Here are all the models that are now being offered. There is still time to order the original project’s F62/F77 and other keyboards, but they are on a “while supplies last” basis.
Currently in stock: All F62 and F77, Ultra Compact F104, Ultra Compact FSSK, F15 Split Ergonomic, IBM NOS F50 macro pad (very limited quantity, see below for details)
Completed production and assembly; preparing to be packed on the container ship this month, delivery starting in late August once the shipping container is delivered to me: the metal case classic Model M style F104 and FSSK
Currently in production: the metal case classic Model M style F122 keyboards (expected to complete assembly in a month) and the Round 2 classic style Beam Spring keyboards (expected to complete assembly in a couple months, later this year)
Lead time: In stock keyboards and accessory orders typically go out within 1-4 weeks, as noted at the top of the homepage of the project website. Quantities of all of the older production models are running low so I definitely recommend picking one up, especially while the big discount remains in place for most variations. These include the F62, F77, compact F104/FSSK, and Round 1 beam spring boards. There are still some F15’s left. I have 1 or 2 split ortholinear boards left (please email me for details). I still have a few original round styrofoam packaging F77’s remaining, only available to those ordering a Premium serial with the keyboard and requesting this packaging – please message me for details on how to request this.
REQUEST: this week please share your photos, reviews, and postings on the Model F and Beam Spring Projects!
Please spend a few minutes this week to help the project: For those of you who have been using your Brand New Model F and Brand New Beam Spring keyboards, please do post a quick video on YouTube if you don’t mind! How do you like using your keyboard, how does it compare to your other keyboards, how was the setup experience, any recommendations and/or custom modifications, etc. A lot of folks find out about the project through YouTube nowadays. If you post a review please do set the title to something like “Brand New Model F Keyboards by Model F Labs review” or “Brand New Beam Spring Keyboards by Model F Labs review” – and let me know once you post as I want to share the various reviews, postings, and videos. Is there any feedback on the Model F ergo boards from folks who have been using them?
In the news: Game Rant, Techspot, Ars Technica, Shift Happens, and PC World!
It is a great honor to see that the new Classic F104 Model F keyboard has made it on Game Rant’s list of “The Best Retro Mechanical Keyboards for 2024”! https://gamerant.com/best-retro-mechanical-keyboards (Archived link)
Deskthority forum member thefarside has shared two news articles featuring the updated keyboards from the new Model F project:
“Model F keyboards was referenced in an article discussing a new 8BitDo keyboard” https://www.techspot.com/news/102437-8bitdo-pivots-pc-nostalgia-c64-style-mechanical-keyboard.html
To quote from the article: “Customers willing to spend extra money on a more varied selection of sturdier keyboards (or those who can’t give up a number pad) might want to shop at Model F Labs. The project offers accurately reproduced IBM Model F keyboards in multiple form factors.”
thefarside also notes: “Btw Model F Labs was mentioned in an Ars Technica about the new Windows copilot key. It sounds like Microsoft is assigning their AI key to F23.”
To quote from the article: “The 122-key keyboard layout with F23 lives on. Beyond people who still swear by old Model F and M keyboards, Model F Labs and Unicomp both currently sell modern buckling spring keyboards with built-in F23 buttons. Another reason a modern Windows PC user might have access to an F23 key is if they use a macro pad.”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/shoehorned-windows-copilot-key-is-just-a-reprogrammable-macro-journalist-shows/
Someone let me know that the New Model F project was mentioned in the Shift Happens book on keyboards! This is a very interesting project to document the various keyboards that have been made.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mwichary/shift-happens
PC World posted an article on the April NYC Mechanical Keyboard meetup. The last photo in the article shows the new Model F project keyboards table (with an original 122 on it) and me testing out a nice original IBM F122 that someone else brought to the meetup:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2303216/a-journey-to-nycs-mechanical-keyboard-mecca.html
Was the last project update back in February?
