Re: LK201 surgery: broken leg for R key

From: William Webb (william.w.webb_at_gmail.com)
Date: 11/15/05 

Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 11:16:53 -0500

On 11/15/05, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@teksavvy.com> wrote:
> Yesterday, my R key on my LK201 equipped workstation started to be
> flaxy. Today, it stopped working alltogether.
>
> So I took the kayboard apart and gave it a good clean (wash keycaps in
> dish soap and use air pressure to push the gunk out of the board).
>
> Still didn't work. I could see the R key make full travel downwards but
> not make contact. But with a small screwdriver pushing down instead of
> the key, it had no problem generating an R....
>
> There are 2 metal legs providing the spring support, a 3rd leg in the
> middle is what moves down to make the R when the key is pressed.
>
> Turns out that one of the main legs was broken. Cracked/separated
> cleanly. Interesting development. I should sue Digital for not building
> LK201 solidly enough to last more than 18 years... (this one is circa
> 1987). Still don't undertand how that tab could have simply cracked like
> that.
>
> Anyways, since I had nothing to lose, I removed some of the plastic
> above to gain access to the area, and used a soldering iron to rejoin
> the broken leg. Had to use swiss army knife to remair some of the
> heat/melt damage to the star shape tower in which the key travels, but
> all seems to be working find now ! (not sure how long it will last).
> (I also used tiny tools including a very small allen key to bend the
> middle leg down a bit so it would require less pressure to activate the
> R key.
>
>
> Because LK201s are no longer in production, I now hesitate to simply
> swap broken ones with some spares I have.
>
> Is there anything special about the R key ? Is it used much more on VMS
> than any other key ?
>
> And it is always strange after cleaning a keyboard how it feels
> differently. I think it takes a while befor key travel becomes smooth
> again.
>
> BTW, did the DEC engineer who decided to use those damned screws on the
> LK201 ever get fired ?
>

Hi, jf- off-topic- can the pixellated cat logo be turned into a
proper X background?

and I don't mean using xv, either.

Your story reminds me of the time years ago when the numeric keypad
"Enter" key on the Wyse keyboard for my wife's 286 system died (This
is no small matter for someone who does accounting and enters numbers
by touch)-

Non-standard, of course- had the little RJ connector like the older LK
keyboards do.

I started trying to hunt one down.

Wyse said they'd gladly sell me a new one for $150.
I laughed and said that the *entire system* wasn't worth that any
more, much less just a keyboard.

And after exhausting a number of other possibilities, I dragged out the tools.
(Yes, children, once upon a time people actually repaired keyboards
instead of just throwing them away when they got flaky.)

It turned out that each key had its own *mechanical switch* that was
soldered onto the PCB. In addition, all the switches were identical.

Problem solved.

I told my wife that she'd have to live without a right-hand "Control"
key, desoldered both switches, put the good switch (turned 90 degrees)
in the numeric "Enter" position, put the dead switch in the "Control"
position, closed the plastic and plugged it in.

It worked right up until the day the MFM controller on the system passed away.

WWWebb

PS- Dave Turner's got keyboards (or he did last time I checked) if you need one. 

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