If you want to try to repair a keyswitch, then try the following.
You can unclip the 2 parts of the housing at the sides. The top part
lifts off, releasing (in order) the plunger, a spring and a little rubber
dome. The contact is the black (graphite-loaded) rubber pad inside the
dome and the 2 metal contacts in the bottom part of the switch. Clean the
metal contacts with a cotton bud and isopropyl alcohol (propan-2-ol). You
can try rubbing the rubber pad on very fine (1000 grit or finer)
wet-n-dry paper.
Put the switch together. Measure the resistance between the pins when
it's pressed down. You should use 2 pins diagonally oposite each other
for this test. A good switch is about 50-100 Ohms. A useable one is
<300Ohms. More than that, and it probably won't work. If you have all the
switches out, put the worse ones on the numeric pad as above.
If you still have a defective switch, then try rubbing a soft pencil (I
use a 6B) on the rubber pad inside. That got my worst swtich useable
again. There is a special kit for this from Chemtronics which recoats the
rubber contacts, but it's not cheap ($30). It could be worth using if you
can't get the switch working any other way.
Sure that's a model III keyboard? The keyboard on my Mod. III has actual
metal contacts in the switch that are pushed together by a tab when the key
is pressed.
Putting it all back together is the reverse of
dismantling it. Take great
care when putting the Model 3 case back together - it's possible to break
the CRT neck on the logic cage. And while it's possible to replace the
CRT, new ones are not that easy to get.
The CRT was blown out in mine when I got it. Replaced it with one from an
old RCA 12" B/W TV. Works fine. Where I live, the local thrift store
usually have at least 2 or 3 B/W TV's at a time. I picked up the one I used
for $2.50.
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>