Safedork Checking in

I was known as “dorkvader” on GH and DT, and other places as well. However in 2013 I decided to “rebrand” all new user accounts with this name instead of that one. I used to be very active on GH, with a few thousand posts and I was a moderator for some time and an administrator temporarily.

I have a large KB collection including one of almost every different model F made (including 3/4 of the 4704 variants and an “unsaver”) I don’t participate in the community very much since about 2015 though. I had the very good fortune to meet up with some of the input-club people (Andrew, Jacob, Parak, etc) in person around this time.

My specialty is honeywell (Microswitch) hall effect. I have over10 of these keyboards and am currently engaged in research making these keyboards usable again and bringing out their full potential. I’m fascinated by the fact that many of them are unique.

Let me know if you have any hall effect questions, or remember me from other platforms. I’m currently working full time while also taking classes so I’m pretty busy, but it’s summer now!

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Hello! Good to have you here. I wasn’t very active on GH, but sounds like you have a great and very interesting collection.

Is there a good way of identifying Honeywell hall effect boards? I’ve heard of hall effect switches, but I don’t know much about them. I’m always on the lookout for interesting and vintage boards. Is there something super indicative with them? Or something you just have to take a cap off to see?

Wow, Dorkvader. I haven’t heard that name in a while. You’re quite an OG. Welcome!

There are some good ways but not everything is perfect. If you see one without a keycap, the stem is immediatelry recognizeable, and the older version with the fingers holding things together is unque among keyboards as far as I know. The newer versions have a standard place so identification is more difficult. If you have a PCB pic, seeing 3-4 pins per switch is a good tell, but can be confused with magnetic valve switches which also have 4. Usually if you can see the PCB there is a microswitch part number or branding.

Keycaps are very similar to SA. see here (grey hall effect yellow are SA) SA & Hall Effect keycap comparison | Flickr

If you see a spacebar that is curved on the bottom then it’s most likely a hall/ effect with the exception of some WANG terminals have a curved spacebar and are keytronic capacative.
See for example here. The beige spacebar is “bent” outwards in the middle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dork_vader/albums/72157662083935704
I thought they were the only KB to do this until I found this wang terminal with a bent spacebar that wasn’t hall effect (there are several wang KBs that are hall effect
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dork_vader/albums/72157646466217835/with/14731232898/

Interesting. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll keep eyes out for that sort of thing in the future. Unfortunately, most of how I can see these types of boards in ebay and people tend to price them high. But now I have a better idea of what is what.

Thanks again!