Disgusting G80-3000 I picked up for cheap.

diseeease · 10 Nov 2018, 20:56

I know, a G80 is nothing special, but I thought this was quite a nice turn around and it's my first relatively vintage keyboard, so I figured I'd show it off.

Recently stumbled upon a lot of old and random computer stuff on ebay and could just barely make out what looked like a G80 in one of the photos. Bid a few euros and presto - I won the auction for just 3€.

When the box showed up and I pulled the G80 out of the mess of cables and stuff, it was absolutely filthy.

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It's got some MX Blacks, which I don't like all that much as it turns out. Never tried them before, though.

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Sticker underneath.
It's a G80-3000LGADE, meaning it's got laser etched PBT caps, black MX switched and a DIN plug and a German layout.

The last 3 digits of the serial number tell us it was produced in week 38 in 1996.

When I popped the caps, this is what awaited me:

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DISGUSTING.

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With the case taken apart it looked even worse.

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First thing I did, was to clean up the lower half of the case. Except for a scuff mark in the middle that I'm unable to remove it looks quite good.

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Cleaned out all the... I don't really want to think about whatever that was.

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Then started cleaning the caps. My weapon of choice for the cleaning of all the plastics was some multi purpose cleaner containing Bicarbonate which was quite effective.

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Cleaning the upper case.

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Time for reassembly!

The finished product:

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Like I said, it's nothing special, but I figured the turn around was nice enough to post up. Shows that even something that looks incredibly filthy and like a corpse can look nice again!

And: everything seems to work without problem on this keyboard.

Findecanor · 10 Nov 2018, 21:02

Great job! Cleaning in-between switches on a PCB is the worst...

I suppose those are thick lasered thick PBT keycaps. Not bad. I am typing on the same now.

Muirium · 10 Nov 2018, 21:07

Ha, I know that work. Always a relief to get the grot clean out of something, though. Especially when you scored a bargain.

The G80-3000 is an okay board. Far from the best or worst, I rate mine firmly mid-table. Being PCB mount, they don’t really show MX Black in its best light. Try those in a plate sometime to see what linear Cherry is really about. The stabilisers are especially mushy on the 3000, but the case looks nice, almost like a Realforce.

As Fin says, you’ve got fairly decent caps there. Mine came with thin lasered ones instead. Naturally, it’s compatible with much better:

The 3000 is a looker, I’ll give it that.

hansichen · 11 Nov 2018, 01:22

Always nice to see how well G80s clean up and how resistent they are against bad storage. I hope you'll enjoy your new board.

mcmaxmcmc · 11 Nov 2018, 06:43

Wow, that's one heck of an improvement. Good job! Welcome to vintage land.

Myoth · 11 Nov 2018, 12:03

I love cleaning boards, it takes absolutely no effort and it's satisfying to see your pile of dirt turn into a nice keyboard. It's definitely one of my favourite aspects of the hobby.

Good job on this one !

subcat · 11 Nov 2018, 15:06

thick pbt, that's pretty nice

diseeease · 11 Nov 2018, 20:29

Findecanor wrote: Great job! Cleaning in-between switches on a PCB is the worst...

I suppose those are thick lasered thick PBT keycaps. Not bad. I am typing on the same now.

Oh yes it is an annoying job, haha.
And yup, those are the lasered thick PBTs! They sure are quite nice and definitely a step up from what I've been typing on...

Muirium wrote: Ha, I know that work. Always a relief to get the grot clean out of something, though. Especially when you scored a bargain.

The G80-3000 is an okay board. Far from the best or worst, I rate mine firmly mid-table. Being PCB mount, they don’t really show MX Black in its best light. Try those in a plate sometime to see what linear Cherry is really about. The stabilisers are especially mushy on the 3000, but the case looks nice, almost like a Realforce.

As Fin says, you’ve got fairly decent caps there. Mine came with thin lasered ones instead. Naturally, it’s compatible with much better:

The 3000 is a looker, I’ll give it that.

Your 3000 is so pretty with those caps!

Yeah, I'd like to try some plate mounted blacks someday. I read you can swap the springs and stems out of PCB mounted ones to swap them to a different MX switch. I'm thinking about getting some clears for this one...

hansichen wrote: Always nice to see how well G80s clean up and how resistent they are against bad storage. I hope you'll enjoy your new board.

Yup, I was quite surprised at how good it looked under all that dirt!

mcmaxmcmc wrote: Wow, that's one heck of an improvement. Good job! Welcome to vintage land.

Thanks! Vintage land is a bad place, because I've been spending all my free time on ebay searching for affordable vintage keyboards lol.

Myoth wrote: I love cleaning boards, it takes absolutely no effort and it's satisfying to see your pile of dirt turn into a nice keyboard. It's definitely one of my favourite aspects of the hobby.

Good job on this one !

Agreed and thank you!

subcat wrote: thick pbt, that's pretty nice

Yup, I quite like them!

cherry-jade · 12 Nov 2018, 03:17

Good Job！

andrea-i · 12 Nov 2018, 07:53

After some use of my G81-1800 I'm really getting to love those vintage blacks! If the switches feel too heavy, try replacing the springs with those of cherry-blues, made a real difference for me actually.
I'm a long time model M user, so definitely on the heavy and clicky side, but I needed a board that would not wake up our newborn baby, and this old G81 is really doing the trick, loving it so far : D

Also, thick keycaps are a must! they make up for the missing plate mount in terms of sound I think.

lucar · 12 Nov 2018, 20:20

Very nice cleanig work!