20210505 IBM 5251 - jsheradin/kb_adventures GitHub Wiki

Finally decided to see what all the beamspring fuss was about and grabbed a "cheap" 5251. Overall it was in great shape with the expected deterioration of the dust shield and foam. A few of the keys on the numpad did not actuate since the foam ooze had glued the plates to the PCB.

Some soapy water was able to take care of the foam. The plastic film on the plate was scraped off with a heat gun and plastic scraper to avoid scratches.

The springs and key stems were treated with evaporust. The stems were all a bit tweaked so they were percussively flattened.

Controller was replaced with a QMK based xwhatsit and solenoid driver.