Saturday, March 10, 2018 — I finally did something I said I would probably never do — I’m now the owner of a Vibroplex Vibrocube.
You know the key — the six-pound version of the Vibroplex Iambic, finished in all black wrinkle paint.
As with many of the keys I wind up with, I submitted an low-ball offer after this key languished on eBay for quite a while without a bid. I finally decided to take a shot and I submitted a bid that to my surprise was accepted by the seller.
The key arrived Friday, and I was immediately alarmed — the six pounds of key was banging around loose in the box. The boxed showed the evidence of that too — edges of the key had pummeled the box from inside, leaving areas of the box split and battered with several punctures.
I feared for the worst as I opened the box; as I expected, the banging around knocked both keying levers loose from their jeweled pivots. This key had upgraded pivots; my hope was they weren’t damaged from the banging the levers took. They levers were hanging loose and attached to the base by the single copper braided wire designed to assure electrical continuity from the levers to the base.
The large red finger pieces weren’t damaged, however. One of the complaints about the “clown shoes” style finger pieces is that they flex under use. The original buyer must have found the flexing an issue, as this key has two finger pieces installed on each lever, doubling their thickness and stiffness. That’s probably why the finger pieces took their abuse in transit without breaking.
To remount the levers, I had to find a long, small screwdriver — a Phillips to unscrew the lover pivot lock screws, and then a flat blade screwdriver to back out the lower pivots far enough to remount the levers. Took a little time, but I managed to get the levers back in place. I didn’t look closely enough to see if the pivots were damaged when the levers were knocked loose. I’ve had jeweled pivots damaged when the levers were forced loose in transit.
The missing decorative jewel was probably a casualty from a previous attempt to safely ship the key. If you notice the nameplate, there’s some paint loss near the middle, and I’m convinced that was caused by wear from the pivot pin on a keying lever or levers that were banging around in a prior shipping attempt. The damage matches the width of a pivot pin on a keying lever.
The jury is still out on my opinion of the VibroCube. Its a massive key weight-wise; I still need to dial in the lever adjustments, and I may have to pivots screwed down too tight. I’ll have to give it a try this weekend, perhaps.
I cannot give the seller high marks on how he shipped the key. The box isn’t even corrugated cardboard; its pasteboard, similar to and barely thicker than used to make cereal boxes. Two short wraps of small-bubble bubble wrap surrounded the key. I should county my blessings there was no new damage to the key. That’s probably evidence of just how sturdy this key is!
I’m rather spoiled by my go-to iambic key, the chrome square racer that I use here in the library. I will try to adjust the VibroCube, but it may be hard to match how much I enjoy the racer’s feel.
UPDATE: Saturday, March 10, 2018, 6 p.m. — After a little time this afternoon with my new-to-me Vibrocube, I can proclaim that the key plays as it should.
I removed the levers and inspected the pivots (all four were OK), then reassembled the levers so the braided wire went under the livers rather than ran over the top of one of them. In the process I found that the wire braid was no longer attached to the ground screw attachment point on the pivot frame (all Vibroplex keys with jeweled pivots require this ground wire because the jeweled pivots insulate the keying levers from ground. If the keying levers aren’t at ground potential, there’s no way making a contact with either contact will activate the keyer to make a dit or dah).
I also took care to reinstall the levers with the right amount of tension on the pivots — pressure enough to secure them, eliminate vertical movement, but not too much pressure to create drag on the levers’ side-to-side movement. Once those tasks were completed, it was time to dial the key in. With proper tension on the pivots and the spacing set to a comfortable minimum, the key plays just as sweet as the regular iambic Vibroplex.
With the key on the desk, I can confirm that doubling the paddles like this one has removes any flexing. If yours has this problem, you’ll do well to do the same if it bugs you. I also dug up my supply of plastic decorative “jewels” to replace the missing one; a tiny dab of crazy glue (applied with the point of a tiny screwdriver) secured the replacement jewel.
So far, I plan to leave this key in place at the operating position and use it for the CW nets or a while. I’m happy with the purchase!
UPDATE: Sunday, March 11, 2 a.m. — Just a quick addendum to this post … with the key dialed in, I used it for Saturday evening’s CW net and it operated … well, like butter. Seriously, I had the lever spacing tight, and the key performed flawlessly and with the ease you would expect from the deluxe jeweled pivots. After using this key with the fingerpieces, I’m considering replacing the finger pieces on my “regular” Vibroplex Iambic with those with the “oversized” replacements that Vibroplex offers for $15 a pair. I appreciate having a finger piece that offers more contact room for you fingers.