5155 replacement keyboard feet

[mikeyp]

Whilst I’m waiting for the ram chips to arrive from Poland, I want your opinions. Do I replace the broken keyboard feet with the black nylon ones or the CNC aluminium ones?

 

[jafir]

Fancy. Did you make those or buy them somewhere? Are they available for the PC or XT style Model F for people that have broken them?

And my vote is for the Al version.

 

[mikeyp]

Fancy. Did you make those or buy them somewhere? Are they available for the PC or XT style Model F for people that have broken them?

And my vote is for the Al version.

3D printing/CNC work done cheaply by JLCPCB. Their 3D printing has been absolutely brilliant. I tried a local company here in England but they were VERY slow and the work was absolutely rubbish. Never again.

The 5155 feet were designed by Zack Kummer and can be downloaded here: https://grabcad.com/library/ibm-5155-keyboard-model-f-feet-stl-step-1

A quick google turned up the following for other models but I haven't tried any of them:

XT feet: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5356592
AT feet: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4809654
Model M feet: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2569437

 

[Conventional Memories]

Those look great,
I'd say aluminium.

Can I ask how much was the total cost on those? I've been thinking about trying JLC's CNC service.

 

[mikeyp]

Those look great,
I'd say aluminium.

Can I ask how much was the total cost on those? I've been thinking about trying JLC's CNC service.

$18 for all the nylon parts. $60 for the aluminium.

Note that I’ve only had the legs made up in aluminium and will be using the nylon cylinders whichever option I choose.

 

[Conventional Memories]

Thanks, That's very reasonable for a 1 time CNC job. I'll have to try them out. I'd also love to try their stainless 3D printing, wondering how that would compare in quality and surface finish.

 

[mikeyp]

I went with Aluminium. It looks so smart and is really strong.

 

[Hugo Holden]

Those CNC aluminium parts look very impressive, it is amazing how low the price was.

 

[Great Hierophant]

The original feet were made out of what seems to have been rather heavy duty plastic, it feels similar to the top half of the IBM PC/XT keyboard's shell. Would the nylon parts be able to withstand the weight of the keyboard over the long term?

 

[mikeyp]

The original feet were made out of what seems to have been rather heavy duty plastic, it feels similar to the top half of the IBM PC/XT keyboard's shell. Would the nylon parts be able to withstand the weight of the keyboard over the long term?

IBM made the legs hollow but the designer of the 3D printed parts made them solid so I think they will be much stronger than the originals. They do seem very rigid.

In my opinion pretty much anything should be fine with standard use. The issue was careless lateral pressure by the previous owner.