How to repair a IBM Model M
7/11/2024
2:17am
This took way to long to fix
How I acquired this ancient artifact
I found my model M at a Tech recycling plant that I go to frequently. It was labled "sold as is" and mentioned on the sticker that it had non functioning keys. When I tested it, it actually had more broken keys than what was written on the sticker (literally the whole bottom row was busted). I obviously had to take advantage of that....
It was being sold for 70$, but because of the additional broken keys, I told one of the souless workers there and managed to talk them down and I got it for 40$. After I got it, the keyboard sat in my closet for months until I decided to do something about it.
The pain i went through to fix it
First off, I ordered a tiny quarter inch socket wrench.... yes. The tool you normally use to work on cars (albeit in a bigger drive size) is being used to open a keyboard. The board is secured with small nuts on the back of it, and they are in a deep hole of sorts, meaning you need a shallow socket to reach the nuts on the board. Upon removing the shell (after removing the nuts) of the board you see the keys sitting ontop of a black plate. This is called the Barrel Plate of the board.
This black plate allows you to snap your keycaps onto the board. Pretty cool huh.
After this, you have to make a decision here. If you think that the broken keys are broken simply because you need new keycaps... Get new keycaps and slap them on. If you think its a spring issue, membrane issue, or Rivet issue, allow me to introduce you to the......
Bolt Mod
Regardless of your issue, if you have to go beyond this point, you HAVE to Bolt mod your keeb. This process involves drilling, so you better have a drill laying around. The bit you need to drill is quite small, so a Rotary drill is preffered (although I have seen people use giant construction drills with no issue)
follow this tutorial below so that you dont screw anything up (pun intended lol)
You have to order lots of small nuts, bolts, and screws, so be prepared to screw like crazy once those holes are drilled. The shipping for the hardware is quite expensive, but its definitley worth it. Typing on a fully bolt modded, fully functional model m is
After all the drilling and screwing, test your membrane and buckling springs. If they all work, sandwhich the bitch back together. If your membrane is old and moldy/worn out..... Get a new one! Unicomp is a website that sells parts for model m's as well as new and updated versions of the model m. These guys are old IBM and Lexmark employees that left the compaines, banded together, and made a new and improved version of the buckling spring keyboard. These guys are doing gods work by keeping this buckling spring beast alive, so head over to Unicomp.com and give them some love. After your parts are ordered, replace your broken parts and frankenstein your keyboard back together. Dont forget to use the washers that you bought from the youtube video above.... if you just torque the nut without a washer, you will damage the metal backplate of the keeb. Take care of your things! Dont ruin them out of carelessness. you (hopefully) have a fully functional IBM Model M! Enjoy! But most importantly, never forget what modern age computing took away from you.... Durable keyboards that were built to last, and fun to type on!
Viola!
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