Amiga 1000 keyboard repair
Dan
find that some of the keyboard keys don't work. I started taking it
apart, hoping to find contacts that I could clean, only to discover
that each key has a plastic piece that's snapped into a metal frame,
and then soldered into a PCB. It looks like I would have to unsnap
every key at once, or destroy the key and replace it with a new one
with no clips. I thought I'd take a step back, and check to make sure
that I didn't have a bad line in the keyboard matrix or something. I
shorted the contacts on the back of the nonfunctional keys, and it
worked fine, so it looks like the mechanical keys themselves aren't
working. I assume that there is some kind of carbon in there that
shorts the contacts, but I'm not sure. My next step is to spray
contact cleaner in there, but I thought I'd see if anyone else has had
this problem before I risk making things worse. Also, I notice that
the inner workings on the 500 keyboard are totally different, so I
have no idea where I'd find parts should I need to swap out keys. Any
pointers would be a big help.
-Dan
Clockmeister
"Dan" <zenit...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f76b29f7.03081...@posting.google.com...
Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too worn. Any
big box (A2000, A3000, A4000) Amiga keyboard will work on the A1000 although
you will have to change the plug so that is an option if the keyboard is
beyond repair.
Regards,
Clockmeister.
Amiga hardware hacking resources
Dan
>
> Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too worn. Any
> big box (A2000, A3000, A4000) Amiga keyboard will work on the A1000 although
> you will have to change the plug so that is an option if the keyboard is
> beyond repair.
Thanks, I'll give that a try tonight. I was thinking of making an
adaptor for one of the other Amiga keyboards, but I don't have any of
them on hand either, just a couple 500s and they're not going to do me
much good for a keyboard swap :) I'll see what the contact cleaner
does, and see if I can rebuild or replace the keys if that doesn't
help.
-Dan
Ville Jouppi
>just a couple 500s and they're not going to do me
>much good for a keyboard swap :)
Hmm, take the kbd out of the case, glue some stands behind it. Then just
lengthen the wires and connect an RJ11 connector and plug it in.
If the keyboard reset doesn't work, remove transistor Q1 from the keyboard
controller PCB..
KBCLK KBDATA RESET +5v NC GND Power Drive
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
looking towards the motherboard. (you'll be able to orient yourself by the NC
hole)
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Mail: vjo...@sci.fi, URL: http://www.sci.fi/~vjouppi/
GSM: +358-40-5679999, IRCNet: Jope
Rob Morewood
"Dan" <zenit...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f76b29f7.03081...@posting.google.com...
> I finally got the disks I need to get my Amiga 1000 working, only to
> find that some of the keyboard keys don't work. I started taking it
> apart, hoping to find contacts that I could clean, only to discover
> that each key has a plastic piece that's snapped into a metal frame,
> and then soldered into a PCB.
Clockmeister (gerr...@tnet.com.au) wrote:
: Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too worn.
I don't know the details of a 1000 keyboard, I only have 500/2000's,
but they both have exactly the same keyboard mechanics:
The plactic key assembly is held to the PCB by about a million screws
(so I don't like to open them up very often. The actual mechanical
contact is made by a little piece of black conductive rubber stuff
under each key. (I've seen the same kind of stuff in calculators
but not in other computer keyboards.) The stuff seems to lose it's
conductivity eventually (particularly with more heavily used keys)
and then the key stops working. I haven't found any kind of cleaner
that would make it work again, but supergluing some tin foil onto
the rubber seems to do the trick. (I don't really trust that, so
I tend to move the wonky, tin-foiled contacts to my least used function
keys.) Anyone know where one can get replacements for, or a way to
"recharge" that black conductive rubber stuff? I took apart a few
PC keyboards hoping to find spare parts but they used different
mechanisms.
Robert
|)|\/| || Burnaby South Secondary School
|\| |ore...@olc.ubc.ca || Beautiful British Columbia
Mathematics & Computer Science || (Canada)
Clockmeister
"Rob Morewood" <see...@for.real.address> wrote in message
news:20030819.1...@p034.intchg1.net.ubc.ca...
