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Posted: 25 Feb 2016, 15:08
by Redmaus
That's surprising. 4chan usually isn't very helpful

Posted: 25 Feb 2016, 22:54
by Crazy Canadian XXIV
Redmaus wrote: That's surprising. 4chan usually isn't very helpful

To their credit, they did manage to identify
this beauty.
Posted: 25 Feb 2016, 23:03
by ohaimark
Hearing that 'board called beautiful just went a long way toward making my day.

Posted: 25 Feb 2016, 23:16
by gogusrl
He's not the only one loving it

Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 11:33
by bricomaz
Hi all! First time poster here...
I found this (and others

keyboard on a e-waste dump yesterday but I cannot pull a single keycap to identify what kind of switches it uses. The pcb started to bend

and i don't want to break it! I suspect they are some kind of Alps (I can see the stem is white if this can help) Is it possible that keycaps are somewhat glued to the switch?!? Is it normal for Alps keycaps to be so hard to pull out?
Anyway here are the pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/l8psB
can anybody help me? I really would like to clean it...
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 11:35
by Muirium
Pull harder. Alps can be real tight, just like that. Try the Control keys. They'll give you most leverage and no stabs to worry about.
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 11:44
by gogusrl
also wiggle it left and right a bit while pulling. Remember, just a bit, maybe 30degrees tops.
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 11:51
by bricomaz
Thanks for the answers! I will try (harder

) this evening.
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 12:15
by scottc
Always remember when pulling keycaps: don't apply a lot of force upwards, just move it side to side. Eventually it'll give. The tightest caps always do.
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 12:55
by Chyros
No don't move Alps from side to side, they'll snap off! Only pull straight up, use a keypuller. Specifically says so in the Omnikey manual!
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 13:00
by XMIT
If you pull Space Invaders straight up a spring goes flying. If you pull NEC Blue Ovals straight up you break the switch housing and there is no way to repair it.
If you pull Key Tronic Foam and Foil to the side you break the thin vertical legs under the key cap.
This is clearly Alps or some Alps clone. Wiggle side to side as you pull up. If you can, wedge between the top of the switch housing and the underside of the key cap to reduce the risk of ripping the slider out. Good luck.
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 17:35
by ohaimark
Speaking of Space Invaders... Does this board have them? I did some Googling already and didn't manage to find anything definitive. The font is odd, in any case.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141815525234
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 21:05
by gogusrl
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 21:18
by bricomaz
Just for the record: you
ALL that replied to me were right! I managed to pull off the CTRL key, wiggling a bit, using a self made keypuller

Alps (clone?) switches.
Posted: 26 Feb 2016, 21:25
by Blaise170
Yep clones of some kind, you can tell easily by the four tabs on the side instead of two tabs. Maybe Tai Hao or Fuhua.
Posted: 29 Feb 2016, 19:37
by terrycherry
[Single board computer]trainer/evaluation board with numeric pad(20keys)
It's from the China seller. when I mention to buy this, it sold.
Hope someone can id this switch. Maybe it should made from the China manufacturer, it seems like my China desktop calculater.

- 01.jpg (82.24 KiB) Viewed 5586 times

- 02.jpg (60.19 KiB) Viewed 5586 times
Posted: 01 Mar 2016, 20:40
by scottc
Posted: 01 Mar 2016, 20:42
by Muirium
You weren't expecting it?
Posted: 01 Mar 2016, 20:46
by ohaimark
It's a magnetic reed keyboard. I had a similar one a while back. Looks like a clone of higher quality versions that were floating around at the time.
Posted: 01 Mar 2016, 20:50
by scottc
Muirium wrote: You weren't expecting it?
Curse of the Phantom Keyboard! No, I was expecting it. I wasn't expecting it to be so weird though!
ohaimark wrote: It's a magnetic reed keyboard. I had a similar one a while back. Looks like a clone of higher quality versions that were floating around at the time.
Ah, not bad. Thanks.
It reads DIGIPOINTO INDUSTRIA BRASILEIRA. Can't find much about them online apart from this:
http://www.jusbrasil.com.br/diarios/319 ... 08-03-1983
Posted: 01 Mar 2016, 20:53
by ohaimark
wiki/Key_Tronic_Corp._Magnetic_Reed
Here are the switches that I saw a resemblance in.
Posted: 01 Mar 2016, 20:54
by Muirium
Ah, Brasil. They banned foreign IT imports down there throughout the 80s, which led to Brazil having a thriving computer market… of locally manufactured clones! Apple IIs, PCs, Macs, and their keyboards.
Brazil's still weird about foreign goods. Apple gear is super costly there. They've thought of building a Brazilian factory to cover South America as a whole. But Shenzen is Shenzen…
Posted: 10 Mar 2016, 23:12
by Blaise170
Posted: 12 Mar 2016, 22:44
by domvar
Hi there I hope you don't mind me hopping on to your wonderful forum to ask a quick question. Over on a doctor who props board we are trying to Identify this keyboard, any one have any ideas, sadly this image is all we have to go on.

Posted: 12 Mar 2016, 23:51
by Blaise170
I don't know the exact model but it's probably an old Micro Switch keyboard from the 70's/80's. Here's an example:
P.S. Do you mind linking the thread? Seems like an interesting read.
Posted: 13 Mar 2016, 09:55
by domvar
Blaise170 wrote: I don't know the exact model but it's probably an old Micro Switch keyboard from the 70's/80's. Here's an example:
P.S. Do you mind linking the thread? Seems like an interesting read.
Thanks, no problem,
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?top ... n#msg82362
Posted: 13 Mar 2016, 10:20
by domvar
Looks like I have gone round in a circle as my pic is already here in another thread

Posted: 13 Mar 2016, 16:17
by Blaise170
I found one even more similar. This might be similar to what you are looking for.

Posted: 13 Mar 2016, 17:24
by amospalla
Any idea what keyboard is this?

Posted: 13 Mar 2016, 17:27
by ohaimark
The strip below the Function keys looks Focus-ish to me.