deskthority

Hi guys, I'm just wondering if someone would be kind enough to proxy soft and compressible neoprene foam from McMaster-Carr for me. Since I live in the UK, they will not ship internationally for me.

I've learned through a lot of trial and error why my Model F foam replacements (with the exception of the Battleships I've refurbished) feel so bad. I don't know how other people manage it without messing up the key feel, but I've realised it is the bending of the plates caused by spring clamps that is the culprit. Unlike the F122, the XT does not have the middle three tabs, so there's nothing to help the plates "mate" in the middle. I don't know how to get around the spring clamp problem.

I also took apart my pingy and clicky XT assembly I got from Redmaus to fix the unhooked spacebar. The foam is disintegrated (literally just a skin), but it doesn't need to be replaced as the assembly is pretty tight out of the factory - hence why it's so clicky. I put it back together with hand pressure and a bar clamp. The key feel was still nice and clicky.

Looking for something close to the original material, so that I can reassemble with hand pressure.

I recently got an IBM XT 5160 to restore and started with the keyboard.
I literally just used a yoga mat.
Measured and cut a rectangle, punched holes in it, it feels great.
I did have to use pliers to 'convince' the tabs to go in their slots though.

The sound and feel of a model f can be influenced by how the spring is "turned" on the rocker - if you take a flipper with its spring attached, you will see there is a bit where the spring ends at the bottom. If you push down and turn counter-clockwise, you can change where that bit ends. I've done experimentation and found that by just turning where that bit ends you can make the keys feel light and weird, sounding like when you change volume on a Mac, to very loud and snappy, at the cost of stiffness. I would have a video but I don't feel like disassembling my F again. Of course, I've only tested this on my model f which seems to use a style of flipper more akin to the 4704 keyboards, so your mileage may vary.

kcrimson wrote: 20 Jul 2019, 23:09 The sound and feel of a model f can be influenced by how the spring is "turned" on the rocker - if you take a flipper with its spring attached, you will see there is a bit where the spring ends at the bottom. If you push down and turn counter-clockwise, you can change where that bit ends. I've done experimentation and found that by just turning where that bit ends you can make the keys feel light and weird, sounding like when you change volume on a Mac, to very loud and snappy, at the cost of stiffness. I would have a video but I don't feel like disassembling my F again. Of course, I've only tested this on my model f which seems to use a style of flipper more akin to the 4704 keyboards, so your mileage may vary.

I have also observed this, as I used BBQ skewers to remove and replace springs. More often than not, they would not seat properly and would feel weird. This is definitely not what I am referring to though. I know for a fact it is the warping of the metal caused by spring clamps that is causing the problems. It would be easy if I had some kind of special jig that I could use to press the plates together with even force. Maybe I should just opt for very strong C clamps.

Still nobody who can proxy for me? :/