No; dozens of updates have been posted since February. You may see that updates are only once every few months on the blog, which summarize the frequent updates I have posted on the Deskthority and geekhack forums, so please head over there for the updates as they happen. Forum update posts will show the latest updates as soon as I have an update; the forums are a great place to chat about the new Model F and beam spring projects and keyboards in general. I only gather the postings on the project updates blog several times per year, so don’t only check the project web site for updates.
- Deskthority project thread and discussion
- My Deskthority update posts only
- Geekhack project thread and discussion
- My Geekhack update posts only
Celebrating 5,000 keyboards shipped! A major project milestone!
Earlier this year, the 5,000th Brand New Model F / Beam Spring Keyboard shipped! This is the combined total of all new Model F and Beam Spring keyboards that have been mailed out.
Production updates from the Model M style Model F keyboards (aka the “Round 2” boards)
F104 and FSSK production status summary: The factory expects to complete assembly of all F104 and FSSK and to be ready to load the goods onto the container ship in 1-2 weeks from now. Some of the powdercoating finishes and PCB ribbon cable soldering needed to be redone, which added some weeks to the earlier plan of completion in May. I am currently getting quotations for the shipping containers. Usually a container shipment takes about 8 weeks from departure to delivery, including the sailing time, ship unloading, customs processing, getting access to the container, arranging delivery trucking, etc.
F122 production status summary: The F122 will need about 5-6 more weeks. Everything is just about done; we are just waiting on the PCBs to finish (another couple weeks), and then they can install them into the inner assemblies and wrap everything up. So as to get the two most popular models (F104 and FSSK) out to everyone as soon as possible the F122 is going to be in the next container shipment in a couple months from now, along with the Round 2 beam spring keyboards. Even though it is far more costly to split the shipments into two containers I did not want the project to be delayed any further so we can get everything out as soon as possible.
At the beginning of April I approved production of the final part, the cases, one year and a day after the official announcement of the project on 3/31/23. The other keyboard parts were all completed, with the exception of bulky stuff that is easy and fast to make (namely, the boxes and outside foam packaging) which they don’t make early because it takes up lots of space in the warehouse.
After spending many months, the factory has achieved an excellent match both to the IBM Model F original 4704 and IBM beam spring off-white/beige color as well as to my reference IBM Industrial Model M industrial gray case color. As mentioned earlier, the texture will be a smoother, slightly more modern one, much less bumpy than the (also nice) 4704 keyboard texture.
These same colors were also approved for the beam spring cases, which is why the beige color was a compromise since the IBM beige color varied noticeably among the different powdercoated Model F keyboards and beam spring keyboards in my collection.
From top to bottom: Top photo: NOS IBM F50 (several are now available to buy at auction starting the day of this blog update post; see below for details), approved off-white/beige sample F122 case (sample inner assembly plate not painted), IBM original beam spring keyboard. Bottom photo: approved industrial gray sample case, NOS IBM Industrial Gray Model M case.
In early April, I approved production and assembly of the F122 inner assembly.
Below are the first photos of the approved F122 keyboard!
The F122 was a trickier PCB design. Once again a big thanks to forum member wcass (the designer of the PCBs for the capacitive projects) for this huge undertaking. There was an issue where a via was too close to a key pad, which resulted in a higher signal level only for that key. wcass updated the PCB by moving the via away from the key and rearranging some of the column ordering to facilitate placement of that via.
The PCB factory is currently working on completing the F122 PCBs and the new Leyden Jar controllers (the very first large production batch of these controllers; 2,000 ordered!). The rest of the F122 finished production so the factory just has to receive these completed parts, solder the controller, ribbon cable, and large capacitive PCB together, and then finish assembly. This is expected to be done over the coming weeks, so the F122 boards will be ready to go in the next container shipment with the beam spring boards, expected later this year. The factory had some issues with their F122 sample even though mine worked fine but they just ended up fixing it by using another capacitive board (one of the sample boards was defective or damaged). The new F122’s inner assembly did sit a little too high so the factory added some metal washers to the previous production sample, just as IBM did by adding a plastic spacer to some early 4704 F62 boards (the new Model F ones use metal as the plastic was prone to cracking).
