like a finished keyboard rather than having all the innards exposed.
My first attempt involved trying to make a top case from wood, but that was a miserable failure. I don't really have the tool set up that I would need to do a good job.
So, I got to thinking that since the layout is so close to that of an XT perhaps an XT case top would fit, and indeed it does. All that is needed to use the case is to provide support below the front edge and a couple of supports on the rear.
This is what I ended up with:
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To allow the support to fit tightly against the plate, it was also necessary to drill a few holes in the bottom of the support to accept the ends of the plate screws that stick up and would otherwise prevent the block from sitting flush.
Also note the addition of rubber feet on the base plate to protect the desk.
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One end of the bent copper support rests on the vertical portion of the top plate, preventing any forward sliding of the case, and the other end of the support rests on the bottom plate to add some rear stability against downward pressure. I could have bent them to rest perfectly on the plate, but found that just folding them over until the proper height was reached worked just as well. The ends in contact with the plates were covered in electrical tape to prevent scratching.
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The modification works well for me, and is completely reversible with no permanent changes, drilling, or damage to either the 5251 or the XT case. I may give the wood a coat of beige paint at some point so that it matches the top a little better, but this was just an experiment so I may make a few minor changes before I'm settled with it.
At least now I can use my 5251 without the huge case, and for the most part it looks like a finished keyboard now rather than a naked block of metal and circuit boards sitting there on my desk.
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Epilogue: Since I stole the top from a poor XT that I had sitting here, I now had a naked XT to deal with, so I decided to frankenstein that one as well, and complete the 'head swap' by putting the XT inside the 5251 case, lol.
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It's a lot easier to put an XT assembly into a 5251 case than the other way around, but I had fun with both of these.
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In addition to the XT case top, you may notice that the layout and colorway on this 5251 is not stock. I went for a tri-color layout using a few donor keys from a Selectric as well as alphas from a Displaywriter. I also made use of the new ANSI Return key gap to mount a num-lock LED.
I felt that the Displaywriter looked nice with Selectric alphas on it to offset all of that white, so its white alphas were made use of on this 5251 project instead. Here's the 'key donor' Displaywriter:
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