20 Nov
2020
20 Nov
'20
9:36 a.m.
Hello Tom,
Am 20.11.2020 um 15:11 schrieb Tom Hunter via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>:
I have managed to completely disassemble the bad
Osborne 1 keyboard
Congrats on that!
The silver tracks remained undamaged as confirmed with
a multimeter.
Very wise to check this while all is disassembled.
I then carefully reassembled the 3 layers, inserted
and super-glued the keyboard mechanisms in batches, testing after each batch.
When using super-glue, will this possibly negatively affect the ability to disassemble the
keyboard again? As far as I?m aware, the prongs are most often just pressed flat with a
hot iron to melt and thus held in place.
I did not use any glue to reattach the 3 membrane
layers so they are held together only by the keyboard mechanisms with their prongs
protruding through the layers into the aluminium backing plate to which the prongs are
super-glued.
Very good idea!
The conclusion is that membrane keyboards can be fixed
if your life depends on it. It is absolutely uneconomic though. I worked about 30 - 40
hours on the keyboard alone. Working Osborne 1s sell for between US$100 and US$300 on
Ebay.
Well, with some routine you can become an expert and do that repair in 1-2 hours. All
membrane keyboards are very much alike. While I?m truly appalled to do this for a living,
I?m not frightened about doing this anymore. ;-)
:wq! PoC