In April we saw some good progress from the factory as they wrapped up Round 2 Model F production. Here is a photo of the die cast aluminum cases waiting to be powdercoated (these were all powdercoated as of this month):
I believe these were the final numbers for the first order of the Round 2 Model F keyboards:
Classic F104 900
Off-White/Beige 329
Industrial Gray 236
Black 180
Silver Gray 45
True Red 39
Dark Blue 38
Light Blue 33
Classic F122 400
Off-White/Beige 122
Industrial Gray 87
Black 71
Dark Blue 40
Silver Gray 29
Light Blue 28
True Red 23
Classic FSSK 400
Off-White/Beige 109
Industrial Gray 71
Light Blue 70
Black 54
Dark Blue 40
True Red 31
Silver Gray 24
Uncoated 1
The factory also reported in late April that the box production was completed. Two production box photos are below. As a reminder, the box design has been updated to be a folding box design to be closer to the design of the original IBM Model F XT and AT keyboard boxes instead of the prior boxes which were designed to be like the IBM Model M boxes. The artwork is just about unchanged except for the keyboard names.
I have updated the Model F product pages based on feedback that the web site should be more organized to help people who are not as familiar with all of the various options and features. There is now an explanation of each customizable feature and option plus an FAQ section on the various product pages. Feel free to check these pages out and let me know of any additional changes that would be helpful or things people wished were written on the site instead of having to dig down to find an answer.
To save time in the past the factory would start assembly with the foam/barrels/flippers (the most time consuming portion of assembly) and they store the inner assembly upside down while they wait for the PCBs to arrive and for the time they spend soldering the controller/ribbon cable/capacitive PCB. Also the Leyden Jar firmware has been fine tuned with some slight updates for the F122 and now it is working well.
Production updates from the Round 2 classic style Beam Spring keyboards
In early April I approved production and assembly of the beam spring modules, and I approved the color samples for the Model F and beam spring cases, which will have the same color options (see the above paragraphs). We still are waiting on the beam spring case sample, which should be completed closer to the end of this month. The case samples have taken much longer than expected to complete but I will not approve production of the cases until I receive working samples of each design.
Production and assembly of the beam spring modules were approved to start in April, with completion expected in July. So as to avoid any delays with the new Model F models, the beam spring keyboards are expected to be on a separate container shipment later this year.
Here are some photos of the updated April 2024 sample case with the updated Industrial Gray powdercoating. They sent this board to me for approval; after I approved it (with some corrections needed) they moved on to the next step of making samples of the other remaining boards. This board has a nice alignment of the keys and the top case from what I can see. I received this B104 Round 2 sample by air mail around the end of April and sent the factory some feedback. The new PCB was slightly misaligned so some keys were not working correctly and there were some small other issues so the factory will be working on remaking this sample and making the other keyboard model samples for approval.
The beam project has taken longer than expected and should be going out to everyone later this year along with the F122 keyboards. This will be several months after the Round 2 F104 and FSSK Model F keyboards go out (the F104 and FSSK are expected to arrive to me in late August). This may be the only production run of new beam spring keyboards, so I want to make them as nice as possible, even if it takes extra time. As always if you prefer not to wait you can switch your order to the Round 1 beam spring option by emailing me, since there is still some stock remaining of the Round 1 boards.
The key set pictured below is one of the two available options of production sets. The sets all completed production a while back and they are great quality. They started going out last year with the Round 1 beam spring keyboards.
The beam springs themselves can now be ordered separately at the below link. They are IBM spec and some folks have used them to repair original rusty or damaged IBM beam springs. https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/beam-spring-extras/
Pad Print Update (white text on black keys)
Back in March, the artwork file had to be created (repositioning Zed’s legends for the new file) for the new pad print jig, which has a different arrangement of keys compared to the dye sublimation jigs. The US art has been completed and confirmed, with the additional sets to follow. Next the factory has to create the physical artwork from the file and then start testing the machine with this artwork, both to confirm the alignment for each key within one key set is consistent (artwork distance from top and left edges of the key top surface), and the alignment among various key sets can be done consistently. This process has taken a very long time (the pad print tooling took far longer than expected) but we are getting closer to having pad printed buckling spring keys once more!
