[GreenKeys] Need help with 33 parity keyboard (and rant)

[drlegendre .]

Funny you should mention, I once defenestrated a model 33 KSR - and like
yourself, it was for no good reason. Take my advice, and restrain
yourself.. breathe deeply.. calm blue ocean.. calm blue ocean..

Anyway, not to put too fine a point on it - but is there any reason you
didn't /first/ consult the documentation /before/ undertaking such a
potentially perilous job on a piece of equipment with with you're
apparently not overly familiar?

If you've read through one of those TTY service manuals, or one of the many
supplements & addenda, you should realize they weren't written for idiots -
which should really tell you something. In short - they were NOT written
for an audience of idiots..

Now good luck on your next go! ;-)

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 7:40 PM, Charles <charlesmorris800 at centurytel.net>
wrote:

> I have reached the limits of my patience, not to mention capabilities
> (unless I grow a third hand) trying to fix my 33ASR's keyboard.
> It was working perfectly until the worn motor drive belt popped off the
> pulley while I was typing earlier this week.
>
> Once I put the belt back on temporarily, the keyboard now always has Bit 5
> and Bit 7 set!
> It's a parity keyboard so the status of bit 8 will change to make an even
> number of bits. But, for example, Ctrl-Shift-@ should transmit all 0's,
> and it has those two bits set also.
> Typing a CR echoes as "M" (not Ctrl-M). Always the same two bits.
>
> The next time I plugged in the machine, the selector magnet was making a
> loud buzzing sound. I tracked it down to an open filter capacitor in the
> power supply. Replaced it with another from my junk box - which also turned
> out to be bad! Got that fixed, back in local loop mode with the wrong
> characters still coming out.
>
> Today I took the keyboard apart (which I've done before) and couldn't
> identify anything jammed, disconnected or otherwise injured. I was looking
> for a disconnected t-lever, bent codebar, etc. All the contact wires look
> fine (and would not have changed just because the motor stopped during
> typing).
> Putting it back together was the usual three-handed struggle.
>
> Then I compounded my problem by attempting a shortcut changing the drive
> belt. I accidentally "spread" the distributor clutch apart, and to get THAT
> back together I had to take the distributor shaft out anyway, which is what
> I'd been trying to avoid in the first place! Put it back in- and realized
> I'd forgotten to put the new belt over the gear! Did it all over again.
> Next I found that the clutch would never disengage - after RTFM, I found
> the little spring lying under the typing unit that is supposed to keep the
> trip lever in position. Sigh.
>
> Now that it's all back together, the typing unit works when sending it
> characters from my PDP-8/A. But my keyboard now won't toggle the H-plate
> enough to trip the lever, regardless of the H-plate position setting (too
> loose makes it run all the time, too tight won't trip).
>
> I can only assume that I not only didn't find the keyboard problem but
> multiplied it by reassembling something incorrectly.
> Can someone please fix it for me... or just sell me a good (non-parity is
> fine) 33 keyboard? Once I have a known good keyboard I can make the other
> adjustments to get it to work in my 33ASR.
> I wasted a whole day and I'm about to pitch it out the window!
>
> thanks
> Charles
>
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