deskthority

mike52787 wrote:

Slom wrote: G80-2550HPD/00; 20€
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... 8-225-7968

if one of you german dudes would proxy this for me, I would love you forever. Nevermind... I realized this was not the one I wanted.

DoctorDubplate wrote: -

fohat wrote: There are ways to nearly functionally re-create "faux-blue" Alps to achieve the best attributes of each component.

Truly "new" blue Alps in conventional configurations are probably so rare as to truly qualify as near "unobtainium" ....

What makes them special? If you can get clean fresh switch bodies and transplant the appropriate moving components into them, you could probably re-create "Franken-blues" that give you what you want at (somewhat) less cost in time and money than chasing the originals in their original state. Some components (plastic) wear out, but others (metal) do not (assuming that they are protected from rusting).

Chassis? Forget it and buy a Northgate Omnikey 101. Springs? Orange Alps are similar to blue. Sliders? mostly the same.

Or, to paraphrase Graham Chapman in "The Life of Brian": "You've got to work it out for yourself."

XMIT wrote: An Omnikey 101 (great case and NKRO), and Orange switches (correct spring weight and switch plate) with pine white click leaves, will get you a really nice board that is mostly indistinguishable from Alps Blues if it is clean. You could combine an AEK I and an Omnikey to get this.

ohaimark wrote: An exceptionally rare AT&T buckling spring 122 key.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AT-T-Keyboard-V ... 2641523908

//gainsborough wrote:

fohat wrote: There are ways to nearly functionally re-create "faux-blue" Alps to achieve the best attributes of each component.

Truly "new" blue Alps in conventional configurations are probably so rare as to truly qualify as near "unobtainium" ....

What makes them special? If you can get clean fresh switch bodies and transplant the appropriate moving components into them, you could probably re-create "Franken-blues" that give you what you want at (somewhat) less cost in time and money than chasing the originals in their original state. Some components (plastic) wear out, but others (metal) do not (assuming that they are protected from rusting).

Chassis? Forget it and buy a Northgate Omnikey 101. Springs? Orange Alps are similar to blue. Sliders? mostly the same.

Or, to paraphrase Graham Chapman in "The Life of Brian": "You've got to work it out for yourself."

XMIT wrote: An Omnikey 101 (great case and NKRO), and Orange switches (correct spring weight and switch plate) with pine white click leaves, will get you a really nice board that is mostly indistinguishable from Alps Blues if it is clean. You could combine an AEK I and an Omnikey to get this.

What a coincidence! I did exactly this yesterday and I came to the same conclusion: these sound and feel almost exactly like blue alps! I hybridized some switches in a NIB OmniKey 102

My combination for the switches are:
Bottom housing: bamboo white alps
Switchplate: short white (really wish they were tall, but I didn't want to desolder)
click leaf: white alps click-leaf
slider: orange alps slider
spring: orange alps spring
top housing: Pine housing from the orange alps

The only way I could think to improve it would be if it had tall switchplates - but it is still amazing. The original switches in the omnikey 102 were bamboo whites (the model number 2052469), which is why I decided to modify it in the first place - had the switches been pine I probably would have left them alone.

Hypersphere wrote:
This is essentially what I did back in November of last year.

workshop-f7/northgate-omnikey-101-with- ... 15187.html

Spoiler:

nothgate_orange2.jpg

Question: Were SKCM white Alps switches ever produced with tall switchplates?

ohaimark wrote: That is damn awesome. The boxes are stunning!

I'm net going to buy one, as they're G81s, but I'm sure some people will be all over that.

gnmar2723 wrote: A bit unfortunate that they are g81's, but the caps alone will definitely be worth it for some!

Stabilized wrote:

gnmar2723 wrote: A bit unfortunate that they are g81's, but the caps alone will definitely be worth it for some!

Is $88 a good price for new Cherry OG keycaps? I don't really know the going rate but I assumed it would be a bit lower considering the less standard 1800 layout.

gnmar2723 wrote: I wonder if those are mx or alps mount, dysub or double shot.