As always please do sign the interest form to reserve your pad printed set. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1873Q9wJFyNvJ4-TEBN6P9JbzaVxErbNd-h4XtN1DfNk
So far the major pad printing variable costs are the inks and the creation of the plate (a separate plate is required for each set of keys). The key cap colors can vary though I am not sure if white pad printing will show up adequately on some of the key colors. They completed the first plate for the US set and based on demand, additional plates will be created. Each plate costs a lot so there will need to be minimum order quantities of at least 5 sets for the other sets before they can proceed to production. Unfortunately due to the delay in making working black ISO enter keys (see below for the update), ISO pad printed sets will not be available unless you accept another color ISO Enter key that is not pad printed.
As of late May, here is the latest factory photo showing a test print. This is not yet approved for production. They still need to fine tune the alignment to make it more consistent; a few keys on one side look to have been double printed and a number keys did not have full contact, such as tab. They said that the machine they recommended did not have enough pressure for pad printing the new Model F keys, so they are spending a couple weeks to build another machine that has higher pressure capability. The custom equipment pictured below was the big time commitment whereas the actual machine is standardized so they just need to switch the custom tooling to the new machine instead of needing to do all of the custom stuff again. They said they expect to wrap up the pad print process around month end!
Leyden Jar update
As mentioned earlier, the first production batch of 2,000 Leyden Jar controllers was just ordered and they are now in production. These controllers will be initially used on the keyboards that make use of additional columns in the capacitive PCB design (F122, B122, B104) and eventually will be used in all keyboards once supply of the xwhatsit controllers is depleted.
In May, Rico published the open source Leyden Jar diagnostic tool. Now all the project files are ready for future development work to add support for additional keyboards, maybe even non-Model F / beam spring keyboards! https://github.com/mymakercorner/Leyden_Jar_Diagnostic_Tool
Just this week, Rico finished work on all of the firmware files for all of the variations of the F122, B122, and B104, and I have sent these files to the factory as they start testing the B122 and B104 samples.
New Old Stock Stash of IBM Model F Keyboards found! Now available for sale
Product page: https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/original-ibm-model-f-metal-case-50-key-f50-keyboard-part-6019273/
Google Form to bid: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QVkCcHxkNwlX9CUsXM5F-8JJZcwBD4yu4RlHRdxBT1Q/
Recently one of my recycler contacts came across a batch of brand new old stock (NOS) IBM 4704 F50 50-key macro pad keyboards, part number IBM 6019273. They are without the original packaging and have wear/some paint loss from storage and handling not in the original packaging. It looks like most were manufactured in 1990. As is common with these keyboards, flippers/springs can be removed to fit larger keys, such as a 2U horizontal or 2U vertical key, so you could even make the rightmost block of this keyboard into the number pad block found on an IBM Model M keyboard.
The keyboards in this group buy will come with a USB-C cable, USB-C Pro Micro, and xwhatsit-based pandrew 4704 controller that you can use to get it working with modern computers (you have to solder this or pay someone to do this as I do not provide a soldering service). You only get what is pictured, no other keys and no relegendables are included. The optional keyboard foot bar is not included. You won’t get the exact pictured keyboard; some are missing the cloth tag, others are missing the little green tape around the cord.
In order to fairly allocate the few available NOS IBM F50 keyboards, a pay-as-bid auction starts today. In summary, everyone submits a best offer and I choose which offers to accept. The way this works is that you fill out this Google Form noting the maximum amount you are willing to pay and the quantity you want (quantities are strictly limited to a maximum of 2 keyboards per person). If you are selected as the winner, you pay the amount that you bid. I may allocate only 5 or so keyboards this year for the current auction, depending on the demand, with the remaining keyboards to be auctioned off next year and in subsequent years. The winners will be accepted at different times over the coming months based on the strength of the bid (the stronger/higher the bid, the more likely it will be accepted sooner rather than later), meaning you may not hear back from me for months on the outcome of your bid, if at all.
