I like the typing feel of my M0116 keyboard that I acquired with my SE/30. My own Mac back in the day was a Classic with the far cheaper feeling Apple Keyboard II (M0487). I remember that my dad's office Macs and a friend's Mac IIfx had the nicer mechanical keyboards, so I was aware of the difference. I've recently seen videos of people resurrecting AEK's for use as daily drivers and, since my work computer is a MacBook, it piqued my interest. So when I saw an 'untested' one on eBay for a reasonable Buy It Now price of £45 shipped (below) I took a gamble. It looked like surface dirt, and no major scrapes.
At first I hotplugged it into my SE/30 and thought it was wrecked, but luckily ChatGPT reminded me that your are not supposed to hotplug ADB devices (how could I forget, we are spoiled by convenience these days!). Only a single key turned out to be defective: the number pad Enter key. I started to clean it up:
The back corners of the case had what appeared to be some streaks of white emulsion paint on... until I figured out what it was. Something I haven't encountered for about 30 years - Tippex!
After handling the whole keyboard a bit the broken key did briefly respond. On fully dismantling I found the reason: one of the Enter key legs had a broken solder joint, seeming to have less solder than its neighbours.
After resoldering the leg with some extra flux and new solder, I am left with a different problem: 'chatter'. Occasionally a single actuation of this key produces a double input. Other than that the whole keyboard has cleaned up beautifully thanks to baby wipes (scentless kind!) pushed around the keys with a toothbrush. It looks so much better than my yellow M0116, it really makes my SE/30 look like a museum piece since it has yellowed far less.
I've watched various videos on ALPS switch reconditioning but I have concluded that the switch contact plate in that Enter key will need replacing. I have been able to drag a thin strip of paper soaked in IPA across the dimple on the contact leaf while pressing it with a cotton bud, but this hasn't helped. I suspect something is up with the contact plate layers which aren't really serviceable (this video shows the contact plate in bits).
My suspicion is that this switch could have been bashed repeatedly, resulting in that broken joint. At 2m50 in this video, a contact leaf is shown removed from the contact plate so that it can be air dusted. I cannot figure out how to get that leaf off without wrecking it, even with a pair of sewing needles. My guess is that a bit of contact cleaner down in that contact plate sandwich might fix it, but I'd be risking distorting the leaf to remove it. It has such precision 90 degree bends in it that I doubt it would behave the same after removal. Fortunately I have been able to order a few refurbed ALPS white switches from a seller here in the UK, but has anyone reading this ever resolved key chatter using contact cleaner?
At first I hotplugged it into my SE/30 and thought it was wrecked, but luckily ChatGPT reminded me that your are not supposed to hotplug ADB devices (how could I forget, we are spoiled by convenience these days!). Only a single key turned out to be defective: the number pad Enter key. I started to clean it up:
The back corners of the case had what appeared to be some streaks of white emulsion paint on... until I figured out what it was. Something I haven't encountered for about 30 years - Tippex!
After handling the whole keyboard a bit the broken key did briefly respond. On fully dismantling I found the reason: one of the Enter key legs had a broken solder joint, seeming to have less solder than its neighbours.After resoldering the leg with some extra flux and new solder, I am left with a different problem: 'chatter'. Occasionally a single actuation of this key produces a double input. Other than that the whole keyboard has cleaned up beautifully thanks to baby wipes (scentless kind!) pushed around the keys with a toothbrush. It looks so much better than my yellow M0116, it really makes my SE/30 look like a museum piece since it has yellowed far less.
I've watched various videos on ALPS switch reconditioning but I have concluded that the switch contact plate in that Enter key will need replacing. I have been able to drag a thin strip of paper soaked in IPA across the dimple on the contact leaf while pressing it with a cotton bud, but this hasn't helped. I suspect something is up with the contact plate layers which aren't really serviceable (this video shows the contact plate in bits).
My suspicion is that this switch could have been bashed repeatedly, resulting in that broken joint. At 2m50 in this video, a contact leaf is shown removed from the contact plate so that it can be air dusted. I cannot figure out how to get that leaf off without wrecking it, even with a pair of sewing needles. My guess is that a bit of contact cleaner down in that contact plate sandwich might fix it, but I'd be risking distorting the leaf to remove it. It has such precision 90 degree bends in it that I doubt it would behave the same after removal. Fortunately I have been able to order a few refurbed ALPS white switches from a seller here in the UK, but has anyone reading this ever resolved key chatter using contact cleaner?
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