Re: sticky IIc keyboard

[lorend@pro-scat.cts.com (Loren Damewood)]

In <2e3i52$fee@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu>
jrthiess@essex.ecn.uoknor.edu (Justin R Thiessen) writes:

>I have a IIc at home that my nephews and nieces use on a semi-regular basis,
>and its keyboard has begun to stick of late.  Anyone have any advice for
>fixing this?  If it matters, it's one of the original 1984 IIc's.
>
>Thanks for any help you can offer me.
>       
>Justin Thiessen
>jrhiess@essex.ecn.uoknor.edu
>
If you carefully remove the keys, you can prob'ly dig out the cat-hair and
insect-parts that are undoubtedly clogging the action. Another thing you
can do is take out all the little metal clips that are in there. Each key
has a little spring associated with it, the purpose apparently having been
to give it a little "click" feeling when you pressed it, and any slight
resistance in the key action will permit that clip to lock the key down and
leave you with a repeating character until you can un-jam it. I did this on
a //c last year and it worked great. 

Taking the keys off is easy enough, especially if you have a chip removing
tool handy. I just bent a piece of wire to give me a hook on each side of
the key, though, since I didn't have such a tool with me.

Loren