In terms of pricing, 25 new production compact F50 keyboards sold out quickly at the $399 price determined by reverse/Dutch auction, so the bidding for these keyboards will start there, but please do not bid $400 as I won’t be awarding any keyboards near that level.
Original IBM keyboards have become extremely collectible in recent years. An original IBM F62 Kishsaver sold last month for $7,500 on eBay, and other models have sold for $1,000 and higher in recent months: https://www.ebay.com/itm/176368326890
Photos of one of these keyboards (all keyboards will vary in appearance and may have more or less scuffs, paint loss, and other damage but all are NOS): https://imgur.com/a/8jGOQuw
I would have liked to keep these in my collection since it is nearly impossible that I will be lucky enough to find these keyboards ever again as most have been destroyed by now*, but the proceeds from this auction will be used to help cover the tens of thousands of dollars in project cost overruns incurred over the years, including prototype costs and many express air mail costs from the factories.
*Many forum members remember all the efforts several years ago to deal with the bank manager who had the room full of original Kishsaver F62 keyboards but was difficult to deal with (for those who have not heard of this story before, the bank manager had the Kishsavers all put in a metal shredder and completely destroyed) – that story stands out most for me. Similarly, another recycler sold me some refurbished/repainted F50s many years ago, but when I had contacted them a year or so later, in the time since I contacted them, they had sadly sent all of the unsold F50 keyboards overseas to be destroyed and melted down for scrap metal.
New York City Meetups
The April 2024 meetup I attended was completely sold out, and the upcoming July 2024 meetup that I’ll also be attending is almost completely sold out now; there are still a few tickets left if you want to go. Due to its popularity the venue has moved to one with a much larger capacity.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nyc-mechanical-keyboard-meetup-july-2024-tickets-908852882437
Here are photos from the April meetup. Over 150 people attended. I brought the approved Classic F104, Classic F77, and a Round 2 beam spring keyboard for everyone to try out.
https://nyckeyboardmeetup.com/events/20240406
Additional keys update (ISO Enter non-stepped, PC AT Big Enter, Code key):
Back in March, the mold needed to be adjusted as the key quality was not good enough. The factory reported that the mold had been updated and they sent some samples to the sublimation factory for evaluation. Unfortunately the factory did produce a small batch of these keys a little later but for an unknown reason, they made some changes to the mold without my approval and the keys did not all buckle reliably, which is not acceptable, so I am now looking for another factory to complete this work. Until working samples are approved and production finishes, I will not be accepting orders for these 3 keys.
Photos, reviews, and postings on the Model F and Beam Spring Projects – some recent ones are below
Here is a nice review on the new Model F F77 keyboard:
reddit member Grianaig has posted a nice update including photos showing the classic case F62 being setup and the finished product as well. I especially like the photo of the keyboard during the keycap installation process, properly oriented vertically, spacebar end up. https://www.reddit.com/r/modelf/comments/1beg69i/my_new_model_f_labs_f62_pictures/
A review and photo of the new Model F Ergo board from someone who can type over 100 WPM!
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/18a59ed/my_model_f_ergodox_finally_arrived/
Here’s a photo and mini-review of the compact F104 in true red with blue keys:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1899ku6/because_sometimes_you_just_want_different_things/
And from the same poster, the compact f77 in true red with dark gray keys:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/177gl1o/we_need_more_77_key_layouts_like_this/
Here’s a recent posting of a classic F62 with HHKB style split right shift:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1904d9z/finally_done_setting_up_my_new_model_f_quite/
Here is a photo and mini-review of the brand new round 1 beam spring keyboard with the MT3 Dasher key set: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/192u43p/xmas_present_beam_spring_round_1_ssk_wmt3_dasher
Potential sound reduction mod
I was recently made aware of a mod to reduce high frequency sounds for keyboards with large PCBs underneath all the keys. I don’t recommend this but would someone tape over or under a capacitive Model F keyboard’s PCB? Or maybe that would affect capacitive sensing or do other damage. Could something non-adhesive be used if it is thin enough? Maybe like an ultra thin silicone sheet (as thin as 0.1mm) or painter’s tape as shown in this video?
