Keyboard Builders' Digest / Inspiration
32-key buckling spring keyboard
This 32-key IBM/QAZ buckling spring keyboard was committed by u/Pocketfullofbugs.
Published September 2, 2022
54 people keep this blog alive for 150,000 readers. Want to join? Thanks to: Cyboard, Anatolii Smolianinov, and Benjamin Bell.
The lower case. Part IBM. Part QAZ. All killer, no filler. A 32 key buckling spring keyboard – Pocketfullofbugs.
After his QAZer Beam, a beamspring beast, Pocketfullofbugs came up with lower_case, a similar concept but without the hard-to-source beamspring switches:
This thing does what I wanted the QAZer Beam to do. Use the correct switch. The QAZer beam was awesome but I cannot get beamspring switches, so it boils down to an MX board hiding in a much cooler case. It felt like putting a Ferrari kit on a Kia. This though, this is real.
Solenoid noise is still integral part of the design – working title for the board was: "make them reinstate work from home".
If you are interested in this slightly masochistic/sadistic part of the hobby, check out Model D, this chopjob or ofc the QAZer Beam with case files.
Resources
Files on GitHub: https://github.com/ImYourHuckleberry/lower_case
Coffee Break Keyboards Discord server: https://discord.gg/HpC8UWW
We are doing a production run in the future – Pocketfullofbugs.
Published on Fri 2nd Sep 2022. Featured in KBD #93 (source).
Related
Shark's IBM wiki
u/SharktasticA announced his IBM-family keyboard wiki with the aim of covering niche models.
IBM Model M5-2
An IBM Model M5-2 with a cute little trackball. Posted by opalinemoth.
IBM Terminal keyboard from the 70s
An old IBM Terminal keyboard from the 70s posted by Snoo_56172.From a Beamspring to a Model M
Why Bitteneite, even after owning a Model F and finally a Beamspring, still went back to a Model M.