Need help with beamspring restauration

Lalaland124 · 24 Apr 2021, 18:49

Think I got it

Lalaland124 · 26 Apr 2021, 19:47

Well it is done

Big thanks to darkcruix who I bombarded with questions lol and Weezer who also helped me a lot. Also AJM and ro0llo were a great help too.

I am pretty pleased with the result. Only the space bar bothers me a bit since it's very heavy but Weezer gave me a tip which I might try at some point in the future.

Also those white sliders took foreveeeer to dry and after several days I had to help them a little bit by using a hair dryer (don't worry it was cold air only!)

Thanks everyone for your support, it was a blast

Spoiler:

raoulduke-esq · 26 Apr 2021, 19:55

Congrats comrade! That looks most excellent. This is by far my favorite beamspring design; for some reason it always makes me think of Spaceballs and the swoop on the back is simply gorgeous.

Weezer · 26 Apr 2021, 20:07

Nice, that looks sexy af. Great job.

I also like the swoop. It's such an elegant feature. It's meant as a holder for the light pen accessory that came with the 327X terminals, as well as pens and pencils, but it also doubles as a notch to fit under the terminal better. And looking at the keyboard alone you'd never guess either of those things because it works so well as a design choice.

AJM · 26 Apr 2021, 21:28

Great job! It looks fantastic. And you're so much faster than me (or less lazy). (As I see now - I not only have a very similar keyboard, but also that same keycap puller and "Henkellocheisen".

)

Lalaland124 · 27 Apr 2021, 21:56

Thanks everyone, I really learned a lot while restoring that board. Also for those who didn't know: Weezer gave me the tip to use the original plate as a switch holder if you want to disassemble them and that saved me soooo much time. However, you will have to clean the plate afterward as some of the switches will probably have some foam glued onto them which is only really possible to remove once you have disassembled them. So naturally, some of the foam will stick onto the plate.

Spoiler:

raoulduke-esq wrote: 26 Apr 2021, 19:55 and the swoop on the back is simply gorgeous.

Weezer wrote: 26 Apr 2021, 20:07 I also like the swoop. It's such an elegant feature.

It's truly amazing, I fell in love with that design quite a while ago

AJM wrote: 26 Apr 2021, 21:28 Great job! It looks fantastic. And you're so much faster than me (or less lazy). (As I see now - I not only have a very similar keyboard, but also that same keycap puller and "Henkellocheisen". )

At first I wanted to do as little as possible but once I had that thing opened (and after I had already destroyed my parent's carpet with pieces of hot old foam which I had previously removed with a hair dryer flying around and sticking to the thing) I thought why not go all the way

Glad you bought the same equipment, that ,,Henkellocheisen'' came with a huge dent tho so I had to sharpen it again

But like darkcruix said in his guide (highly recommend you go read it before you start disassembling your board: viewtopic.php?t=19775) you should really take your time and I did. I think overall I worked several days to a week on the thing, but I think you can do it way faster. I just didn't want to break anything and as I said, some of these parts took forever to dry

Muirium · 28 Apr 2021, 16:08

All this stuff about the ticking time bomb of crumbly foam… quit giving me projects already, gah!

Anyway, nice job on yours, Lala. Even if you're driving me doolally!

Lalaland124 · 28 Apr 2021, 19:46

Muirium wrote: 28 Apr 2021, 16:08 All this stuff about the ticking time bomb of crumbly foam… quit giving me projects already, gah!

Gotta be careful Muirium... Time is ticking...

Jokes aside you got this, I listened to typing demos from restored beam boards on YouTube and Chyros talking about the beauty of these boards every time it got tough and that motivated me to keep going lol

Muirium wrote: 28 Apr 2021, 16:08 Anyway, nice job on yours, Lala. Even if you're driving me doolally!

Thanks and you're welcome Muirium

!

Lalaland124 · 08 Jul 2021, 11:21

My controller finally arrived today after 2 months of waiting - Just to make sure: It didn't come with a ground wire and as a noobie when it comes to such things I wanted to make sure I don't break anything if I connect the controller to my computer. Is the wire necessary? If so I think chyros just used a random metal wire for his beamspring model.. Again I don't really know much about this whole controller thing so help would be much appreciated

Spoiler:

Edit: I could use the one on the cable of my old model m which I bought for replacement parts right?

Spoiler:

Lalaland124 · 19 Sep 2021, 12:57

Quick question as I'm restoring another beamspring right now:

After using approximately 2liters of isopropyl alcohol I just can't remove the last bits of old glue residue..

Spoiler:

Or am I missing something completely and what I'm seeing here are early signs of rust?

If so do I have to sand the entire plate down and recoat it? I would love to avoid that and rather keep it like it is if that doesn't ruin the beamspring - the keyboard will be stored in a good environment where rust shouldn't be a big issue.

TNT · 19 Sep 2021, 23:26

Doesn't look like glue to me. The foam/glue is known to corrode the metals over time. Never did anything too intrusive with beamspring plates, but yours doesn't look too bad. Keep it away from moisture o.c. and maybe you can treat the worst spots locally somehow?

Lalaland124 · 20 Sep 2021, 06:27

Thanks! - Thought about using a rust remover but then I will definitely have to repaint the plate.

Maybe I will just leave it like this for now