jacobtohahn
Experienced Member
My friend owns an Apple II Plus that he has kept in storage for many years. He recently took it out, but found that many keys didn’t work, or typed multiple characters, etc. He let me restore it for him. The keyboard is a strange type that seems to be rare. It’s the same as the one in this post. Luckily, the keys were all fixed by cleaning the contacts. I then turned to cosmetic restoration. I’ve done the motherboard, power supply, and bottom casing, but I’m now to the keyboard.
Because this is a strange keyboard design, it doesn’t have any actual switches soldered to a PCB. Instead, the PCB has contacts on it and metal “fins” (see the photos in the thread above) are pushed down and touch the contacts. That PCB and the fins are all clean. My problem comes with the top of the keyboard, under the caps. The “stems” of the keys poke out of a plastic casing, each slightly raised by a small column. Here’s a photo:
Adhered to the top of this casing is a thin brass sheet, with holes cut out for the columns with the stems. I removed it because I knew I could reattach it with some spray adhesive. However, adhered to the top of that sheet is a thin rubber layer. That’s the issue. When I was removing the old adhesive that held the brass to the plastic, some acetone got onto the rubber layer, causing it to detach and deform. I’m not sure how I can remake it! Here’s a photo of the brass sheet on the keyboard with the rubber next to it:
The green part of the brass is the adhesive for the rubber. It’s intact, but I’ll probably have to remove it.
The rubber is really thin. Is there a similar kind of rubber coating that I could buy and laminate on? I could then just cut out the holes with a hobby knife. What would you recommend? If you need any more photos, I can post them.
Because this is a strange keyboard design, it doesn’t have any actual switches soldered to a PCB. Instead, the PCB has contacts on it and metal “fins” (see the photos in the thread above) are pushed down and touch the contacts. That PCB and the fins are all clean. My problem comes with the top of the keyboard, under the caps. The “stems” of the keys poke out of a plastic casing, each slightly raised by a small column. Here’s a photo:
Adhered to the top of this casing is a thin brass sheet, with holes cut out for the columns with the stems. I removed it because I knew I could reattach it with some spray adhesive. However, adhered to the top of that sheet is a thin rubber layer. That’s the issue. When I was removing the old adhesive that held the brass to the plastic, some acetone got onto the rubber layer, causing it to detach and deform. I’m not sure how I can remake it! Here’s a photo of the brass sheet on the keyboard with the rubber next to it:
The green part of the brass is the adhesive for the rubber. It’s intact, but I’ll probably have to remove it.
The rubber is really thin. Is there a similar kind of rubber coating that I could buy and laminate on? I could then just cut out the holes with a hobby knife. What would you recommend? If you need any more photos, I can post them.
