deskthority

Finally, I'm getting to inspect many of the keyboards from last month's e-bay spree(s). Among other stuff, I bought an Apple M0110A, advertised as "in very good shape, was still functioning when I stored it". Later, I bought another one for very little money, advertised as "for parts or repair". Three guesses as to which is which:
I tested both wih hasu's adapter. The first one works flawlessly. The second one... spacebar feels wrong, but registers, and both numpad 2 and numpad * do not register (in the latter case, I managed to open the switch, and its internal coil had been badly bent, beyond salvage).

I could clean and retrobrite the second keyboard and I could (try to) repair the malfunctioning switches, but I know I'm just not going to do it. The truth is, I don't really care for this unit, as I only got it for the keycaps, so it'll do nothing around here but accumulate dust. On the other hand, its Alps SKCC cream switches could be of interest to others...

So, is harvesting Alps SKCC cream switches a thing?

So my mother went to a garage sale and found "one of those old keyboards you fancy".
It's yet another Apple M0110A, although this one uses Mitsumi type 1 switches. Two of the switches have their tip broken, but otherwise they all feel fine. The keyboard, however, is unresponsive and it's quite probably very dead. I think I'll harvest the keycaps and discard the rest, but I do wonder if someone else would want to harvest the switches.

EDIT: Or, given that this one actually looks nicer than the second unit, could I do a frankenboard with #2's internals and #3's outside? (I'd still be discarding the Mitsumi switches).

depletedvespene wrote: So, is harvesting Alps SKCC cream switches a thing?

You really have to decide for yourself if it's worth it for you. While there are still quite a few M0110A's around obviously many are in bad shape by now. I'd keep the second and third one just for the parts.

depletedvespene wrote: So my mother went to a garage sale and found "one of those old keyboards you fancy".

Well that was very nice of her!

seebart wrote:

depletedvespene wrote: So, is harvesting Alps SKCC cream switches a thing?

You really have to decide for yourself if it's worth it for you. While there are still quite a few M0110A's around obviously many are in bad shape by now. I'd keep the second and third one just for the parts.

I thought about doing that, or to simply give them away to anyone who might want them. Then I thought that I could try to replace the borken switches on #2 and use the external case from #3 (as it does look better) and have a frankenboard come back to life. Worst case scenario, I won't be losing much!

seebart wrote:

depletedvespene wrote: So my mother went to a garage sale and found "one of those old keyboards you fancy".

Well that was very nice of her!

Yup. You should have seen her face when I told her to hold the F122 I bought from xmit with both her hands.

Mom used to have a Selectric... now I have to wonder if it still exists. Just for kicks, of course.