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Author Topic: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?  (Read 4078 times)

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Offline NostalgiacTopic starter

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Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« on: May 08, 2010, 08:20:54 PM »
Hello,

shame upon me.. as I managed to partially destroy my A2000 keyboard. A number of key caps got torn off :/  I tried to glue them back on with superglue but with mixed results.

I wonder if I can transplant the actual keypad of an A500 (e.g. the keys on it's plastic board) onto the remainder of my A2000 electronics plate ?

any thoughts ?

tx
Tom UK
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Offline Jope

Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2010, 08:30:06 PM »
Yes, only minor modifications needed.

Have fun replacing all the metal springs with rubber cup springs.
 

Offline NostalgiacTopic starter

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2010, 08:51:52 PM »
Quote from: Jope;557214
Yes, only minor modifications needed.

Have fun replacing all the metal springs with rubber cup springs.


eeek - you're kidding ? Gluing the keys back partially failed because of how fiddly those things where :(   You just killed my plan :/

Tom UK
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Offline Amiga_Nut

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2010, 08:52:24 PM »
Quote from: Jope;557214
Yes, only minor modifications needed.

Have fun replacing all the metal springs with rubber cup springs.


My A2000 keyboard has rubber cups same as the A500 I broke for parts.
 

Offline Jope

Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2010, 08:55:54 PM »
What has gluing got to do with this?

If your A500 keyboard is still intact (ie, no-one's broken the plastic in any keycaps or stems), the keycaps just snap on to the stems. It's not difficult to replace the springs with rubber cups, just tedious.

And if you don't care either way, don't even replace the springs. It makes no difference to the functionality of the keyboard. :-)
 

Offline NostalgiacTopic starter

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2010, 09:18:01 PM »
sounds better - migth be just me who was confused :)  my A2000 keyb has rubber cups.  The break was the caps breaking in two... top part + a small part staying stuck in the stems. The gluing problem I had/have is to get the caps back on without messing up the cups or any other bits (I have big fingers... so slightly clumsy)

All in all might be worth a shot buying a cheap/broken A500 (pm if you have one, I'm in the UK..., obviously any offers for a full A2000 keyb are welcome to)

tx
Tom UK
« Last Edit: May 08, 2010, 09:19:40 PM by Nostalgiac »
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Offline Ral-Clan

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2010, 11:53:07 PM »
Quote from: Nostalgiac;557223
sounds better - migth be just me who was confused :)  my A2000 keyb has rubber cups.  The break was the caps breaking in two... top part + a small part staying stuck in the stems. The gluing problem I had/have is to get the caps back on without messing up the cups or any other bits (I have big fingers... so slightly clumsy)

All in all might be worth a shot buying a cheap/broken A500 (pm if you have one, I'm in the UK..., obviously any offers for a full A2000 keyb are welcome to)

tx
Tom UK


I seem to remember a few years ago I looked into this and there are text files on Aminet or elsewhere explaining the differences you need to take into account with the connectors.
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Offline gertsy

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2010, 09:04:10 AM »
Quote from: Nostalgiac;557223
sounds better - migth be just me who was confused :)  my A2000 keyb has rubber cups.  The break was the caps breaking in two... top part + a small part staying stuck in the stems. The gluing problem I had/have is to get the caps back on without messing up the cups or any other bits (I have big fingers... so slightly clumsy)

All in all might be worth a shot buying a cheap/broken A500 (pm if you have one, I'm in the UK..., obviously any offers for a full A2000 keyb are welcome to)

tx
Tom UK


I've removed broken key stems before by drilling into the centre of the stem (no more than 2 mm) with a fine drill bit, 1mm, in a low speed rechargable drill, and then screwing a fine screw into the hole. Once the screw is inside the stem nice and tight you should be able to carefully pull the stem out with the tighly lodged screw using a pair of plyers.

Don't drill too deep or you will stuff the keyboard totally.  To see how deep you can drill pull out an unbroken key to see how deep the key stem is. Use some tape on the drill bit at the right depth to make sure you don't go too deep.  The screw has to be a nice snug fit in the stem hole. If it's too big it will cause the stem to swell/stretch and you will never get it out.

