[Coco] Melted Keyboard Repair

[Gene Heskett]

On Tuesday 04 February 2020 09:17:08 Kevin Becker wrote:

> That is a great question.  I was hoping someone else had experience
> repairing this before I dove in myself but failing that I took the
> plunge.  I'm planning to get out my calipers and measure the holes,
> then try to find a set of very small screws.  I think I should be able
> to carefully drill some small pilot holes and screw it all back
> together. It will be tedious but seems doable.
>
Probably 0-80 screws and taps s/b available at the hobby shops. Dremel 
sells teeny drill bits for tapping pilot holes.
 
> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "Arthur Flexser" <flexser at fiu.edu>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: 2/3/2020 11:31:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Melted Keyboard Repair
>
> >So, now that you've cut the plastic welds off, how are you going to
> > hold the keyboard together after you reassemble it?
> >
> >I'm betting the little metal balls serve no purpose at all, but
> > somehow crept in during manufacturing.  Maybe they were dandruff in
> > the hair of a robot that put the thing together.
> >
> >Art
> >
> >On Mon, Feb 3, 2020 at 10:16 PM Kevin Becker <kevin at kevinbecker.org> 
wrote:
> >>  So I took a razor and clipped all the plastic welds holding the
> >>  keyboard in place.  Quite a few had broken off already, which I
> >> assume was the source of the issue.  The good news is that my mylar
> >> membrane is in great shape.  The faulty keys were due to the small
> >> springs that press against the mylar coming loose on the
> >> problematic keys.  Probably because the broken plastic welds
> >> allowed the keyboard to flex enough for them to get loose.  The
> >> rattling sound has me really puzzled though.  I'm sure the springs
> >> were part of it, but the majority seems to have come from a bunch
> >> of small metal balls loose inside the keyboard.  I think there were
> >> 9 of them.  They are much smaller than a BB, more like the ball in
> >> a ballpoint pen, but a bit bigger than those.  Does anyone know
> >> what purpose they could possibly serve?
> >
> >--
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> >Coco at maltedmedia.com
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Cheers, Gene Heskett
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