Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
My Model M has served me well during the many years it’s been my primary keyboard. Unfortunately, its reliability had begun to falter with increasing regularity. As of late, its most notable misbehavior was its failure to register the numbers 1 through 4 and 7 through 0. What’s odd, however, is that the keyboard only seemed to act up after sitting idle for extended periods of time—think logging onto your PC for the first time in the morning. At first I couldn’t find any way to remedy this behavior, until I realized that pressing all four keys in that “group” at the same time brought things back to life. So, for example, if the 2 key didn’t responded to my pressing it, pressing the number 1, 2, 3, & 4 all at the same time fixed it, albeit temporarily.
Not wanting to write off my venerable Model M just yet, I began to do some digging. When it comes to keys failing to register, the general consensus seems to be... riveting, pun absolutely intended. When new, plastic rivets were used during the manufacturing process to hold the individual layers that make up a Model M (back plate, rubber dampening mat, membrane, and barrel plate) together. Over time, those rivets begin to fail by breaking off, allowing the layers of the “sandwich” to come loose. This in turn causes a cascading failure of erratic operation.
The one and only sure fire way to bring things back into working order is to replace the plastic rivets with metal bolts, nuts, and washers—a procedure referred to as a bolt mod.
While very much feasible to do, it’s not a fun task by any stretch of the imagination. The process begins by disassembling the keyboard, cutting off the remnants of the rivets using a chisel or razor blade, separating the layers, drilling holes in the rivets’ places, bolting the whole kit and caboodle back together, and hoping that everything works. For brevity, I left out quite a bit of other tedious things that need to be done along the way, but suffice it to say, it’s not a quick and painless “mod.”
I ended up running into a number of speedbumps while bolt-modding my Model M. In fact, in took me three separate instances of taking things apart and then putting them back together to get something that resembled a working keyboard.
One thing I will say, is how much improved the typing feel is. I doubted replacing the plastic rivets would really do much to alter the already renowned typing sound and feel, but change it did. Everything feels "tighter" and much more solid. The space bar doesn’t rattle away when pressing it, for example. Keys feel less bouncy and more clicky, but in a good way.
Would I bolt mod another Model M? Yes. Would I do it in the immediate future? No. Once was enough for the time being. I'm just glad I was able to repair this one.
For those wondering, at 9:30, I was using a red-hot paper clip to bring the off-center holes into "compliance" and which in turn allowed me to install the remainder of the bolts.
P.S. Apologies for the distorted audio around the 11:49 mark. I thought I could "cheat" and record the last clip with my iPhone SE whose microphone(s) pale in comparison to that of my Handycam. Despite having "stereo" microphones for video, the overall quality is rather rubbish. Lesson learned.
00:00 The Problem
01:04 The Solution: Bolt-Mod/Screw Mod
01:35 Initial Disassembly
02:38 Plastic Rivets, PCB Board, & Membrane
03:06 Removal of Rivets
03:40 Keycap Removal & Cleaning
04:10 Membrane Removal, Inspection, & Cleaning
05:19 Prepping & Drilling Holes for Bolts
06:08 Installing Bolts
07:35 Repairing Barrel Plate Crack
08:00 An "Imperfect" Repair
08:40 Reassembly
09:07 Bolts, Nuts, & Washers
09:44 Issues
10:28 The End Result: Success!
11:00 Typing Feel & Sound
11:42 ESC Keycap
#ibm #mechanicalkeyboard #keyboard
My Model M has served me well during the many years it’s been my primary keyboard. Unfortunately, its reliability had begun to falter with increasing regularity. As of late, its most notable misbehavior was its failure to register the numbers 1 through 4 and 7 through 0. What’s odd, however, is that the keyboard only seemed to act up after sitting idle for extended periods of time—think logging onto your PC for the first time in the morning. At first I couldn’t find any way to remedy this behavior, until I realized that pressing all four keys in that “group” at the same time brought things back to life. So, for example, if the 2 key didn’t responded to my pressing it, pressing the number 1, 2, 3, & 4 all at the same time fixed it, albeit temporarily.
Not wanting to write off my venerable Model M just yet, I began to do some digging. When it comes to keys failing to register, the general consensus seems to be... riveting, pun absolutely intended. When new, plastic rivets were used during the manufacturing process to hold the individual layers that make up a Model M (back plate, rubber dampening mat, membrane, and barrel plate) together. Over time, those rivets begin to fail by breaking off, allowing the layers of the “sandwich” to come loose. This in turn causes a cascading failure of erratic operation.
The one and only sure fire way to bring things back into working order is to replace the plastic rivets with metal bolts, nuts, and washers—a procedure referred to as a bolt mod.
While very much feasible to do, it’s not a fun task by any stretch of the imagination. The process begins by disassembling the keyboard, cutting off the remnants of the rivets using a chisel or razor blade, separating the layers, drilling holes in the rivets’ places, bolting the whole kit and caboodle back together, and hoping that everything works. For brevity, I left out quite a bit of other tedious things that need to be done along the way, but suffice it to say, it’s not a quick and painless “mod.”
I ended up running into a number of speedbumps while bolt-modding my Model M. In fact, in took me three separate instances of taking things apart and then putting them back together to get something that resembled a working keyboard.
One thing I will say, is how much improved the typing feel is. I doubted replacing the plastic rivets would really do much to alter the already renowned typing sound and feel, but change it did. Everything feels "tighter" and much more solid. The space bar doesn’t rattle away when pressing it, for example. Keys feel less bouncy and more clicky, but in a good way.
Would I bolt mod another Model M? Yes. Would I do it in the immediate future? No. Once was enough for the time being. I'm just glad I was able to repair this one.
For those wondering, at 9:30, I was using a red-hot paper clip to bring the off-center holes into "compliance" and which in turn allowed me to install the remainder of the bolts.
P.S. Apologies for the distorted audio around the 11:49 mark. I thought I could "cheat" and record the last clip with my iPhone SE whose microphone(s) pale in comparison to that of my Handycam. Despite having "stereo" microphones for video, the overall quality is rather rubbish. Lesson learned.
00:00 The Problem
01:04 The Solution: Bolt-Mod/Screw Mod
01:35 Initial Disassembly
02:38 Plastic Rivets, PCB Board, & Membrane
03:06 Removal of Rivets
03:40 Keycap Removal & Cleaning
04:10 Membrane Removal, Inspection, & Cleaning
05:19 Prepping & Drilling Holes for Bolts
06:08 Installing Bolts
07:35 Repairing Barrel Plate Crack
08:00 An "Imperfect" Repair
08:40 Reassembly
09:07 Bolts, Nuts, & Washers
09:44 Issues
10:28 The End Result: Success!
11:00 Typing Feel & Sound
11:42 ESC Keycap
#ibm #mechanicalkeyboard #keyboard