Cheers

Gertsy
« Last Edit: May 09, 2010, 09:11:17 AM by gertsy »
 

Offline Jope

Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2010, 09:16:13 AM »
Quote from: Nostalgiac;557223
sounds better - migth be just me who was confused :)  my A2000 keyb has rubber cups.  The break was the caps breaking in two... top part + a small part staying stuck in the stems. The gluing problem I had/have is to get the caps back on without messing up the cups or any other bits (I have big fingers... so slightly clumsy)

Yep, as you noticed, using glue to repair these is an excercise in futility.. No amount of finger dexterity will help here. :-)

If you end up having to remove a keycap and want to be able to attach it again, it must be pulled directly upwards from the keyboard.. No twisting, no bending. The plastic stem in the middle can't handle much abuse.

Reassembly is just fitting the rubber cup or metal spring to the keyboard base and snapping the keycap back into the white or black stem that's in the keyboard mechanism.

Quote from: ral-clan;557237
I seem to remember a few years ago I looked into this and there are text files on Aminet or elsewhere explaining the differences you need to take into account with the connectors.

Best forget electricity and focus on swapping the black plastic that holds the mechanism instead.

One thing I didn't mention before is, that the keyboards must both have the same shape return key and left shift. Else the contacts won't line up.

Quote from: gertsy;557267
I've removed broken key stems before by drilling into the centre of the stem (no more than 2 mm) with a fine drill bit, 1mm, in a low speed rechargable drill, and then screwing a fine screw into the hole.

Or just take a small jeweller's screwdriver (phillips head), insert it from beneath and push the piece of plastic out.

Naturally you need to dismantle the keyboard for this, but in my experience, this is much less frustration in the long run.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2010, 09:21:58 AM by Jope »
 

Offline Amiga_Nut

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2010, 09:53:45 AM »
Quote from: Nostalgiac;557223
sounds better - migth be just me who was confused :)  my A2000 keyb has rubber cups.  The break was the caps breaking in two... top part + a small part staying stuck in the stems. The gluing problem I had/have is to get the caps back on without messing up the cups or any other bits (I have big fingers... so slightly clumsy)

All in all might be worth a shot buying a cheap/broken A500 (pm if you have one, I'm in the UK..., obviously any offers for a full A2000 keyb are welcome to)

tx
Tom UK


I do have a spare working A2000 keyboard. Was saving it incase I ever see a cheap enough 4000D because they're great keyboards but I'm sure I could be persuaded to part with it :)

(and yes I'm also in the UK)
 

Offline JHawk

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2010, 01:14:04 PM »
Hi,

I have a spare A500 keyboard I use for spares with most of the keys left.  I think it has all except Esc, F1 and F2.  A few have some minor heat damage to the caps, but not many (can't remember which they are offhand).  If you'd like to restore your keyboard, let me know what keys you need.  I think the A2000 keys are a slightly different colour from the A500 though - mine are slightly lighter (and not due to yellowing - that's just the way they are made).

Also, if you get a new A2000 keyboard and end up with any spare rubber cups, I would be interested in a few since I've swapped keys into my A2000 and A4000 keyboards and had to use springs instead of the lost cups and they feel a little different.

John
 

Offline Jope

Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2010, 06:49:25 PM »
The biggest differences here are that the A500 keys are shiny and the A2000 keys are matte. Also the metal spring vs. rubber cup difference is quite evident.

Make sure to keep the keycap and plastic plunger as a pair when swapping them. If the plunger was black, the keycap won't fit in a white plunger. The keyboard base will take any colour plunger, but the key caps will not sit flush if you have the wrong combination.
 

Offline NostalgiacTopic starter

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2010, 10:38:12 PM »
Quote from: Jope;557270

Or just take a small jeweller's screwdriver (phillips head), insert it from beneath and push the piece of plastic out.


sounds worth trying indeed

tx
Tom UK
2000/2060/128mb/2320/2gb/C64-3D/Hydra-Aminet on OS 3.9

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Offline NostalgiacTopic starter

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2010, 10:40:20 PM »
Quote from: Amiga_Nut;557276
I do have a spare working A2000 keyboard. Was saving it incase I ever see a cheap enough 4000D because they're great keyboards but I'm sure I could be persuaded to part with it :)

(and yes I'm also in the UK)


pm me a proposal :)

(I do have a spare german keyb if anyone is interested ?)

tx
Tom UK
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Offline NostalgiacTopic starter

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Re: Transplant A500 keyb to an A2000 ?
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2010, 10:41:45 PM »
Quote from: JHawk;557308
Also, if you get a new A2000 keyboard and end up with any spare rubber cups, I would be interested in a few since I've swapped keys into my A2000 and A4000 keyboards and had to use springs instead of the lost cups and they feel a little different.

John


if I get lucky, you're on

ta
Ton UK
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