Re: Apple II plus keyboard repair

["js@cimmeri.com" <js@cimmeri.com>]

KPR wrote:
> I just got an apple II plus and there are some keys that don't work.. I
> cleand it the best I could.. wiping and blowing out the dust and dirt..

Wiping and blowing is worst way to clean a keyboard, or a computer..
but many people persist in using compressed air (which just recycles
all the dust back into the air where it gets re-drawn into other
equipment (such as your lungs), or it forces dust further into places
where it shouldn't be).

I usually wash the entire keyboard in hot water and a VERY mild soap
that I mix for the purpose, and try to avoid getting water into the
keys.   However, I often do and the entire keyboard stops working even
after being allowed to dry a few days.   Panic can settle in.

What restores the action is let the keyboard dry even longer over
something slightly warm.. such as a motherboard for instance.    This
evaporates the humidity retained within each switch.

Then, with the keyboard plugged in and computer on, I spray a little
CAIG Deoxit 5 into each keyswitch, and work every key until it
consistently will fill up two lines on the screen without a single
keypress miss.   Sometimes, this takes 100's of keypresses... sometimes
I even have to flip something at the key to really smack it fast (seems
to jar something loose that's stuck).

However, using these methods, I've completely restored every keyboard
I've worked on... particularly the extremely sensitive to water IIc
keyboards.

Now, there are exceptions: sometimes -- especially on the earliest
keyboards -- the switches really are bad.. and you have to unsolder and
unscrew them.

A later keyboard comes apart nicely and is easy to work on, but has a
very poor touch feel so I don't like using it even though it can be
kept in service perpetually.

Even later keyboards are extremely difficult to service (would require
unsoldering ALL switches merely to replace one), but luckily, I've not
encountered a bad switch on one of these yet.

~ J