marcotte@unixland.natick.ma.us (Louis E. Marcotte) (06/07/91)
Recently a particular key on my 130XE keyboard stopped working. Rather than replace the entire keyboard, I took it apart to see if I could fix it. After unscrewing the keyboard (lots of little tiny screws) I discovered a plastic flexible membrane with conductive traces on it. One of the traces near the key that was not working was flaked off causing an open circuit. My solution was to purchase Burglar Alarm Window Foil conductive tape from Radio Shack (Cat.# 49-502, 120 ft for around $6). I peeled a small piece of the conductive tape off and cut it to shape and then applied it to the open trace effectively "soldering" it together. Now the key works again. This technique could be used to fix any open circuit problems on the keyboard membrane without having to order new parts. Hope this helps someone out there revive an ailing keyboard!! Lou Marcotte
rts@polari.UUCP (Randy Seacat) (06/08/91)
Another method of repairing the xe keyboard. I had a much worse problem. A whole 8 Oz. Glass of water was dumped into the keyboard. The foil traces were all but destroyed. I Used REAR WINDOW DEFOGGER Repair, a conductive paint that you can get at most Auto Parts stores. It was a job, but it did work. There are other Conductive paints on the market, which may even work better. R. Seacat Seattle