I like to collect older PC hardware, and the Model M is kinda the one functional thing I'd like to have in my little collection.
Ok, so I've seen a couple of places online that sell model m's that are fully refurbished, and obviously tons of "fixer uppers" on Ebay. Obviously, the refurbs are the easy way out, and the expensive way out as well.
Anybody out there have experience buying these things and what I should look for? What are some common problems with fixing these things up? It might be a fun side project.
Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!
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Can provide you some guidance.
One significant thing from my experience I can tell is to look our for any potential stuck keys issue. This started to plague my Model M a bit, cause from what I can tell is because the membrane sheets doesn't have good contact; in another words they may have issues knowing if the switch is still actuating or released, even though the user may have not touch that affected key. Other thing you may need to look out for is to see if the controller for the keyboard is still working properly; sometimes they do malfunction for some reasons.
In terms of cosmetic, some later Model Ms (those being made by Lexmark) may have severely ragged and stripped cables after all the years. The 2nd one that I used to have (excluding the Model M2) was around 20 years old and it was missing 7 keys, badly stripped cable and very poor cosmetic condition. Lost a lot of money putting into refurbishing it so I had to sell it, regrettably. Some Model Ms also yellow out badly after all the years due to their beige design and for technical reasons beige items from the early days can yellow out; commonly if being left in the sun or any place with UV-ray striking onto the item for long. The technique "Retr0brite" can help this. Look it up. If you were to replace the keycap or the entire key (IBM versions have a separate keycap and key stem components, while some later Lexmark ones don't have removable key caps, instead being integrated together), AFAIK, the Lexmark Model Ms do have a slight difference in the font of the print, comparing to the IBM ones.
I got my spare parts from ckickykeyboards.com and Unicomp. Tried to buy the keys from Ebay and I was tired to waiting for the seller to respond until the very last moment, so I used clickykeyboards.com and their and Unicomp's services were swift. got the parts more more than 2 weeks. So that could be another thing I has to tell you when buying parts for refurbishing your Model M. Ebay, while you may get lucky with the deal from sellers, some may be too slow to serve you. Businesses, while they can be very pricey, their service is excellent, but in saying that, it was my experience.
And finally, when you are hunting for Model Ms sold by a user who doesn't know anything about them, look up the model number or ask them to get then for you. I'm saying this because some Model Ms made by Lexmark are rubber dome, instead of buckling spring switches.
IMO, I liked the Lexmark version I used to have than the one made by IBM - that I also have, cause my IBM version has a rarely recurring sticky key problem. Had not used it since due to space on my desktop thanks to using 2 systems at once. Maybe I made the worst mistake of selling the Lexmark. Lame... -_-
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