Keyboard Builders' Digest
5% off of the LEGO compatible Adam by KBDcraft!
Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects

TA Royal Alpha 610

A TA Royal Alpha 610 typewriter turned into a keyboard in micho___'s first hand-wired project.

KBD.news
Published August 20, 2021
Creators! Feel free to tip me off about your keyboard related projects to bring them to 100K readers.

micho___'s project blurs the line between electric typewriters and mechanical keyboards with his handwired conversion.

So I found a Royal Alpha 610 electric typewriter at Goodwill for $15. It was in awful condition but I just had to grab it anyways.

Specifications:

  • Original Cherry doubleshot ABS keycaps
  • Vintage Cherry M9 switches (lubed with Krytox 205g0)
  • Original steel plate
  • 3D printed PLA case
  • Microcontroller: Elite-C
  • 18 AWG magnet wire

Some hi-res images: https://imgur.com/gallery/wDm20Xz

Photolog of the process: https://imgur.com/gallery/hlE0zLl

This was both therapeutic and painful to do at the same time.

Do you like this post? Share, donate, subscribe, tip me off!

Published on Fri 20th Aug 2021. Featured in KBD #40 (source).


Related

Shift Happens

Marcin Wichary's upcoming book on typewriters and keyboards, Shift Happens, has a dedicated site now.

Japanese typewriters

An old write-up on the inner working mechanism and general evolution of Japanese typewriters.

Tripod-tented Torn

This nice through-hole split Torn build by bromanko (git) features mini tripods for tenting (gallery).

The Luigi Colani office chair, 1970

The retrofuturistic Luigi Colani office chair features a built-in split Selectric-style typewriter.

World I: an index typewriter

The World Typewriter is an index typewriter from the 1880s. Posted by Sup-Bird.

Colemak typewriter

u/bII6 converted an Olympia Splendid 66 typewriter to Colemak.

×
top