IBM 3101 Restoration and Cerakote

[Muramasa]

I've had this IBM 3101 for a couple of years now, got it on eBay for under $200 back then, and always planned on restoring it. I figured lockdown would be the perfect opportunity to finally get around to it!

A view of the keyboard assembly with the case removed. Heavy corrosion.

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The underside of the assembly

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The leftover gunk from the broken down foam and adhesive. You can really see how bad the corrosion disassembled

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Model and date codes. Looks like it's from 82'!

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Soaking the keycaps to get rid of the decades of grime

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Keycaps washed and dying, looking very sharp!

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Newly painted switch plate! Rust and corrosion was grinded away and painted with some matte paint. Looks pretty good!

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The hardest part of this restoration was disassembly. The switches were so corroded I needed to drown them in WD40 and pull on them with vice grips

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Switch reassembly! Took a few days to scrub all the plastic parts and clean off the remaining WD40

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All the switches cleaned, and assembled!

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Both plates are now painted to protect from more corrosion

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3101 case with all the old and flaky paint stripped

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Testing out two kinds of foam density, the bottom one worked much better, giving a better click

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Starting to punch the holes for the switches, using a marker as a guide

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New foam with all the switch holes punched out

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Some switches didn't return properly due to not being pushed against the foam enough

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Side profile of the inner assembly

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Totally restored inner assembly, just waiting on the cerakoted case

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Original case back from being Cerakoted in H-112 COBALT

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Main assembly mounted in the new case

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The finished product with the IBM badge back in!

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Sound test of the restored assembly: https://imgur.com/udpk4AP

Now just waiting on a new beamspring controller to finally start using it for my CS classes

[ddrfraser1]

Fantastic. Darth Vader approves.

[shine]

Really nice! congrats

[Redmaus]

Stealthy 3101, I like it

[Weezer]

Looks really good, but why do you have every single switch stem in upside down?

[Muramasa]

Looks really good, but why do you have every single switch stem in upside down?

I found it much more ergonomic with this board, as there isn't much of a wrist rest like a 3278 or 5281

[Weezer]

Looks really good, but why do you have every single switch stem in upside down?

I found it much more ergonomic with this board, as there isn't much of a wrist rest like a 3278 or 5281

Hmm...interesting...I wouldn't have expected that to impact ergonomics.

[lucar]

I remind You that, if you plan to install a controller, all metal parts must be in electrical contact with each other and grounded to the controller, especially the upper and lower plates or Your controller will read wrong and erratic capacitance from the key presses.

Luca