Floss mod
Regarding floss mods, I was sent the following note: “I immediately did the floss mod. I didn’t have that super-floss, but I did have waxed thread for leather work. I used that instead. I can’t compare to floss, but it works great. I have needed to redo some keys that have redeveloped the ping, but I believe that is because I cut the thread too short.”
Do any folks know of places outside of reddit, keebtalk, and geekhack where folks are posting about Model F and Beam Spring keyboards? I’d like to see these posts as I don’t know where to check. I like the idea of a project thread and folks can post their feedback all in one centralized place instead of posting new threads on each new Model F topic for example.
There are a lot of great topics that could be discussed even more on the forums, to chat about various mods and other ways to improve the project, such as specific recommendations for various topics: getting the word out on social media and on other forums about these great old style keyboards, encouraging folks to provide feedback on their new Model F and beam spring experiences and on updating and/or simplifying the manual, working with the factories for even more detailed updates and photos, updating the web site design and content, etc. that might be helpful to discuss here. I am seeing some Model F and beam spring postings on the other forums which is great.
There are a lot of projects that started here on the various mechanical keyboard forums and grew thanks to the feedback and active discussions over the past decade or more, including Soarer’s converter and the xwhatsit controller and all the later controllers that came from it.
I believe that these and other forum projects directly saved many old Model F keyboards from the landfill as they allowed the keyboards to be usable once more with computers, increasing demand enough for electronics recyclers to start paying extra attention to looking for them while sorting, and therefore allowing many more folks to use these great old keyboards.
Reports of stolen Model F keyboards – please be on the lookout for these and let me know if you come across any of these for sale, or those whose serial labels are removed or not shown in any of the listing photos
Most recently, I wanted to share a report that black case Compact FSSK keyboard serial 193 has been reported stolen – everyone please do keep an eye out for it on the various marketplaces.
These reports do help, as at least one board did end up being returned which was listed on eBay. The seller was a third party that did not realize the provenance and was fully cooperative. Even if the serial is defaced that would be a giveaway that the board is suspect. I log who gets each serial so I can confirm the board is ok. Some people thankfully have been contacting me to check that a particular listing is legit.
I believe here is the list of currently lost/stolen keyboards and their serial numbers, though it may not be 100% correct:
F62 110
F62 127
COMPACT F77 72219** (last two digits hidden for privacy)
F77 1142
F77 225
F77 1155
F77 1849
F77 208
COMPACT F104 11
COMPACT FSSK 193
F122 Beige Serial 5
Types of keyboards to look out for if the serial is not pictured (please note, another key set from what is listed below may have been substituted):
Compact FSSK Black
Compact F104 Black
Regular printed key set (US ANSI layout)
Classic F77 Split Right Shift and Split Backspace Layout
Industrial Gray
Regular printed key set (US ANSI layout)
Classic F77 Standard (ANSI or ISO) Layout
Black
Classic F62 Split Right Shift and Split Backspace Layout
Black
Black Unprinted
Classic F77 Split Right Shift and 2U backspace Layout
Industrial Gray
Regular printed key set (US ANSI layout)
Classic F77 ANSI Layout
Industrial Gray
Regular printed key set (US/ANSI layout)
Compact F77 ANSI Layout
Black
Regular printed key set (US/ANSI layout)
Here is an interesting video posted many years ago on IBM Model F keyboard assembly
I received some interesting feedback on repairing broken keys and modifying tweezers to insert springs – probably best to replace the key but if it is a rare/original key this may be useful:
“If a bit of a key breaks off, quick drying superglue won’t work. The keys seem almost
made of the same material as the cap of the glue. But what does work is this:
One layer of epoxy two component glue on both sides, then the superglue that
attaches to the epoxy…Also, if you dip your tweezers in some glue or epoxy before using it, and dry it
out of course, it’s much softer on the springs and easier to insert and press down.”
