Author Topic: Looseness around edges + case flex on AEKII?  (Read 866 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline linuxleah

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 95
Looseness around edges + case flex on AEKII?
« on: Fri, 28 May 2021, 10:52:22 »
After getting in a lovely clean AEKII case, I transplanted the plate and board from my daily driver AEKII into it. However, then I noticed some looseness around the edges (particularly the left edge and right edge, most notably the top left and top right corner), and some significant case flex when the plastic between the Function keys and the alphanumeric keys is pressed.

The case flex may be simply due to age, but I also suspect that this is an area where the AEKII's relatively simple closure (one screw, minimal clips) is allowing looseness to creep in.

Has anyone experienced similar flex/looseness to this? If so, how did you solve it? I'm pondering using double-sided adhesive tape along the left and right edges, and maybe padded tape inside the case to reduce flex. I've already had good results adjusting for a problematic spacebar on this board (it tended to stick at left side) by inserting a few small pieces of foam tape between the plate and the board under the spacebar, so I'm suspecting that simple reinforcements like this may go a long way towards a more solid-feeling case as well.

Video of case flex:

Offline tp4tissue

  • * Destiny Supporter
  • Posts: 13551
  • Location: Official Geekhack Public Defender..
  • OmniExpert of: Rice, Top-Ramen, Ergodox, n Females
Re: Looseness around edges + case flex on AEKII?
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 28 May 2021, 11:09:07 »
Just put some foam shim in there. you can use paper or tape to adjust the height of the total shimming.

So it's foam, then where 2 slice of foam is too thick, you just add paper/tape ontop of the foam.

Offline linuxleah

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 95
Re: Looseness around edges + case flex on AEKII?
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 28 May 2021, 11:12:02 »
Glad to know I'm not completely nuts for using foam shims :D

I think I'll just do that, thanks.

Offline Riverman

  • Posts: 430
  • Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Looseness around edges + case flex on AEKII?
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 28 May 2021, 12:33:18 »
The flex at the very start of your video is most likely caused by broken tabs.  There are a series of them on the back of the lower part of the case that always seem to shear off when the case is opened, at least in my experience.  The clip the two halves of the case together.  If someone was very careful and used some modern case opening tools, they could probably keep them from breaking, but when I used to open these in the '90s to clean them out, the tabs would always break on me.

Offline linuxleah

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 95
Re: Looseness around edges + case flex on AEKII?
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 28 May 2021, 14:49:39 »
This morning, I installed some small foam rectangles under the top-left and top-right corner to fill the gap between top and bottom case; this helps a lot. I also had the idea of adding additional screws at top-left and top-right (with standoffs inside the bottom case for them to screw into, similar to the one in the middle). But at the moment, I don't feel like modifying the stock plastic just yet.

Still, it'd be an easy mod, and would basically totally eliminate flex across the top edge of the board.

Apple's "just one screw holds the whole thing together" design may make for easy maintenance, but additional screws would definitely add stability.