Keyboard enthusiast to deliver faithful reproductions of IBM Model F

Keyboards with mechanical switches are very popular again, but the real keyboard fetishist swears by keyboards with buckling springs. An American brings the old Model F keyboards back to life with these kind of springs.

Joe Strandberg started collecting and restoring IBM Model F keyboards, fascinated by their quality and especially the sounds the keys make when typing. IBM produced the Model F models from 1981 to 1994. They were the high-end variants of the Model M keyboards. The Model F had a metal backplate, used a pressure-sensitive circuit board instead of a diaphragm, and featured higher-quality buckling springs.

Those buckling springs in particular mean that the keyboards still evoke warm feelings among enthusiasts. Cheap keyboards nowadays use a membrane over which a rubber dome is placed for the keystroke. Many gamers resort to keyboards with mechanical switches, which feel more solid, offer more feedback and travel and give a nice ‘click’.

According to the experts, even those switches are nothing compared to the sound that the keys with flexion springs offer. The spring under the key makes a small kink and presses a lever on the circuit board. IBM obtained the patent for the technology in 1978, but that patent has since expired.

Strandberg decided to replicate the various parts of the Model F as traditionally as possible, including the springs, the zinc housing and the powder coating. He succeeded in working with Chinese manufacturers to arrive at an affordable production process. He sells his new Model F62 and F77 models for $325, but that price is without keys. With keys, the price goes up to $399. This means that the keyboard is still a lot cheaper than the original version, for which IBM was asking 600 dollars at the time.

There are now $270,000 in pre-orders. According to the maker, this is a one-time production run. He hopes to deliver the first keyboards by the end of this year, he tells Popular Mechanics.