Re: Two questions about an Apple //c

[cdeschu@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Chris Deschu)]

In article <3cag03$18m@noao.edu>, Dyer Lytle  CCS <lytle@noao.edu> wrote:
>
>Greetings all,
>
>I've gotten in the habit of buying used Apple ][ computers and
>donating them to the elementary school where my sister-in-law
>teaches 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades.  Just the other day I located and
>purchased another Apple //c system.  I have bought these before
>and am somewhat familier with how they work but this particular
>unit needs some attention before it faces the elementary school
>children.

That's an interesting (but nice :) habit...

>First, the keyboard has a few keys that are hard to push down, that
>is, a greater force than normal is needed to press the key and when
>it does go down, it makes a louder 'click' then normal.  Does anyone
>have a tried and true way to clean and/or lubricate such a keyboard?

Ok, use a chip puller, or a screw driver (carefully!) to remove all
of the keycaps from the keyboard. (if you are good at such things,
you might find it easier to do if you take the computer apart and
remove the keyboard from the cpu) anyway, then remove the black flat
plastic spill protector, and you should be looking at a whole lot of
keyswitches. If you will notice, each switch has a little metal U
shaped spring inserted in it. The stem of each keyswitch has a bump
on it that must spread the spring apart when it is pressed down,
and again when it is let up. This is what produced the "key click"
that is distinctive to the //c keyboard. Over time these springs
get out of kilter, and make the keys hard to press.
	You have two choices. You can examine the springs on each
of the keyswitches that are hard to press, take them out and
stretch them a little wider, put them back and see if it's better.
Do this repeatedly for each problem keyswitch until they are all
somewhat uniform. The second option (which I chose the second time
I took my dad's //c keyboard apart), is to completely remove all
of the springs from all of the switches, and leave them out. The
keyclicks will be gone, but all of the keys will probably work
fine. It will take some getting used to (no keyclicks), but it's
probably the easiest solution.
	While you have it apart, use a paintbrush or something
similar to brush out all of the accumulated lint, etc that is
around the keyswitches. Reassemble, and you're done! Oh, you
may also want to soak the keycaps in soapy water if they are
very dirty. I put them in a jar with some palmolive, and shake
it for about 1/2 hour, then dry them before reassembling.

>Second, this system came with a Zenith monitor rather than the
>smaller Apple monitor for the //c and there is no monitor stand.  Does
>anyone know about where I might aquire a stand that will hold the
>monitor above the keyboard unit while allowing access to the right
>side where the floppy disk slips in?  I have used a //c with an Apple
>monitor and the nice little Apple monitor stand but I don't think this
>will fit the Zenith monitor.

	I would probably just hack something together from a few
pieces of plywood or find a sturdy cardboard or plastic box.
	If you happen to have an extra //c monitor stand lying
around, I could definitely use one. I have a //c monitor with
no stand that I want to use as an auxilary monitor for my //gs.
How much would you want for it if it exists?

>Many thanks for any help with these matters!

You're welcome, hope it works out...

-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
 |___              Chris Deschu                       cdeschu@nyx.cs.du.edu
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