If there’s water between the membranes an alternative is to wait a long time for it to dry out (months).
If it was just water maybe but it wasn't unfortunately. Sorry for the confusing title
A plastic-safe contact cleaning spray, like the ones made by CRC, should do the trick. Since the can is pressurized and you can attact a little tube to the nozzle, it should be able to reach all the nooks and crannies that you wouldn't be able to reach with just plain isopropyl alcohol.
Hm, I think i have some similar sprays at home so I could try that but wouldn't it leave some residue of its own?
I don't know which spray you've got, but CRC doesn't leave any residue and gets evaporated in a few seconds. Whatever it is that you're using, make sure it says it's safe to use on electronics.
Try some isopropyl alcohol, maybe a cotton swab or a soft toothbrush.
That's what I thought as well but I'm always weary about IPA damaging the plastic.. would it even evaporate properly between the layers?
I would fully take apart the keyboard. The plastic can be cleaned in the sink with dish soap and lukewarm water. The pcb gets the iso.
I've cleaned the case itself in the sink and brushed the pcb with an old toothbrush (just had some dust on it). I'm probably gonna take it apart again and try to wash the pcb and the membrane with iso, hopefully that'll help.
Good luck, lemme know if it worked!
It now works pretty good after drenching the whole membrane/key switch layer sandwich in 99% iso a couple of times. The 7 key now works flawlessly, the space bar still occasionally gives me double spaces with one press but I'd say not as frequent any more, I'll see if it goes away entirely as it dries completely.
Ayyy, result! I appreciate you getting back to me. It's not perfect, but it sounds like at least the keyboard's close to normal now. Time to pick a new spot to put your drink as well.
Unfortunately it looks like I spoke too soon, I just tested it again and the inputs for the S and W keys are all over the place...
I really don't know what's going on, maybe I shouldn't have used the full strength iso? Don't really know what to do now.
The iso shouldn't have caused any issue, I've used it before for the exact same thing. It's hard to say what the issue is at this point. It sounds like a loose connection or something bridging 2 connections. Could've scrubbed too hard, or maybe something got bent during assembly or disassembly. Sorry, man...
Didn't scrub at all, though, literally just poured it in and swept it around a bit by tilting the whole thing....
Thinking about it, the num 0 always was a bit flaky, so it's entirely possible the previous owner also did some damage. Makes me a little less sad about killing a 30 year old keyboard...
It's never a good feeling, my condolences. Are you gonna go for something newer or just get another oldie?
I'm not willing to give up yet but if all fails I'd love to get an earlier Model M with a detachable SDL cable but they're super expensive over here.
I don't know where you live but I'm always jealous when some americans say they found something at a thrift store or recycling center or yard sale. Those are very rare in my corner of europe.
I've heard of people pulling Model Ms out of the trash, even here in Germany...
There are a few thrift stores in my area but I've never seen anything interesting other than a few old radios.
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