AEK II ALPS64 Build Log

60% AEK II Mod

First a shot of the finished product.

Closed and ready for transport.

The top of the case doubles as an arm rest.

Dismantling The Original AEK II

The old donor keyboard. Circa 1989, this keyboard has seen some better days. When I got it the keys were very dirty and there was lots of fuzz, hair & lint under each of the keys. I’m pretty sure there were hairs older than me stuck inside this thing!

The first steps were to clean and renovate this old keyboard.

With the plastic face plate removed and the key caps taken off you can see the steel plate and the switches attached.

Forgot to take pictures of the disassembly so this isn’t my picture.

With the switches desoldered from the board you can see the original circuit board underneath.

New Alps 60% PCB & Plate

The new PCB & PCB plate. Custom built and special ordered from Japan.

The new PCB over top the old keyboard for size.

The PCB & PCB Plate unwrapped along with the diodes to be soldered into the PCB.

Backside showing where the diodes will be inserted.

Soldering

Soldering station all setup. Time to solder!

All 60 something diodes have now been soldered and the boards been tested to make sure all the connections are good. Time to flip it over and start inserting switches!

Start with the edges, testing the board as I go to make sure those 30 year old switches are still working. Also a good time to insert the stabilizers and their clips for the larger keys.

With all the switches soldered on its time to start putting on key caps.

Putting it all Together

Looking good! Key caps have now gone through a nice warm soapy bath and have each been individually cleaned using nail polish remover.

Custom ordered Bamboo case from Shenzhen, CN

Keyboards in place, ready to code.

Next Steps

The keys are made of PBT plastic (with the exception of the space bar) and so remained the grey color they were made over 20 years ago. Unfortunately due to exposure to UV light, all of the other plastic on the keyboard such as the bezel and the space bar (made of ABS) went yellow.

A lot of people confuse this yellowing with being dirty but it is in fact bromine — a fire retardant used in older plastics – that leaks out of the plastic when exposed to heat or UV light.

There are ways to deyellow the space bar by covering the plastic in a high concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide and blasting it with some UV rays either from a UV light or from the sun. Being that its winter here in Seattle I’ll probably have to wait till summer to do that.

Keymaps

The main layer of the keyboard.

The function layer of the keyboard, access by holding Caps Lock