Amiga 1200 keyboard ribbons

[Jagabot]

Magic ribbon from the 1200 keyboard to the motherboard...

Anyone know where I can get some of this stuff? (Like a roll of it or similar?) I have 7 (yes SEVEN) new A1200 keyboards that ALL have the cable torn because of the way some dough-head packed them originally.

In anycase, anyone know where I can get this, or even what it is called so I could source some out from some electonics supply distributors?

I'll be your pal for at least a week!  :-D

[Doobrey]

The ribbon is part of the keyboard membrane, so the only way to do a reliable repair is to replace the whole membrane.
 But then you get the fun part of finding spares... it seems silly getting second hand A1200 keyboards just to repair another keyboard.

[Castellen]

True, could be hard finding replacement membranes.
Possibly try the likes of SoftHut and Eyetech?

Or try a Google search.  If there's a buyer, there's often a seller :-)

[x56h34]

I'm not sure if I understand it correctly, but I suspect that Vesalia has a deal on 10 A1200 keyboards for 10 Euros. Look in the specials section on their site, and investigate. What sucks about this is that shipping from Germany on anything that large is in the 40EUR and above range.

[Matt_H]

The ribbon itself doesn't seem like it would be too rare an item. (Don't place a bet on that, though) Check around some hobbyist electronics shops.

How damaged are the ribbons? Maybe you could buy a roll of the stuff and patch it into the 1200s.

[Castellen]

Unlikely.  The ribbon is all part of the keyboard membrane, custom made for the A1200.
You might be able to find that flex-loom similar to the plug in section somewhere else, but joining it to the old one would be a major mission.

The conductive tracks inside it melt away if you try to solder it.  Yes, I've tried to fix them too :-)
Conductive paint/glue is a possible fix but would be nearly impossible to make a reliable join in every track.

[Matt_H]

Oh well. So much for that idea. :-(

[Jagabot]

Actually, on closer inspection (after splicing some away cleanly, and then removing the top layer of coating from the membrane where I'd try to attach a new ribbon, it's probably not going to be worth it. It might be if I were going to repair my own machine, but it's a 45 minute to 1 hour job to fix a keyboard by this method and you can buy a whole new one for $10US/10E quite a few places so why bother.

But, I guess they'll be worth a couple bucks just for the nice factory white keys.  Maybe I should strip them and bag them so they're only a couple bucks to ship instead of 1.2Kg. I think too far ahead sometimes...