fohat wrote: I must take issue with these statements.
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Just because I am typing this on a key board dated 13 AUG 1984, weighing 8.25 lb/3.75 kg, does not mean that I am a Luddite or that it is crude. On the contrary, I would argue that this is a carefully-engineered and finely-crafted piece of precision machinery, easily the equal of a Topre on any level of comparison. And a century-old steam locomotive (which may well still be running) may be "primitive" but it is not "crude" by any means.
Consider clothing. I prefer natural fabrics, with cotton being my favorite fabric in most cases, along with silk and wool. I love silk shirts but hate silk underwear. And even in the heat of summer, "lightweight wool" can be a comfortable and desirable fabric. The evaluation of an item is in its utility, not its appearance.
If the Topre is a 2015 Telsa, the Model F is a 1984 Rolls-Royce Phantom. Which one is "better"?
I guess that's a valid viewpoint too.
I love the feel of Model F, and "industrial and rude" was never meant as an insult. I mean, my favorite notebooks are Thinkpads, and they look like the bloody monolith from Space Odyssey. Most people I know hate them for being "ugly" and "industrial". I once heard them being likened to an "imperial walker". xD
I think there is a growing divide between consumer and industrial / professional technology, with industrial meaning, usually, simplicity, serviceability, and functionality dictating design. In the consumer space, these days we see an inverse tendency, with design dictating functionality, a lack of both simplicity AND serviceability, lots of pointless details and features, and hot glue instead of screws.
CAT trucks are a pinnacle of beauty in terms of vehicle engineering.
Muirium wrote: The XT could be different to the AT; I've never taken my XT apart. The spring just wouldn't let the flipper lie right whenever I closed my AT. I could get the plates together, and one time I even got the spacebar to click, but the damn thing just wouldn't register on the controller.
chzel wrote: Thanks, I was already trying the floss when I broke it!
It broke clean, so I superglued it back and it holds up fine. It will go on a corner that will not see too much flipping!
Something tells me I should do a tutorial video on this. I re-assembled another Model F yesterday, again without floss, and got the spacebar clicking in one try. AGAIN.
Yes, the flipper will NOT sit flush when you assemble it.
What I do is use an iPad box to hold the plate - it is just the right size so you can arrange it in a way that doesn't push on any of the barrels. Then, with all the flippers in place (and the spacebar one not sitting flush), I take the PCB and the backplate (assembled), touch it to the bottom of the top plate, and "close it" on like a door or the shell of a clam. If I don't feel any weird bumpiness, and the thing seems to sit flush, then I press it together with my hands, and try clicking the spacebar. It will usually click. If it doesn't lay flush, or doesn't click, I open it, fix the orientation of any flippers (esp. the spacebar one), and do it again, until it works. So far it had always worked almost on the first try.
Then I take my clamps and clamp the thing together, and close it up with a mallet and some wooden blocks.
Check the spacebar click regularly before moving on to the next thing, until the thing is closed up for good. The trick is, NEVER FORCE anything (except the bloody foam and plate, when you put the clamps on, but by then you're as good as done).
