[comp.sys.ibm.pc] How do I re-install space bar on IBM PC keyboard?

du4@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Ted Goldstein) (02/15/90)

Do any of you PC hardware repair people out there have any tips on how
to re-install the space bar on an IBM PC keyboard. I realize that this
sounds like a very simple task, but it turns out to be quite difficult
to hook the little plastic tabs on the key cap under the horizontal bar
that is meant to keep the key level when it is pushed on one end. Anyone
who has worked on the original PC keyboards should know what I mean. Is
there a trick to this that I am missing? When you just pop on the cap,
the little plastic hooks just push down the metal bar rather then hooking
under it as it should. Any tips/tricks/suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.


-- 
Ted Goldstein                             E-mail: du4@mace.cc.purdue.edu
Network and Systems Admninistrator        Phone : (317) 494-9070
Purdue University School of Technology    Office: Knoy Hall, Rm G009

tcm@srhqla.SR.COM (Tim Meighan) (02/16/90)

In article <4156@mace.cc.purdue.edu> du4@mace.cc.purdue.edu
(Ted Goldstein) writes:

>Do any of you PC hardware repair people out there have any tips on how
>to re-install the space bar on an IBM PC keyboard.

I tried to mail this first, but it kept bouncing.

1. Remove the space-bar keytop and also remove the stabilizer wire.

2. Flexing the stabilizer wire slightly, snap each end into a hole in the
plastic tabs located at each end of the underside of the keytop.  You will
now have a keytop & wire assembly.

3. Carefully slide the stabilizer wire into the horizontal slots in the plastic
support blocks mounted on the keyboard PC board.  Keep the keytop and wire
assembly together.  This is done before trying to mount the keytop on the
keyswitch, which allows you to maneuver the wire into the slots by moving the
whole assembly around as needed.  This part can be a bit tedious because 
other keytops are generally going to get in your way.

4. Very carefully position the keytop over the central keyswitch making sure
you don't let the wire disengage from either support block slot.  Then, push
the keytop onto the switch and you are done.

Tim Meighan