Discussion on spring replacement techniques
Over on the Deskthority forum there was some good discussion last month on replacing springs. I have copied my reply below. If anyone else has suggestions or comments please let me know and share your thoughts! https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28652
“I recommend keeping the keyboard vertical, space bar end up when installing the spring just as with installing the keys, so that the spring is resting at the bottom of the barrel when it is installed.
The best tweezers are those that have a beveled/angled edge but a few centimeters at the end being flat, and possibly serrated. My pair of tweezers is old and I can’t find it for sale but if anyone has links to recommendations please share them.
Also be sure to install the spring at the 12 o’clock position, which means the spring end would be at the bottom when the keyboard is vertically as noted above. If you install it spring end up the key will not reliably buckle.
Some other methods of spring installation are mentioned on the forums as well as in the manual, such as the chopstick/toothpick method (breaking off one end so that the end is flat), or using a small eyeglass screwdriver whose diameter matches the spring’s inner diameter and the overall length of the remaining cylinder is shorter than the length of the compressed spring (I have such a tool where I have cut off the edge so it is flat and not beveled).
It definitely takes some practice to install the springs correctly but this is probably the most valuable lesson to learn if you want to maintain a Model F keyboard, whether IBM or the new ones. The springs do bounce around in shipping and sometimes move slightly out of the approved position as installed by the factory, so that is why it’s mentioned that it is to be expected that you have to reinstall some of the springs.
There could be an issue with the flipper getting stuck, which is why the manual notes to confirm that the flipper has free movement. If all else fails you may want to replace the flipper and spring entirely but that does involve spending 10 to 20 minutes to take off all the keys and open up the board. Even I have to do this occasionally to fix a persistent issue.
Here are some possibilities – not sure if they are good:
https://www.techni-tool.com/category/Hand-And-Power-Tools/Hand-Tools/Tweezers/All-Purpose-Tweezers/10002797-18484
https://www.techni-tool.com/product/445-193-18485
https://www.techni-tool.com/category/Hand-And-Power-Tools/Hand-Tools/Tweezers/Economy-Tweezers/437-910-18489
https://www.techni-tool.com/category/Hand-And-Power-Tools/Hand-Tools/Tweezers/All-Purpose-Tweezers/10063004-10063004
https://www.techni-tool.com/category/Hand-And-Power-Tools/Hand-Tools/Tweezers/All-Purpose-Tweezers/10063005-10063005
https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Tweezers-Dressing-Forceps-Serrated/dp/B00EKQ7FZI/
My own tweezers used for reinstalling springs – has anyone come across something like the below tweezers, with a straight end part and an angled edge as shown below?
Here is some feedback shared with me on working with Vial on Debian
“In case it helps future travelers, this is how I changed the keyboard layout on debian:
sudo apt install python3 python3-tk tk-dev build-essential zlib1g-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev libbz2-dev libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev liblzma-dev libncurses-dev libusb-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev git curl
curl https://pyenv.run | bash
git clone https://github.com/vial-kb/vial-gui.git
cd vial-gui
pyenv install 3.6.15
pyenv virtualenv 3.6.15 vial
pyenv activate vial
pip install -r requirements.txt
fbs run
At this point, vial-gui was able to detect both halves of the keyboard. Updating the keyboard layout ended up being a lot easier than I expected!
In the docs, its probably worth having a section for “checking if vial is already installed” (I think that looks like running vial-gui)
The vial.rocks website is absolutely awesome, but it wasn’t able to connect to either keyboard half from firefox or chromium on Debian. Relying on the WebUSB/Web Serial to verify vial is already installed on the keyboard might not be as foolproof as vial-gui.”