> Clockmeister (gerr...@tnet.com.au) wrote:
> "Dan" <zenit...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:f76b29f7.03081...@posting.google.com...
> > I finally got the disks I need to get my Amiga 1000 working, only to
> > find that some of the keyboard keys don't work. I started taking it
> > apart, hoping to find contacts that I could clean, only to discover
> > that each key has a plastic piece that's snapped into a metal frame,
> > and then soldered into a PCB.
>
> Clockmeister (gerr...@tnet.com.au) wrote:
> : Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too worn.
>
> I don't know the details of a 1000 keyboard, I only have 500/2000's,
> but they both have exactly the same keyboard mechanics:
<snip>
A1000 keyboards are different in construction ;-)
Regards,
Clockmeister.
Everett M. Greene
> Clockmeister (gerr...@tnet.com.au) wrote:
> "Dan" <zenit...@yahoo.com> wrote
> > find that some of the keyboard keys don't work. I started taking it
> > apart, hoping to find contacts that I could clean, only to discover
> > that each key has a plastic piece that's snapped into a metal frame,
> > and then soldered into a PCB.
>
> Clockmeister (gerr...@tnet.com.au) wrote:
> : Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too worn.
>
> I don't know the details of a 1000 keyboard, I only have 500/2000's,
> but they both have exactly the same keyboard mechanics:
> The plactic key assembly is held to the PCB by about a million screws
> (so I don't like to open them up very often. The actual mechanical
> contact is made by a little piece of black conductive rubber stuff
> under each key. (I've seen the same kind of stuff in calculators
> but not in other computer keyboards.) The stuff seems to lose it's
> conductivity eventually (particularly with more heavily used keys)
> and then the key stops working. I haven't found any kind of cleaner
> that would make it work again, but supergluing some tin foil onto
> the rubber seems to do the trick. (I don't really trust that, so
> I tend to move the wonky, tin-foiled contacts to my least used function
> keys.) Anyone know where one can get replacements for, or a way to
> "recharge" that black conductive rubber stuff? I took apart a few
> PC keyboards hoping to find spare parts but they used different
> mechanisms.
The later A3000 and (all?) A4000s came with the rubber key contacts.
At least some of the A2000s and early A3000s had a pair of metal
contacts for each key. Some testing and experimenting with the
rubber key contacts found that they develop cracks that interrupt
electrical continuity.
It would be nice if someone knew how to repair/replace the rubber...
Ville Jouppi
wrote:
>It would be nice if someone knew how to repair/replace the rubber...
Buy a Mitsumi PC keyboard and take the rubbers from that.
Gl...@canit.se
+Clockmeister <gerr...@tnet.com.au> wrote
>> : Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too worn.
>>
>> I don't know the details of a 1000 keyboard, I only have 500/2000's,
>> but they both have exactly the same keyboard mechanics:
><snip>
>A1000 keyboards are different in construction ;-)
Early A500 had the same type of keyboard as the A1000.
My first A500 (Kick 1.2) had this type of keyboard, extremly nice
to write on, and it had all red LED's (capslock,power and drive)
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Clockmeister
<Gl...@canit.se> wrote in message
news:1094.363T960T...@canit.se...
> > + On 20-Aug-03 15:17:09
> +Clockmeister <gerr...@tnet.com.au> wrote
>
> >> : Contact cleaner usually does the trick unless the keyswitch is too
worn.
> >>
> >> I don't know the details of a 1000 keyboard, I only have 500/2000's,
> >> but they both have exactly the same keyboard mechanics:
>
> ><snip>
>
> >A1000 keyboards are different in construction ;-)
>
> Early A500 had the same type of keyboard as the A1000.
>
> My first A500 (Kick 1.2) had this type of keyboard, extremly nice
> to write on, and it had all red LED's (capslock,power and drive)
>
Agreed, much better feel then the later cheap feeling clickety keyboards on
the A500.
My A2000 keyboard had a nice feel to it too.
Regards,
Clockmeister.