Improving the Apple 2C keyboard 1.D? Spring delete

vorg

Tinkerer
Sep 3, 2022
69
61
18
I recently got an Apple 2c and it has what appears to be the “bad” keyboard. I think it’s the 1.D on Deskthourity. It appears this is the less desirable keyboard and I can confirm it feels awful. I watched a bunch of reviews on cleaning the thing and any with this keyboard described it as “crunchy”.

Apart from the keyboard I’m starting to really love this a lot more than my old Macintosh computers. It’s more approachable. It’s just so bad to type on.

So I had the unit apart to clean the inside from mysterious eBay dust and I had the key caps off for deep cleaning. My duster blew the little spring out of the P key and into the proverbial void. I probably spent and hour with a flashlight and magnets looking for it. No luck.

The thing is, now the P key feels great. It has no click of course but it’s no longer crunchy.

Has anyone done a full spring delete before?

edit: wasn’t done. First time posting on mobile. Hit enter somehow.

My next question— can the keyswitches be swapped for modern ones? I can solder and desolder but I’m not up to date on how mechanical keyboards have changed. I just know it seems the Apple keyswitches are difficult to come by.

I don’t want to take keys apart but some are not just crunchy; they stick. The 80/40, Keyboard, and Esc key. Can contact cleaner or IPA help with this?

I also need a new caps lock key as it cracked at the stem. That I know I can fix, but it’s like $5 for one original locking keyswitch.

what has everyone done to improve their keyboard?